1.

INTRODUCTION

In an inspirational article” Promoting Physics and Development in Africa” published back in 2004 in Physics Today, the late Professor Edmund Zingu, one the most prominent scholars physicists on the African continent, wrote: “to excel in physics research in Africa is to conquer Mount Everest without the aid of additional oxygen”¹. Although the article was mainly concerned with physics research and industrial dissemination of the findings, the atmosphere was then not better in the classroom: frustrated lecturers, depressed students who learned with apathy in ill-equipped laboratories and were not sure of getting a job after graduating.

This was almost15 years ago. Many things have changed since. In 2017, in East Africa, some of the national economies are rated among the fast-growing in the world and as a regional block, the East African Community with a total population of over 150 million people is regarded as the most attractive for foreign investment regions on the continent. As the late Professor Zingu pointed out the most important role of government in the socio-economic development of a nation is to ensure that peace and political stability prevail and at least for the core of East Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, this has been the case for the last 13 years, after the publication of the above mentioned article in 2004.

The education sector too has undergone a kind of revolution mainly due to the ICT and Internet deployment. The prevailing political stability has enabled the emergence of a middle class with stable income, capable of investing in education not only at personal or household level, but also capable of investing in setting up and running private universities. Education is a booming business. This has put an end to the government monopoly in higher education. For example in Kenya, in 2008 there were only 6 public universities with a total enrollment of 95,863 students and 11 private universities with a total enrollment of 21,132 students². In 2017, Kenya has 24 public and 32 private universities with a cumulative enrollment of 769,000 students in 2015³. The whole region (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) boasts 103 private and 50 public universities with a total student population of over 1,200,000 students ^4,5,6.

However, physics education has not enjoyed this exponential growth: its enrollment has remained low and the teaching-learning conditions inadequate. Traditionally, in East Africa, optics has not enjoyed the same honours as pure theoretical courses such classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, statistical physics in the physics university curriculum. For example in a typical BSc. in Physics curriculum, there are only three units in optics for the Bachelor of Science in Physics: Waves and Optics (1^st year), Physical Optics (3^rd year) and Quantum Electronics (4^th year). The first unit is core and the two others are elective but the three theoretical units Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Physics are core. The teaching is organized in such a way that all practical work is done in separate units Practical Physics I (3^rd year) and Practical Physics II (4^th year) and these units are elective ⁷. This means that a student may graduate after four years of study in physics without having seen or touched a lens or a prism, let alone a microscope or a spectroscope. This is just an example on how optics is a “neglected child” in the B.Sc in Physics family.

All over the world, optics and photonics are considered to be on the heart of the second global industrial revolution ⁸ and they are enabling technologies for socio-economic growth⁹. Lasers have become an integral part of manufacturing, communications, energy research, medicine and dozens of other fields ¹⁰. For this to happen, the academia and industry in developed countries have joined hands to capitalize on the majestic scientific breakthroughs that took place all along the 20^th century in optics and photonics to make this technology the heart and the engine of a “new society” of today and the near future¹¹.

In the year 2011, according to the 2011 OSA-SPIE Global Directory of Programs in Optics and Photonics globally there were 307 universities with programs in optics and photonics; 144 were in USA and Canada, 94 in Europe, 45 in Asia, 14 in Latin America, 10 in Australia and unfortunately none in Africa. The total global undergraduate enrollment was 27,762 students, among them 8,890 in USA (32%) and 5,537 (20%) in China ¹².

One understands that it would be again one missed opportunity for Africa to bridge the scientific and technological gap if it does not embrace and develop optics and photonics technology. Indeed, we are witnessing the effect of information and communication technology and Internet in bridging the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world ¹³. Therefore, there are expectations that optics and photonics can help to bridge the technological gap in the same way. It is also clear that there cannot be progress in that direction if universities do not build capacity in this crucial area by introducing training programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to jump start the process, because it is the role and duty of universities and academia to prepare the necessary workforce the society and the nation require, not only for the present labor market but also for the needs of tomorrow. After all, Africa is lucky in some sense: they do not have to invent the wheel but only to adapt it to the rough riding conditions.

