Speech by Professor Etienne E. Ehile

Secretary General, Association of African Universities

Delivered at the 15^th AAU Quadrennial General Conference of African University Leaders

July 5-8, 2021|Virtual Event

• His Excellency, The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
   
• Your Excellencies, Past and Present Ambassadors and High Commissioners assigned to various countries all over the world;
  
  
• Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
  
  
• The Honorable Minister of Education of the Republic of Ghana;
  
  
• Government Representatives from various countries;
  
  
• The President of the Governing Board of the Association of African Universities, Professor Orlando Quilambo, & all AAU Governing Board Members past and present;
  
  
• Vice-Chancellors, Pro-Vice Chancellors, Presidents, Rectors and other institutional heads gathered here;
  
  
• Distinguished African Academics from the Diaspora;
  
  
• Colleagues from various African Higher Education Institutions;
  
  
• Senior Executives and Representatives from development partner organizations;
  
  
• Captains of Industry;
• International Higher Education Experts and Consultants;
• Invited Guests, Distinguished Participants;
• Friends from the Media;
• Ladies and Gentlemen;
• All protocol Observed

I am delighted to warmly welcome you all to the 15^th General Conference of the Association of African Universities in which is embedded another important statutory event on the AAU’s Calendar - the 21^st Conference of Rectors, Vice Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities (COREVIP).

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to add my voice to that of the AAU President in commending you all for joining us here this week, on this platform created by the AAU for us to deliberate on the future of higher education in Africa and to share our perspectives, as well as our expectations.

Indeed, higher education plays a critical and central role in our world today, as before, and will continue to take on an even magnified role tomorrow. No nation can embark on a path of sustainable growth and development without anchoring these on a resilient and responsive higher education sector.  This therefore places a responsibility on us all – policy makers, industry players, development partner institutions, academics, and all those who are involved, to put a high premium and invest heavily, both financially and in other forms, in the higher education sector across the continent. 

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, since our last meeting in Accra, in 2017, I am proud to say that the AAU has chalked significant milestones, borne out of the goodwill, cooperation and hard work of the various stakeholder groups, including our membership, and partners who work closely with the AAU on a regular basis. Notable among them, we established the AAU Television (AAU TV) in 2018 to showcase African scholarly works and to generally improve on the visibility of our institutions; we opened regional offices in North Africa, East Africa and in North America, in line with our decentralization strategy of getting closer to our member Universities on the continent, and with Africans in the diaspora.  We have continued to build the capacity of African Universities to deliver a globally competitive education, through our various capacity building workshops and through our involvement in projects and programmes such as the African Centres of Excellence for Development Impact, the Science Granting Councils Initiative, the Harmonisation of African Higher Education, Quality Assurance and Accreditation (HAQAA) Initiative and the Demography of African Faculty (DAF) project among several others.

Today heralds the beginning of the next four years in the life of the AAU, until we proudly host you again in 2025 at the next AAU Quadrennial General Conference. Guided by our Strategic Plan, which benefited from inputs from you all through wider stakeholder engagement sessions, we are sure to report the achievement of key milestones at our next meeting.  The strategy targets a number of outcomes and strategic results to be achieved by 2025 and these include;

• undertaking evidence-based advocacy to ensure a favourable policy environment and prioritization of higher education at national, regional and continental levels;
• strengthening institutional capacity of member HEIs and the AAU to deliver on our respective mandates;
• harmonizing and standardizing Higher education in Africa to enhance inter-institutional collaboration, networking and competitiveness;
• initiating sustainable financing mechanisms for AAU and mobilizing sufficient financial resources among others.

We know that with support from you all, our members and partners, achievement of these strategic targets is within reach.  The AAU has always recognized the fundamental importance of the contribution and role played by African Higher Education stakeholders in keeping the Association vibrant and in supporting the attainment of our shared goal. In that regard, I would like to specially thank all our member institutions, development partners, and African Governments for your continued support to the Association over the years. 

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,  our discussions this week will focus on key topics covering The Future of African Higher Education Post-COVID-19; the Contributions of African Higher Education Institutions to Addressing the Challenges linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals; Funding of African Higher Education Institutions in the face of unpredictable Economy ; Mainstreaming e-learning and the digital divide and the Contributions of the Diaspora to African Higher Education. I call on us all to participate fully and to engage in the discussion sessions. 

As I bring my remarks to an end, let me assure you that the AAU is committed to playing our strategic role, in achieving the grand vision of a strengthened and globally competitive higher Education for Africa. We shall continue to ensure that the African Higher education sector contributes substantially to the attainment of the goals of policies such as the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063, the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25), the Science Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024), and the Global 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda among others, for the benefit of the good people of Africa and the World at large.

I welcome you all once again to the 15^th General Conference of the AAU and I wish us all fruitful deliberation sessions.  Thank you for your attention.