US computer giant and UN expand scheme to stem ‘brain drain’ from poor States

More than one dozen universities in Africa and the Middle East will benefit from a joint project between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United States computer company Hewlett-Packard that seeks to provide the technology and tools needed to stem the migration of graduates and reduce the ‘brain drain’ from the regions.

Building on the successful pilot phase of the project – which benefited institutions in Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe – 15 universities will be involved in its expansion.

Those schools are in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda.

The “Brain Gain Initiative,” set up in 2003, allows schools to collaborate with experts worldwide in innovative education and research projects with the help of advanced grid and cloud computing technologies, which are hardware and software infrastructure that clusters and integrates high-end computer networks, databases and scientific instruments from multiple sources to form a virtual environment.

It seeks to quell the exodus of academics and scientists, who have the potential to contribute to the development of their home country.

“We have suffered in the past from our best talents leaving Senegal to further their careers elsewhere,” said Ibrahima Niang of Senegal’s Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), one of the beneficiaries of the scheme during its pilot phase.

“This project helps us to plug into the world of research,” he said. “We can build connections with colleagues in other countries, which benefit our own work, and this link also provides an opportunity for our own academics and researchers to further their careers from Senegal.”

An expert from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research helped set up a computer grid in the West African nation, the first in sub-Saharan Africa.

UNESCO and Hewlett-Packard hope that 100 universities can be reached by the initiative by 2011 with the help of additional partners.