The 1st African Higher Education Summit on “Revitalizing Higher Education for Africa’s Future” was held in Dakar, Senegal on March 10 -12, 2015 to confirm commitment to the objective of creating a continental multi-stakeholders’ platform to identify strategies for transforming the African Higher Education sector. The summit was organised by several key pan-African organisations such as the African Union Commission, Trust Africa, Association of African Universities, Association for the Development of Education in Africa and other international partners.
The Summit had seven (7) objectives and the summit agreed on nine (9) focal points for implementation to improve Higher Education in Africa.
Summit Objectives:
The following were the objectives for the summit:
1. Build a constituency for transformation and investment in Africa’s Higher Education;
2. Create a shared vision for the future of African Higher Education;
3. Harness and highlight best practices and initiatives in African Higher Education;
4. Harness and build complementarities amongst the various efforts and interventions in African Higher Education;
5. Spur, share and sustain innovation in African Higher Education;
6. Create an African Higher Education movement as part of the continent’s integration efforts; and
7. Ensure coordination of the various initiatives, both by African actors and international development organizations, to reposition the sector.
Focal Points/ Priority Areas
1. Expand Higher Education to accommodate the growing population and also the needs for Africa’s inclusive development
2. Promote diversification, differentiation, and harmonization of Higher Education systems at the national, institutional and continental/ regional levels.
3. Increase investment in Higher Education to facilitate development, promote stability, enhance access and equity; develop, recruit and retain excellent academic staff and pursue cutting-edge research and provision of high quality teaching.
4. Pursue excellence in teaching and learning, research and scholarship, public service and provision of solutions to the development challenges and opportunities facing African peoples across the continent.
5. Commit to building capacity in Research, Science, Technology, and Innovation.
6. Deliberate policies developed by African governments and regional economic communities.
7. Pursue national development through business, Higher Education and graduate employability: Despite the rapid expansion of Higher Education enrolments, there are serious concerns about the ability of Africa’s universities to produce the kinds of graduates who can drive the continent forward.
The Way Forward
The Association of African Universities in partnership with Trust Africa is hosting stakeholders and participants of the 1st African Higher Education Summit in Dakar on the webinar platform. The purpose of this post summit webinar is to create the opportunity for stakeholder engagements, monitoring and evaluation of activities and benchmarking of success stories on the implementation of summit objectives and agreed action plans since 2015.
Webinars are online platforms for holding seminars, meetings and fora for a group of participants through the use of internet technology. Webinars give the opportunity for participants to stay in the comfort of their various locations, homes and offices and still participate or contribute to discussions through the use of internet. Webinars have similar features to physical engagement workshops and summits.
Webinar Objectives:
The main objectives of the Post Dakar Summit Webinar presentation are to:
1. Review the objectives for the Summit.
2. Reflect on what has been achieved pertaining to the objectives since 2015 to date.
3. Share information and case studies on the implementation of the 2015 Dakar Declaration and Action Plans.
Expected outputs
The Post-Dakar Declaration Webinar is expected to inform participants about the achievements and challenges in the implantation of the Dakar Declaration and provide a new roadmap to achieve the broader objectives. The webinar will also take stock of key progress areas and achievements.
Deliverables
The deliverables of the webinar are:
a) Presentation and Webinar Video
b) Synthesized publication
c) Interaction with various participants and stakeholders.
d) Lessons learned from the presentation as well as the questions and answer (Q/A) session.
Information On The Webinar Presentation
Date: Monday, 31st August, 2017
Time: 12:00 GMT
Venue: Online (Adobe Connect Platform)
Organizers: This Webinar is organized by the Association of African Universities (AAU) and funded by TrustAfrica.
Target Audience:
This Webinar is open to all stakeholders in Higher Education in Africa, participants of the 1st African Higher Education Summit and key organizations in Africa such as Trust Africa, African Union Commission (AUC), Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), United Nations Africa Institute for Development and Economic Planning (IDEP), Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA),
Association of African Universities (AAU), the African Development Bank (AfDB), AUWA, SARUA, IUCEA, CAMES, RUFORUM, RECs. Government of Senegal who also served as the host, and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. Summit international partners: Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY), MasterCard Foundation, and the World Bank.
How To Participate
1. Confirm participation by registering at www.aau.org/webinars
2. Webinar will be livestreamed on: https://meet53484183.adobeconnect.com/wghetalks/
3. Make sure you have Adobe flash player installed on your device (computer, smartphones etc.)
Live Tweeting and Event Hashtag:
1) Join the conversation following #WGHETalks and share your comments and questions.
2) Follow our webinar via our social media channels: @TrustAfrica and @AAU_67
For any further information, please contact the following phone numbers for assistance:
(+233) 302.77.44.95/ 71.55.88, (+233) 243.29.84.64 or email us at kasam@aau.org and ndhlamini@aau.org