Two working documents, a synthesis report on revitalising higher education and a report of the first African Union meeting of experts on revitalisation of higher education in Africa formed the basis of discussion at the meeting. Issues surrounding student enrolment, institutional governance, gender, the brain drain, health and infrastructure were identified and discussed.

A major outcome of the meeting was a proposal to draft and disseminate an analytical report that would bring together key issues and arguments developed in previous initiatives and sessions, together with the interventions articulated during this meeting. The report will, at the same time, seek to engage with Africa’s political leadership as well as managers of higher education. This task was to be taken in hand by the African Union Commission for Human Resources, Science and Technology (HSRT), with the technical backing of the Association of African Universities.

Speaking to the media after the meeting Dr. Botlhale O. Tema, Director of HSRT, and Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities, stressed the special role Africa’s higher education institutions contribute to continental development by coming up with ideas and the knowledge for improving Africa’s social and economic conditions.

Prof. Sawyer explained that each of the series of meetings held of stakeholders and experts had added to the understanding of the problems facing higher education and the way forward. He told the press that the just-completed Accra meeting had helped to flesh out the framework for a programme of action for the Second Decade of Education in Africa, declared by the AU Ministerial meeting held in Addis Ababa last January. For the first time, higher education was identified as one of the focus areas for the Decade.

Details of the deliberations and presentations at the meeting are available on the AAU website (http://www.aau.org/au_experts/index.htm)

About the Association of African Universities (AAU)

The Association of African Universities (AAU) is a not-for-profit international non-governmental organisation formed by 34 African universities at a founding conference held in Rabat, Morocco, in 1967, to promote cooperation among African universities, and between them and the international academic community. This followed earlier consultations among executive heads of African universities at a UNESCO conference on higher education in Africa in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in 1962 and at a formal conference of heads of African universities in 1963 in Khartoum, Sudan. From the initial membership of 34 universities, the AAU has grown to a membership of 194 universities and other higher education institutions drawn from all sub-regions of the continent.

The main objectives of the Association are to promote cooperation among higher education institutions in Africa; collect, classify and disseminate information on higher education and research, particularly in Africa; facilitate cooperation between its members and the international academic world; study, publicise and advocate the educational and related needs of African higher education institutions; and facilitate the exchange of information and best practices within the African academic community.

The Association is the apex organisation and principal forum for consultation, exchange of information and cooperation among the universities and other higher education institutions of Africa. Its headquarters are in Accra, Ghana, and it operates in three working languages, English, French and Arabic.

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