African Entrepreneurship Record

Logans: ”This time our city has boldly established five new key schools, namely New Frankfurt City University of Technology, New Frankfurt City College of Light Industry, New Frankfurt City Institute of Electrical Engineering, New Frankfurt City College of Textile Industry, and New Frankfurt City Automotive Maintenance College.”​

At the beginning of the education reform, New Frankfurt City was overwhelmed by the grand plans of the Central Government. As a relatively young city in East Africa, New Frankfurt City previously did not even have a single university, but now four have been established all at once, which makes Mayor Logans very excited.

The reason it’s four is that the fifth, New Frankfurt City Automotive Maintenance College, doesn’t fall under the category of higher education. However, appearing on the list at least indicates that it is a key school of the same type as Mbeya City School of Electrical Technology.​

”In recent years, the development speed of our New Frankfurt City has not been slow, but in terms of education, it was much inferior to cities of the same level. Now, with national policies in place, this issue is immediately resolved. In terms of the number of upcoming institutions, we are already among the leading East African cities,” Logans said.

It is important to note that the cities with the most concentrated higher education in East Africa, Soga City and First Town, combined only have ten universities, while Mbeya City has only three universities, but its laboratories and research institutions are among the best in East Africa.

Of course, obtaining such a generous privilege is closely tied to the advantages of New Frankfurt City itself. The most important point is that this city is the heart of the East African railway, making it convenient for students from all directions to study here.

The second influencing factor is the rise of Rhein City, as East Africa’s future capital, where educational resources are bound to be most concentrated.

Because this time Ernst does not intend to create another city like Soga City focused solely on academia, but rather to have Rhein City serve directly as the center for East African education, research, and academics.

However, as a national capital, it is not ideal to concentrate all universities in Rhein City, especially some engineering disciplines, which are better placed in cities corresponding to their industry distributions.​

Among them, New Frankfurt City undertakes some light industry projects, or educational resources corresponding to its advantageous industries.

First, it’s self-evident with the University of Technology. Although the industry of New Frankfurt City leans toward light industry, this does not hinder its status as an important industrial city in East Africa.

New Frankfurt City is also one of East Africa’s centers for electrical equipment manufacturing and automotive assembly industry. Benefiting from its position as a transportation hub, New Frankfurt City is also the national cotton distribution center in East Africa, with late-blooming achievements in the textile industry, second only to Nairobi City and Bulawayo City.​

The only drawback of New Frankfurt City is its relative lack of mineral resources. However, the north is the copper belt, the south is East Africa’s industrial base, and in the east, there’s Mbeya City, a research center, all of which gives its geographical location a certain cleverness.​

Of course, compared to New Frankfurt City, other cities in East Africa have also reaped great benefits from this education reform. According to the content of this reform, every provincial capital in East Africa will have at least three higher education institutions in the next three years. Apart from the capital cities, other key cities in East Africa will also get a share of the pie.​

The most eye-catching, undoubtedly, is East Africa’s new capital, Rhein City, where the first batch of planned institutions to be constructed is as many as twenty, and the types of universities are the most comprehensive in East Africa.​

It is well-known that East African education prioritized the humanities over sciences, so humanities higher education in East Africa was practically non-existent. Of course, this does not mean that East African science and technology higher education was much better. At least before this education reform, higher education resources in East Africa were extremely scarce, with forty-three universities struggling to meet the demand.​

However, it was inevitable, as East African education had laid the foundation over decades, continuously sending students abroad to accumulate the talent needed for higher education.​

In the new round of educational resource allocation, New Frankfurt City, compared to previous East African higher education, is certainly dazzling. But with the establishment of higher education across other regions and departments, it is not so outstanding.​

Besides distributing educational resources according to city and industry, this wave of school establishment involves the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Energy... the Ministry of Defense, etc.​

Simultaneously, a batch of existing quasi-higher educational schools has been upgraded, merged, and restructured during this reform. Mbeya City School of Electrical Technology is upgraded to Mbeya City University of Electricity. The merged schools are concentrated in East Africa’s old industrial cities, while there are very few disbandments. In fact, disbandment and merging are interconnected, more accurately called restructuring.​

…​

”Our Ministry of Education and other departments have compiled a total of one hundred and seventy-two schools, covering virtually all industrial, agricultural, and other fields.”​

According to Ernst’s requirements, the East African Government, after thorough discussion and research, has determined the new landscape of higher education in East Africa.​

However, the number of one hundred and seventy-two universities startled Ernst, as initially, he thought that breaking the hundred mark for East African higher education institutions was already considerable. But the government’s list has evidently greatly exceeded expectations, almost reaching two hundred.​

Upon careful reading of the government’s plan, Ernst found that not only is this list reasonable, but it also cannot satisfy the entirety of East Africa’s needs. The demand for education by various departments and cities is quite strong, and looking at it from the perspective of East African government departments and provincial administrative regions, one hundred and seventy-two universities might seem ample, but in reality, they are far from enough.​

East Africa cannot become a ”giant” in one step; an excessive quantity has exceeded the current capabilities of the East African Government. After all, the education budget in East Africa is limited.​

In contrast, East Africa’s investment in education has already surpassed other nations at the same period. This reform might even surpass the army expenditures of the Defense Army in 1890. Considering East Africa’s broad educational coverage, including primary, secondary, and mandatory education, plus universities, it represents a significant financial burden for the East African Government.​

However, East African Army spending is also growing considerably, especially with the implementation of the motorized military strategy. The East African Army is undergoing an equipment replacement phase, predicted to complete within the first decade of the next century.​

Thus, the East African Government is currently in a rather cash-strapped state, with expenditures on industrial and agricultural construction, military building, and education, feeling as if one Rhine Shield needs to be split in half to spend.​

The fact that East Africa can support the construction of one hundred and seventy-two universities has already maximized the advantage of its social system.​

Although one hundred and seventy-two universities seem numerous, they include the original forty-three universities of East Africa, making the number of newly established universities one hundred and twenty-nine, directly quadrupling higher education funding.​

”Alright, let’s proceed according to this list! After all, education is a long-term investment. Perhaps we don’t see immediate returns, but it cannot be ignored. Moreover, currently, East Africa faces weaker external military pressure, so in tight financial circumstances, we can reasonably slow military development. There’s no need to fully invest in mechanization, especially since technological updates are not slow. The same applies to the navy, as a breakthrough may occur in the next few years, surpassing current battleships. Hence, military reform should have some limits.”​

Ernst essentially suggested that military development should yield to education, considering that the East African Army is not falling behind, while in the naval aspect, current advanced warships might become obsolete like scrap metal with the arrival of the dreadnought era.​

Moreover, given East Africa’s geographical position, it is not easily threatened militarily, so the dream of strengthening the military could be postponed to allocate more funds toward the advancement of East African science, technology, and culture.​