Accra, Ghana, September 02, 2022  In commemoration of this year’s Africa Universities’ Day, the Association of African Universities (AAU) is inviting all Higher Education Institutions across the continent to join the AAU mark this important statutory event on the Association’s calendar, while turning their focus on open science.

The Africa Universities’ Day which falls on November 12^th each year, is set aside to celebrate the establishment of the AAU on November 12, 1967, as well as to highlight the contributions of the Higher Education Sector to the development of the African continent. The Day also provides an opportunity for critical dialogues targeted at improving the quality of Africa’s higher education towards the growth of the continent.

A weeklong celebration, featuring key events from November 7 -12, 2022, are planned to rally various higher education stakeholders, including African Universities, ministries of education, industry and development partner institutions as well as others to a common platform for high-level intellectual discussions, as part of the celebration.

The theme for this year’s celebration is Open Science -Bringing Equity to Research and Publishing. It is inspired by the need to increase the higher education community’s participation in research, visibility of African research, publication rate, and the overall number of researchers through the promotion of the accurate verification of scientific results. The concept note for the celebrations is available in English and French for stakeholders attention.

The celebrations seek to increase advocacy for the adoption of best practices to further generate knowledge about Open Science, and its impact on interdisciplinary science research, as well as highlight opportunities created for scholars and communicators of research to learn from one another. The Africa Universities’ Day will also provide a platform for peer learning and networking to foster collaborations among participating institutions. The concept note for the 2022 Africa Universities’ Day celebration is accessible via this link for further information on the theme.

Through high-level presentations and panel discussions, this year’s Africa Universities’ Day celebration, will provide the much-needed platform for higher education stakeholders to discuss important open science sub-themes including – Open data practices in research processes; instituting research data management plans for data management in higher education institutions; supporting open review for research transparency;  building a culture of open scholarship in African higher education institutions; and building, revamping, and increasing awareness of African institutional repositories.

African higher education institutions are encouraged to mark the day in their institutions by organising high level and participatory event such as seminars, debates, exhibitions, social media conversations, conferences, webinars and several others to dissect the theme and to help Africa reap the most benefits from open science.   In the absence of these, higher education institutions and other stakeholders are encouraged to join the activities lined up by the AAU Secretariat.

AAU encourages the management of universities, to circulate information concerning the 2022 Africa Universities’ Day celebrations to the Ministries of Education, University Councils, Committees of Vice-Chancellors, and all institutions involved in the management of Higher Education Institutions for their attention and participation in the events. Other public and private universities in each country which are non-members of the AAU, research institutions, the media, and the general public are also invited to join the celebrations to give visibility to Africa Universities’ Day and promote the activities of Higher Education Institutions in each country.

AAU – The Voice of Higher Education in Africa!!

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Media Contact

Mrs. Felicia Nkrumah-Kuagbedzi, Senior Communications and Publications Officer, AAU-  fnkrumah@aau.org

Ms. Naomi Darko, Communications Assistant, AAU – ndarko@aau.org

About the Association of African Universities

The AAU is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization created by African Universities to promote cooperation among them on the one hand, and between them and the international academic community on the other. Created in 1967, the AAU is the voice of higher education in Africa and aims to improve the quality of African higher education and strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development by supporting the core functions of higher education institutions and facilitating critical reflection and consensus building on issues affecting higher education. The AAU is headquartered in Accra, Ghana has a membership of more than 400 Higher Education Institutions and is the technical implementing arm of the African Union Commission (AUC) in higher education. The Association is also the coordinating agency of the Higher Education Cluster of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25). Through our guidance, our member universities are also responsible for implementing the AUC’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024).