**8. Possibilities for Africa's HEIs to meet the global demands**

Many HEIs are faced with serious dilemma of how to go forward with their teaching and learning programs post pandemic. The question of what possibilities HEIs may have to remain vibrant in post pandemic to survive the globalization demands is an important one. However, with advancing ICTs and mobile technologies, many options are now possible.

First, opportunities for remote teaching and learning in institutions can easily be made available and readily possible. For instance, many free tools and apps are already available to enhance online pedagogy (i.e. teaching and learning processes) in higher education. Such tools and apps include but not limited to Google classroom, YouTube, Google docs, Google meet; Google Drive; Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare, Linkedin; edX, Open Culture, Skillshare, Plural-sight, a Cloud Guru; Scribd, Prezi; Skype; Zoom podcast; Padlet, whats-up group; Edmodo; among others [30, 34].

Of course if these tools are to work well, support for lecturers and students is needed to enable them optimize the benefits associated with these tools in the teaching and learning processes. Therefore, the need exists in the integration of online pedagogies in curricula design for online teaching and learning; such as blending asynchronous and synchronous approaches.

Second, utilization of existing online resources will become the center of focus for majority of institutions. HEIs in Africa may not have to create new wheels when many others are already available. For instance, many top world universities already offer thousands of free online courses that can be used by students and lecturers around the world-some of these universities include: MIT, Stanford University, Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley; University of Toronto; Yale University, New York University (NYU); Georgia Institute of Technology, The Open University in UK, and many others.

Therefore, HEIs in Africa can learn from these world universities without having to develop their own online pedagogy programs. This approach makes a lot of economic sense because the investment that would otherwise be required to develop online programs could be enormous in terms of money, time, and knowledge/expertise needed to complete the task.

Third, mobile phones can be used to enhance access to education opportunities for men and women [2] and fortunately the coverage of mobile phone access has expanded rapidly in Africa and majority of higher education students own their own personal mobile phones, smart phones and ipads [30]. Therefore, it is strategic to capitalize on the use of commonly accessible mobile technologies to enhance teaching and learning. If HEIs are to continue serving the increasing numbers of students incommensurate to available physical infrastructures and shrinking national budgets mobile technologies and cloud computing solutions could be the answer [34]. HEIs need to do better when it comes to optimizing the utilization of emerging mobile technologies and cloud computing as teaching and learning tools if substantive curricula innovation is to happen. ICTs could also provide opportunities for developing collaborative learning between HEIs and local communities [35] beyond geographical boundaries.

Fourth, cultural integration in curricula is vital.

Culture plays a big part in our lives and the way we relate with others. It is therefore imperative to integrate culture into curricula as it orientates the young to important values, norms and way of life in society. For instance "if education is meant to bear on the people's cultural background and traditional manner of doing things, remarkable academic achievement would be recorded" ([36], p. 5). Therefore, all curricula should rotate around working with the local environments addressing real life problems. This integration process of cultural values and norms could enrich the preparation of individuals for specific occupational skills and may enhance creativity and innovation relevant to the local environment [36].

Nevertheless, designing curricula in higher education is a complex activity [37] and therefore, HEIs are challenged to produce global citizens who can effectively communicate and work harmoniously to fit in the multicultural context. Thus, universities are required to provide global environments through their adjusted curricula. Withstanding that building some robust curricula that is effective in reflecting global environments is not an easy task. The ultimate goal would be to nurture "among students lifelong learning skills and a mindset for critical thinking, effective communication, creativity, curiosity, collaboration, problem-solving, adaptability, principled, and ethical behavior" [8].

Fifth: utilizing existing social networks.

