Pan-African University on track

Established by the African Union, with the support of the European Union, the Pan-African University (PAU) is set to open its doors in autumn 2011, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, announced on 30 June at the opening of the 17th Summit of the African Union in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.  The first three campuses, out of an eventual five, will be opened.

The aim of the PAU is to enable African students to be fully competitive on an international level. Each of the five campuses – located in Africa’s five main regions – will focus their teaching on one of the five thematic areas considered to be essential to Africa’s development: Space Sciences (Southern Africa, campus to be confirmed), Water and Energy Sciences (including climate change) (North Africa, campus to be confirmed), Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (East Africa, Kenya), Earth and Life Sciences (including health and agriculture) (West Africa, Nigeria) and lastly, Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (Central Africa, Cameroon).

Each institute will be linked to a network of educational centres already established throughout the continent and will focus on the same thematic areas. The latest details regarding the first three campuses (Kenya, Cameroon and Nigeria) were finalised by the African ministers for education, who met on 13 May 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the aegis of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF).

Mutual recognition

The participating institutions must meet high-quality criteria. These include: expertise in the key thematic areas, participation in international partnerships and joint-research projects, high standards for selecting students for admission, a strong management system and adequate infrastructure and availability of staff. Furthermore, the Arusha Convention – adopted in 1981 and revised in 2002 – guarantees the mutual recognition of diplomas and other higher-education qualifications.

The EU supports initiatives like the PAU within the framework of its partnership with the African Union on migration, mobility and employment. Education has a key role in this respect. The European Commission supports mobility of students and twinning agreements between higher education establishments in Europe and Africa through several programmes, including Erasmus Mundus and Edulink.

M.M.B.