PRESS RELEASE
March 2003

The year 2003 biennial Conference of Rectors, Vice Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities (COREVIP 2003) of the Association of African was held from March 17 – 21. The event, which was hosted by the University of Mauritius at the International Conference Centre, Grand Baie, Mauritius, brought together one hundred and sixty-two (162) participants from Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States of America. The theme of the Conference was, “The Role of Higher Education Institutions in the Building of the African Union”

His Excellency, Dr. Amara Essy, Interim President of the African Union Commission, graced the occasion and played the role of Keynote Speaker for the Conference. The Right Honourable Sir Anerood Jugnauth, Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius performed the opening ceremony.

Goodwill Messages were presented to the Conference on behalf of:

The President of the Republic of Ghana, by the Deputy High Commissioner of Ghana to the Republic of South Africa
UNESCO, by Dr. Armoogum Parsuramen, Director of UNESCO-BREDA
MINEDAF VIII, by Dr. Pius Y. Ng’Wandu, Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Tanzania and Chairman of MINEDAF VIII
The Minister of Education of Libya, by Prof. Abdulkabir Saied AL- FAHRY

Reports of activities on Higher Education were also presented by the:

Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie
Association of Commonwealth Universities
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
Federation of Arab Universities
International Association of Universities
United Nations University
United Negro College Fund
World Bank

The three sub-themes of the Conference, the Challenge of Poverty Reduction in Africa: The Way Forward from the Higher Education Perspective; African Higher Education Institutions Responding to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic; and Peace and Conflict Resolution in Africa: The continuing Challenge to African Higher Education Institutions, were presented by speakers in plenary and discussed by participants in Working groups.

Some institutions and bodies took advantage of the Conference to inform of their programmes in parallel sessions. These include the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), the Study Programme on Higher Education of the AAU, the UNDP and the Working Group on Higher Education.

At the end of the Conference, participants came out with the attached statement to the African Union through its Interim President, H.E. Dr. Amara Essy.