Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given text for US Congressional and California state bills, your task is to generate a summary for this bill.
Problem:SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ''African Higher Education Expansion
and Improvement Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The demand for higher education in Africa has been
increasing at very high rates and is rapidly overtaking the
capacity of current infrastructure and staffing capability.
(2) Africa's challenges in higher education are substantial
and have important social, economic, and stability dimensions.
(3) Despite increasing enrollments, sub-Saharan Africa's
gross enrollment ration is just 5 percent as compared to 11
percent in India, 20 percent in China, and 70 percent in high
income countries.
(4) On average, institutions of higher education in Africa
have only about 70 percent of the staff required by their
programs; staff development, nurturing and retention are
important elements of higher education programming.
(5) In 2005, only 28 percent of African University
graduates completed their degrees in science and technology
(STEM) fields--agriculture, engineering, health sciences,
general sciences.
(6) African higher education institutions have addressed
many critical development challenges in collaboration with
regional and international counterparts, such as the United
Nations, the International Agricultural Research Centres, and
bilateral and regional assistance agencies.
(7) Higher education has expanded to provide more
opportunities for advanced education to graduates of the
secondary school systems and it has sought new ways to achieve
university collaboration across national and regional
boundaries.
(8) Africa has made important strides as public
universities have doubled from roughly 100 to 200 from 1990 to
2007 and private tertiary institutions have increased from
around 24 to an estimated 468 during this same period.
(9) Historically, sub-Saharan Africa was marked by several
centers of excellence in higher education. Linked to former
European sponsors, institutions such as Makerere University in
Uganda, Kenyatta University in Kenya, Cheik Anta Diop
University, Senegal, and the University of Ibadan in Nigeria
graduated scholars and professionals that were highly prized
around the globe and that served the interests of their
respective nations well.
(10) These universities serve as ''centres of excellence''
that also have major positive impacts on other universities in
their respective regions, and are currently making substantial
progress in regaining their national and international
prominence.
(11) Increasing rates of higher education in developing
countries is a critical component to long-term economic growth
and stability and poverty reduction.
(12) Estimates indicate that a 1-year increase in tertiary
education stock would raise steady-state levels of African
Gross Domestic Product per capita by 12.2 percent due to factor
inputs, potentially boosting incomes by 3 percent after 5
years.
(13) Studies of 17 countries found that individuals with
higher education levels were more likely to engage in
entrepreneurial activity, and more educated entrepreneurs
created larger numbers of jobs than less educated
entrepreneurs.
(14) Research has found a positive and statistically
significant correlation between higher education enrollment
rates and governance indicators, including absence of
corruption, higher stands of rule of law, absence of ethnic
tensions, increased bureaucratic quality, low risk of
repudiation of contracts by governments, and low risk of
appropriation abuse.
(15) A cadre of skilled, educated Africans is a necessary
component to addressing every sector of development, whether it
be poverty alleviation and economic growth, combating disease,
improving governance, or rule of law and human rights, but such
a cadre does not currently exist in large enough numbers to
truly effect a sea-change in these areas in most of the
countries in the region.
(16) Exchange programs which bring Africans to developed
countries for training, while an essential component of
building intellectual capacity in Africa, will not by
themselves reach enough students and scholars to have a
transformational effect on African institutions of higher
education.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) support for primary and secondary education is vitally
important to development in sub-Saharan Africa and such support
should be increased;
(2) the United States and other donors must respond to the
increased need for qualified teachers and demand for access to
higher education created by expanded access to primary and
secondary education on the continent by providing commensurate
assistance to colleges and universities in sub-Saharan Africa;
(3) partnerships between United States colleges and
universities and colleges and universities in sub-Saharan
Africa represent an important means through which access to
quality tertiary education;
(4) members of the African Diaspora have a crucial role to
play in improving the capacity of African colleges and
universities;
(5) the international donor community must help build
indigenous intellectual capacity in sub-Saharan Africa in order
to expand and enhance the ability of Africans to achieve
economic growth, improve social and political stability, and to
address such challenges as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, climate
change, conflict and governance; and
(6) the United States must commit to providing long-term
assistance to build the capacity of higher education
institutions in sub-Saharan Africa aimed at improving
administrative capacity, physical infrastructure and curriculum
to provide high quality education in fields such as the social,
natural, biological, agricultural, life, computer and health
sciences; technology; business; engineering; mathematics;
economics; and education; and improve the ability of
institutions in sub-Saharan Africa to support and produce
effective research, as well as higher numbers of better trained
undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students and
professionals to respond to the many challenges facing the
region.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

