African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 489 - 167 Higher Education
The British hope to use Portugal as a pawn to test East Africa, which is reasonable given that Portugal’s colonial area is sizable and happens to be on both sides of East Africa. Thus, East Africa and Portugal have an inevitable geopolitical conflict, and it is hard to believe that East Africa has no interest in Portugal’s two colonies.
However, whether the British can persuade the Portuguese to act as their tool is indeed a question. At least the new Governor of Mozambique, Lieford, has some fear of East Africa. East Africa is unaware of the British plot, and for East Africa, every surrounding country is a suspicious entity, except for Belgium, with whom they have communicated.
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The year 1877, Soga City.
King Constantine personally visited this technological city of East Africa to participate in the opening ceremonies of the National Higher Agricultural School and Soga Normal School.
The National Higher Agricultural School is the first university planned by East Africa. Aside from agriculture being the dominant industry in East Africa, there are more agriculturists in East Africa than other scientists, making it easy to assemble them.
Soga Normal School is relatively special. It is not a university but is a level higher than the East African secondary schools, specifically training primary and secondary school teachers for East Africa. Its teachers come from within the Heixinggen Principality in East Africa, and it can be barely classified as higher education.
Constantine: "Mr. Angerlos, I am glad you can contribute to East Africa’s agricultural education!"
"Your Majesty, I didn’t expect you to attend in person, it truly honors me." Angerlos was somewhat flattered.
Constantine said with a smile, "Our East African Kingdom is a country that respects science, and we extend the same respect to scientific researchers."
Angerlos is one of the students of John Heinrich von Thunen, a renowned German agriculturist who was a student of Albrecht Thaer, a founding figure in modern agricultural management and revered as the founder of modern agronomy.
Thus, Angerlos, although not famous, is undoubtedly professional because his teacher and grandteacher are the top figures in the German agricultural community.
In 1804, Albrecht Thaer established the first agricultural school in Prussia. Fifteen years later, in 1819, the school was granted the title of Royal Agricultural University by the government of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Therefore, as Albrecht Thaer’s great-grandstudent, it is reasonable for Angerlos to pioneer the first agricultural university in East Africa.
However, compared to the Royal Agricultural University of Prussia, the name of East Africa’s National Higher Agricultural School is more modest, just a specialized school!
But this aligns with Ernst’s expectations for East African universities. Universities focus on theoretical level construction, and East Africa clearly cannot reach that level yet. Currently, East Africa can only learn from Europe and America and lacks the foundation for broad theoretical innovation.
Moreover, Ernst does not believe that specialized schools should be inferior to universities. It is a term stigmatized by certain countries in the past, such as Germany and the Soviet Union, where higher specialized schools were very strong.
Admittedly, the limitations of specialized schools are higher than those of comprehensive universities, as the name implies they are confined to professional fields. The National Higher Agricultural School of East Africa follows this logic. Unlike the Far East specialized schools of the past that offer all disciplines, it limits itself to agricultural subjects, destined to be an authority in the field of agricultural education in East Africa.
This is similar to the Heixinggen Military Academy, essentially a specialized school with a military focus.
Comprehensive universities are great, but East Africa should not pursue such lofty goals yet. It must first cultivate higher-level talents before it can build a world-class comprehensive university.
"The National Higher Agricultural School covers over three thousand acres, with more than two hundred staff, currently holding a library with sixteen thousand books, offering thirteen majors including agronomy, animal husbandry, agrochemistry, and plant pathology, and has enrolled over seven hundred students this academic year."
"These students are among the top-tier in East Africa. Perhaps their knowledge reserves are less compared to Europe, but their ability to learn is undoubtedly top-notch, selected from thousands." Constantine said.
As for East Africa’s top students, they cannot be contained by this small temple in East Africa. In 1877, the top two thousand in the East African college entrance exam were already being sent to study abroad on public funds according to East Africa’s needs to countries like Germany and Austria.
The destinations for East African students abroad are very particular, with the most important criteria being that it must be a monarchy. However, for East Africa, this restriction poses no issue. Excluding those "free" countries, East Africa’s choices are ample, especially since Germany and Austria both have world-class higher education.
In addition to Germany and Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom are regions East Africa can select. However, apart from the three countries Germany, Austria, and Sweden, the number of students in other regions is minimal, as two thousand students are not enough for even one German city.
Notably, these two thousand students are not the entire East African student body abroad. Due to current overseas talent training bases of East Africa, the total number of East African students abroad is about seven thousand.
Those East African students already overseas are receiving education where they are, taking admission exams in their host countries. In contrast, the students sent abroad by East Africa mainly have agreements signed with the governments of their host countries, including Germany, Austria, and friendly relations with Sweden and Belgium.
In other words, for these local students, no matter their academic performance in East Africa, the above three countries reserve a certain number of places for East African students at various universities, essentially providing guaranteed admissions.
However, East Africa cannot ruin its own reputation, so it selects its overseas students very carefully. Besides a unified exam, there are two additional interviews, and a two-month pre-departure training.
The training primarily adjusts to the customs and traditions of the host countries, correcting the etiquette habits of East African students to help them better integrate into the study environment abroad.
Students studying abroad are the face of a country, especially for a closed nation like East Africa. Aside from Heixinggen corporate employees and government staff, students are the first major group in East Africa to interact with the world. Their conduct abroad represents the first impression of the overall behavior of overseas East African students.
Constantine attended the opening ceremonies of two schools in Soga City while Ernst was not idle either. Aside from Soga City, the First Town is also establishing a National Higher Medical School.
This is understandable. When it comes to the city with the highest level of medical care in East Africa, the capital is naturally the best choice, being the political center of East Africa. Thus, leveraging this advantage, the first medical university in East Africa is established in the First Town.
Apart from these three schools, there are no other new schools established this year in East Africa due to a limited number of secondary school graduates in the past two years.
The local students sent for study abroad by East Africa number two thousand, while the total enrollment of the three universities in East Africa exceeds only eighteen hundred, showing that the number of overseas students even surpasses those receiving higher education domestically, indicating the current level of education in East Africa.
If we want to expand university-level education on a large scale, we need to wait at least another ten years. Hence, Ernst’s plan is to add one university every two to three years and consider building a batch of higher education institutions on a large scale after ten years.
