The professor within the context of African Universities

Abstract

In a globalizing world the absence of standardization in measurement does not allow for objective comparison and ranking of education-related concepts and experiences across nations. The ranking of world universities especially with regards to the quality of their professors is a case in point. Differing and relative definition of assessment indicators make such effort unfair across universities in different parts of the world. This paper discusses the international principles and guidelines leading to the professoriate. It affirms that the professor is the soul of the university which itself is a world-wide liberal space for the development of the human intellect and genius. The paper further argues that when an individual has been able to satisfy the rigours of the professoriate, such an individual owes it as an obligation to impact positively his/her environment through contributing to the resolution of the problems that may be plaguing his/her environment. It was within this purview that the African professor was called upon not to divest himself/herself of the rigours and discipline of the professoriate as soon as he attains the peak of academic accomplishment for the pursuit of vain political and social attainments. The African professor is rather called upon to embark on the most important phase of his career by using his privileged position to proffer solutions to pressing African problems.