The Association of African Universities (AAU), has put the necessary machinery in motion to celebrate the annual African University Day in its headquarters in Accra, Ghana, on November 12, 2016. The African University Day Celebration serves as a unique platform to promote critical dialogue among stakeholders on how to improve higher education in Africa. The Day, which is set aside to celebrate the success stories of higher education across the continent, has been celebrated since the year 2000. Focusing on the need to stimulate job creation for the youth, the theme for this year’s celebration is “Entrepreneurial Learning and Communities of Practice”.
During the occasion, the AAU seeks to bring together public and private universities, tertiary educational institutions, non-higher education institutions and other stakeholders, to discuss the theme through an Innovation Week Celebration, while seminars, workshops or panel discussions would also be held on entrepreneurship. Other participants include industry players and policy makers, whose activities would be made known through interviews granted to members of the public through the media, using press releases, articles in local newspapers, exhibitions of publications and other outputs emanating from universities.
AAU is an apex organisation and forum for consultation, exchange of information and cooperation among higher education institutions (HEIs) in Africa. It recognises that, for HEIs to adopt innovative strategies to improve their educational outcomes, there is the need to work more closely with the various stakeholders, especially from the industry, to ensure the relevance of their curricula, while aiming at producing graduates who make a difference in their communities by solving problems.
The association was founded in Rabat, Morocco, on November 12, 1967, by members of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU), and it has current membership strength of over 380 including FUNAAB. With a strong representation in all five regions of Africa, AAU provides the platform for research, reflection, consultation, debates, cooperation and collaboration on issues pertaining to higher education. Over the years, AAU has made tremendous contributions to higher education advancement in Africa. Current programmes being run include the World Bank African Centres of Excellence Project and FUNAAB is one of the Centres; Database of African Theses and Dissertation (DATAD), Graduate Internship Programme, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Fellowship Programme, Quality Assurance Support Programme; and the Leadership/Management Development Training Programmes. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, is the current president of the AAU.
Meanwhile, all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), in Africa are expected to celebrate the day, between November 7 and 11, 2016