The use of already established networks offers a huge base of social capital to spearhead HEIs in Africa. Drawing on the Social Network Theory which assumes

#### *Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Africa Embracing the "New Normal" for Knowledge… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101063*

that the relationship and ties one has in the network determine the kind of resources which one can access [38] given that majority of faculty in Africa have attended and trained from institutions in the north, Asian and Arabian countries potentially represent/hold significant social capital. Therefore, institutions need to invest/ tap in the social relationships and networks of their faculty as a strategy through which resources of other institutions can be accessed, borrowed, or leveraged [38]. Through their existing social networks faculty can be able to make valuable connections to identify the needed resources and move forward to form strategic synergies for sharing these resources. In this case the most critical resource may be knowledge. The knowledge resource could take the form, for example, how to develop programs; how to use a computer application, and how to conduct an online assessment. Furthermore, advancing online technologies could actually leapfrog social networking possibilities in HEIs in Africa especially by enabling faculty and students to access international knowledge (journals, papers, databases, courses, presentations) as well as collaborate with peers worldwide [17]. Indeed, "increasing levels of collaboration and collective planning and strategic decision making across institutions creates new spaces and opportunities for peer to peer learning and fosters new innovations and models for the future of cybersecurity practice in higher education" ([29], p. 29).

Sixth: digitization of curriculum content and regulatory ICT policies [39] to facilitate easy access of materials for increasing numbers of students and faculty. Thus, the digitized content could be deposited into a central pool where all university students and teachers can easily access it. Nonetheless, caution must be taken to deal with issues regarding digital information security threats, a subject beyond this chapter [33].

Seventh: integration of indigenous education in HE.

The indigenous education curricula's focus was/should be on preparing the young to deal with real needs of society and the relevancy of what was being taught [40]. HEIs in Africa have a lot to learn from indigenous education curricula. In Africa, the need to introduce and embrace localized curricula is extremely critical and cannot be underscored. HEIs should focus on localized curricula that target and fully integrate the needs of society. Truly, "HEIs have a core mandate to establish close links with and serve local and national needs as well as society at large" ([2], p. xiii). In essence, therefore, HEIs must respond to the local market demands/ needs by offering relevant curricula and educational programs [41] that speak directly to local cultural demands to avoid industrial and economic developments that are divorced to local societal needs. Yet, this is the main essence and core value of indigenous education curricula. Needless to say "curriculum is at the heart of HE and as such, transformation must focus on what is taught what is learned and what is relevant to the teaching and learning to society" ([42], p. 13).

Eighth: participation and involvement of students in curricula issues.

Students' involvement in curricula activities is needed to optimize their meaning and real learning opportunities. Indeed, with online tools the universities are losing control over the teaching, research and learning activities [43] and time is now for students to drive their own learning. Learners' ability to construct their own knowledge and experiences through their free interaction with ICT trends show that students' ownership of devices is rapidly increasing in some countries and that reliance on institutional equipment, often poorly managed, is also decreasing ([44], p. 851). Clearly, the institutional dynamics are changing where students and teachers are now in position to determine what to do/educational path.

Ninth: effective instructional strategies.

The best way to assist someone to enable him/her deeply learn is by doing. Therefore, effective instructional strategies are required to solicit and encourage students' active engagement. These include, service learning, collaborative learning, active engagement, and problem solving activities. As such, African countries should ensure that students are afforded the opportunity to be part of the new and exciting global world with blended and value-adding ICT applications by giving them opportunities of doing/acting through their participation/involvement ([45], p. 984). This challenges the current curricula being offered by HEIs in Africa, regarding its relevance and innovativeness. Generally, most curricula are more theoretical oriented as opposed to practical/hands-on.

Tenth: 'Necessity is the mother of invention' [Plato] or innovation. During the post pandemic, there will be need for people to look for better innovative ways of surviving that are divorced from the traditional means with standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place. For example, people may engage in online businesses startups, e-marketing, e-medicine, e-spare parts, e-foods, e-transport, home-based business and factory/industry, etc. given the available cloud computing applications such as YouTube, Google go, Chrome, Google app, etc. Many young people can also gain a broad range of valuable ideas and skills in gardening, sawing, landscaping, carpentry, homemaking, engineering, camping and survival skills from online resources. As such, young people have so much to learn and gain from online virtual environments through interactive engagements with resources/materials, peers, and teachers. Interestingly, the majority of young people do not only enjoy but are motivated to use these tools confidently and comfortably.