It is the policy of the United States to provide long-term
assistance to expand, improve, support, and promote higher education in
Africa by building the capacity of African colleges and universities,
through partnerships with colleges and universities in the United
States to expand opportunities for students to obtain high quality
undergraduate- and graduate-level degrees, as well as post-graduate
training, at African colleges and universities.

SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE HIGHER EDUCATION IN SUB-
SAHARAN AFRICA.

Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 105 the
following new section:

''SEC. 105A. ASSISTANCE TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE HIGHER EDUCATION IN SUB-
SAHARAN AFRICA.

''(a) Authorization.--The President, acting through the Director,
is authorized to provide long-term assistance to expand, improve,
support, and promote higher education in sub-Saharan Africa.
''(b) Activities Supported.--Assistance provided under subsection
(a) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, be used to--
''(1) build the capacity of sub-Saharan African colleges
and universities in the areas of--
''(A) professional and academic training and
faculty development and technical expertise with
particular emphasis on mentoring and retention of young
and new faculty;
''(B) development and strengthening of educational
administrative capacity;
''(C) undergraduate, graduate, and graduate
curricula development;
''(D) improving infrastructure of academic
facilities; and
''(E) technical capacity, especially in the areas
of research and institutional development;
''(2) establish, expand, and promote linkages and
partnerships between African colleges and universities and
United States colleges and universities, with special attention
to the inclusion of historically Black colleges and
universities in the United States;
''(3) assist with efforts to recruit and retain women as
students, faculty, and administrators at African colleges and
universities; and
''(4) establish an American University in West Africa.
''(c) Director of Assistance To Support and Promote Higher
Education in Sub-Saharan Africa.--
''(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
the enactment of this section, the Administrator shall
designate a Director of Assistance to Support and Promote
Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, who shall report
directly to the Administrator, and who shall to carry out the
responsibilities described in paragraph (2).
''(2) Responsibilities.--The responsibilities referred to
in paragraph (1) include--
''(A) ongoing consultations with African
governments, particularly ministries of education,
regional organizations, and relevant educational
institutions, teachers unions, and education and
educators' organizations with respect to carrying out
the activities described in subsection (b);
''(B) providing long-term assistance under
subsection (a) to administer and support the activities
described in subsection (b); and
''(C) coordinating with other bureaus with in the
Agency, with other relevant United States Government
agencies, with the United States and African private
sectors, with the higher education community in the
United States, and with other bilateral and
multilateral donors to maximize the gains and impact of
activities carried out under subsection (b)(1).
''(3) Plan.--No later than one year after the enactment of
this section, the Director shall submit to the Administrator a
plan to establish an American University in West Africa. In
developing the plan, the Director shall--
''(A) review existing international American
University models in other countries, such as the
American University in Cairo, the American University
in Beruit, the American University in Nigeria, and
others;
''(B) consult relevant local African
nongovernmental organizations, political and civic
leaders, private and higher education sectors, and
other stakeholders;
''(C) identify potential sources for sustainable
funding including foundations, the private sector, and
other local, national, and multilateral donors;
''(D) identify key principles and features that
would distinguish the American University in West
Africa from existing institutions in the region for
transforming the region's social and economic
development through institutional and capacity
building;
''(E) develop a process and criteria for site
selection, including an assessment of national legal
framework for new universities, whereupon the
institution shall be known as the American university
in country name; and
''(F) outline a process for implementation.
''(d) Sub-Saharan African Higher Education Advisory Board.--
''(1) Establishment.--There is hereby established within
the Agency a Sub-Saharan African Higher Education Advisory
Board.
''(2) Membership.--
''(A) Number and appointment.--The Board shall be
composed of members appointed by the Administrator in
consultation with the Speaker and the minority leader
of the House of Representatives and the majority and
minority leaders of the Senate.
''(B) Qualifications.--The members of the Board
shall be individuals from the private sector, three of
whom shall have demonstrable knowledge of Africa, the
field of higher education or higher education in