With this in mind, two universities, namely Multimedia University of Kenya, located in Nairobi and Dedan Kimathi University with headquarters in Nyeri, Central Kenya, through their few staff with background in optics and photonics resolved to launch programmes in Applied Optics and Photonics, a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science in Industrial Laser Technology and Photonics degree, respectively. As one of the initiators of this endeavour, we would like to share the motivations, the expectations and challenges with the ETOP community from which we expect support and advice.

2.

CURRICULUM FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN APPLIED OPTICS AND LASERS

3.

CURRICULUM OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INDUSTRIAL LASER TECHNOLOGY AND PHOTONICS

4.

CASE STUDY OF CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN LASER MATERIALS PROCESSING IN EAST AFRICA: AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

The success of any academic technological programme is gauged by the professional success of its graduates on the labor market and the impact of the technology on the socio-economical development of a region or a country. Laser materials processing in East African region is still at its infancy stage and its growth will depend on the pace of industrialization of the economy. One of the sectors where the graduates of the programmes in optics and lasers could have good career opportunities is the emerging but fast growing automotive manufacturing industry.

Frost & Sullivan sees automotive manufacturing as one of the key future industries in Africa¹⁶. Despite African economic growth slowing down due to low oil and commodities prices, the automotive market is forecast to grow between 3 and 3.7 in 2017, East Africa retaining its position as the fastest growing economically region on the continent^17,18. While Africa’s automobile market is still underdeveloped, Deloitte recognizes the potential of the automobile industry in Africa and foresees room for growth across the automotive value chain including vehicles sales, after sales, vehicle assembly and production. Deloitte regards the continent as the final frontier for the global automotive industry. This is as per capita income levels continue to rise, financial markets develop and cars become more accessible for a greater share of the population¹⁹. The automotive manufacturing and assembly in Africa is driven by South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. The expanding transport corridor projects such Lamu Port Southern-Soudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) are expected to reveal greater logistics opportunities and increase the demand for commercial vehicles in East Africa significantly over the next 5 years¹⁶. The Kenyan government has identified the automotive and auto parts industry as a major economic driver in the Kenya National Industrialisation Policy Framework released in 2010. In July 2015 the Ministry of Industrialisation proposed policy measures in the Policy Framework for Motor Vehicle Assembly in Kenya to complement the National Industrialisation Policy Framework. The policy was expected to be implemented in 2016 with the aim of promoting new investments in the country’s automotive industry and for Kenya to become a globally competitive vehicle manufacture. In 2015 Kenya assembled 9,295 vehicles most of which were heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs). The assembly of motor vehicles grew by 31.4% from 2013 to 2014 and vehicle assembly figures are forecasted to almost double between 2013 and 2019¹⁹.

The expansion of automotive manufacturing and assembly in Kenya and in the region is a great opportunity for deployment of high-power laser technology as the automotive industry is the first user of laser technology for materials processing globally. For example, Volkswagen began production at its Kenyan facility, at Thika just outside Nairobi, in January this year, 40 years after it closed its original Kenyan plant. The new factory receives part assembled Polos and Vivos from Volkswagen South Africa’s (VWSA) Uitenhage assembly plant in the Eastern Cape for final assembly. It will handle 1,000 cars this year, increasing over time to 5,000 units. The company has plans to open a similar assembly plant in Rwanda²⁰. The re-entry of Volkswagen in the East African car manufacturing scene might trigger the deployment of high-power lasers as the company is a heavy user of industrial lasers with more than 800 high-power laser systems installed at its assembly plants worldwide back in 2006 ²¹. Such eventuality would be a good job and career opportunity for laser technology graduates and would enhance the local intellectual content of the automotive manufacturing industry, because other players in the ground, such General Motors would follow suit.

This is about the career opportunities in automotive industry only. The deployment of large industrial projects such as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and LAPSSET, present other opportunities for laser materials processing in repair and maintenance of equipment.

This is just one example of emerging wide spectrum of opportunities in optics, laser technology and photonics applications that include communications, medicine, sensing, surveying… research and academic careers.

CONCLUSION

Optics and photonics are the heart and engine of the second global industrial revolution and Africa cannot afford to miss another opportunity of catching up with the rest of the world. Universities in East Africa have initiated academic programmes for training the much needed manpower in optics and photonics despite limited financial and human resources. The success of these projects depends on how they will be able to mobilize the available resources locally and regionally in collaboration with the global photonics community.