§ Mr. G. M. Thomsonasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what extent he co-operated in the conference recently held at Princeton, United States of America, on the educational needs of East Africa, at which his Department was represented; if he will circulate the recommendations of the conference in the OFFICIAL REPORT and place a copy of the proceedings in the Library of the House; and if he will state the policy of Her Majesty's Government regarding the recommendations.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodThis conference was privately sponsored by the American Council on Education under a grant from the Carnegie Corporation; but the representatives of my Department who took part in it did so with my full approval. As the conference was informal, it has been agreed that the proceedings will not be published, but the text of the communiqué issued at its conclusion is given below. I am satisfied that the conference served a very useful purpose and will prove to have been of assistance both to East African Governments and to all those organisations, 5W public and private, in this country and in the United States of America who are seeking to help the educational progress of East Africa.
Text of the communiqué
Representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom and of Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar concluded, on 6th December, a four-day conference at Princeton Inn, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the educational needs of East Africa.Privately sponsored by the American Council on Education, under a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Conference brought together governmental representatives, leading educators, foundation and other private organisation representatives concerned with the vital problem of human resource development in the emerging nations of East Africa. Apart from leading members of the sponsoring organisations and of many other academic bodies and institutions in the United States, Conference participants included distinguished representatives of United States Government agencies, United States foundations, ministers and officials from the East African territories, the Principals of Makerere College, and the Royal Technical College of Nairobi, and, from the United Kingdom, representatives of the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas and of the Council for Overseas Colleges of Arts, Science and Technology, together with officials from the Colonial Office.
In four days of intensive discussion, unanimous agreement was reached on urgent priorities of needs to be met through the combined resources of the territories themselves and of public and private sources in the United States and the United Kingdom. The identification of educational needs and establishment of priorities of assistance is regarded as a most useful step in assisting East African development. Since the Conference was informal, none of the Governments or organisations represented at it can be regarded as committed by the recommendations contained in its report. The report does, however, represent a consensus on a number of important questions reached after discussion among people with a great variety of experience and background. The Conference is confident that the Government agencies and other organisations vitally concerned in East Africa will give the most serious consideration to its conclusions and recommendations.
Of greatest concern to the conferees were the pressing requirements for developing high level man-power through university training and the provision of a substantial corps of teachers now desperately needed in East African secondary schools.
Proposals were developed for an experimental programme entailing the use through the co-operation of the Governments and of American higher education, of recent young American and British graduates and teachers with experience to work in the secondary schools of the respective territories, and for assistance to institutions of higher education at Makerere College, Kampala, and the Royal Technical College at Nairobi and for The establishment of a University of East Africa 6W comprising these two Colleges, a third university college to be established in Tanganyika together with associated activities of common concern to them.
Serious attention was given to widening the range of educational services to be provided by these institutions especially in such areas as teacher training, the development of public administrators, agriculture and veterinary medicine.
Special attention was given to the critical problem of the selection of African students to he brought to the United States for special training and to the selection of United States institutions best fitted to provide such specialised training. The need to co-ordinate efforts among United States assistance organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, was also considered at length.
Proposals and recommendations developed at the Conference will be made available to bodies appropriately concerned with their implementation
7th December, 1960."