Africa, three of whom shall be from higher education
institutions from Africa from a list submitted by the
Association of African Universities, and one of whom
shall be a president of an historically Black college
or university in the United States.
''(3) Duties.--The Board shall--
''(A) advise and assist the Director in carrying
out the responsibilities described in this section;
''(B) not less than twice a year, meet with senior
officials of the Agency in order to fulfill the duty
described in subparagraph (A); and
''(C) once a year, submit to the Director and
Administrator a report, which shall be made publicly
available, which--
''(i) describes and evaluates the
implementation of this section for the
preceding year; and
''(ii) evaluates the implementation of this
section for the preceding year, including the
extent to which--
''(I) the requirement of subsection
(b)(2) with respect to participation of
historically Black colleges and
universities in the United States was
met; and
''(II) the requirement of
subsection (b)(3) was met.
''(e) Public Private Partnerships.--The Director and the Board
shall make every effort to leverage resources from the private sector
in carrying out the responsibilities described in this section.
''(f) Reports to Congress.--
''(1) Initial report.--Not later than 1 year after the date
of the enactment of this section, the President shall transmit
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate a report that contains--
''(A) benchmarks for measuring the long-term impact
of activities carried out under this section;
''(B) a proposal for enhancing opportunities for
the African Diaspora to engage in activities to improve
the capacity, on either an on-going or short-term
basis, of colleges and universities in their country of
origin; and
''(C) plans for specific interventions to support
the recruitment and retention of young and new
professors, scholars, and researchers at African
colleges and universities that identifies barriers to
their recruitment and retention and details
programmatic interventions undertaken to overcome such
barriers.
''(2) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after the date
of transmission of the initial report under paragraph (1), and
every year thereafter through fiscal year 2014, the President
shall transmit to the congressional committees specified in
paragraph (1) a report that contains a description of the
activities carried out under this section for the preceding
fiscal year and the progress made toward achieving the
benchmarks outlined in the initial report, and any program
adjustments undertaken to improve efforts to achieve those
benchmarks.
''(g) Definitions.--In this section--
''(1) the term 'Administrator' means the Administrator of
the Agency;
''(2) the term 'Agency' means the United States Agency for
International Development;
''(3) the term 'Board' means the Sub-Saharan African Higher
Education Advisory Board established pursuant to subsection
(d);
''(4) the term 'Director' means the Director of Assistance
to Support and Promote Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
designated pursuant to subsection (c); and
''(5) the term 'higher education' means post-secondary
undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate academic training.
''(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there are authorized to be appropriated to the President such sums as
may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014. Of the
amount appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations
under this subsection for a fiscal year, such sums as may be necessary
are authorized to be provided for planning the Africa University in
West Africa and such sums as may be necessary for initial start up of
the University.''.
Solution:
African Higher Education Expansion and Improvement Act of 2009 - Expresses the sense of Congress regarding the importance to the development of sub-Saharan Africa of support for the improvement of primary, secondary, and higher education in that region.

States that it is this country's policy to provide Africa with long-term assistance to improve the capacity of its institutions of higher education (IHEs) through partnerships with our IHEs.

Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to provide long-term assistance to sub-Saharan Africa that improves higher education by: (1) building the capacity of IHEs in sub-Saharan Africa; (2) building linkages and partnerships between sub-Saharan IHEs and our IHEs; (3) assisting efforts to recruit and retain women as students, faculty, and administrators; and (4) establishing an American University in West Africa.

Requires the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to designate a Director of Assistance to Support and Promote Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, who is to carry out such activities.

Establishes a Sub-Saharan African Higher Education Advisory Board within USAID, which is appointed by the Administrator and composed of individuals from the private sector who have the requisite experience with Africa and higher education to assist the Director.

Urges the Director and the Board to make every effort to leverage resources from the private sector in carrying out their responsibilities.