The AAU Secretariat and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) participated in the meeting organized by the African Union for the Specialized Technical Group on Science, Technology & Education in Cairo Egypt from 8-10 November 2015. This important meeting was also attended by SADC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, EAC, NEPAD, IGAD, UNECA, AOSTI  and other key stakeholders.

The purpose of the meeting was to launch the first Specialized Technical Group of Science, Technology and Education created under the African Union’s Strategy for Harmonization of statistics in Africa (SHaSA). The meeting engaged with the Group’s terms of reference and its business architecture. It also reflected on major continental, regional and national developments related to monitoring and evaluating country performance in science, technology and education.

The specific objectives of the Specialized Technical Group on Science, Technology & Education meeting were to

1. Review the Terms of Reference provided by SHaSA on the STG for Science, Technology & Education
2. Review the STG’s knowledge management – the business architecture
3. Review draft indicators for the Science, Technology, Innovation & Education
4. Obtain feedback on the AU Data Portal on Science, Technology and Education (AOSTI) and AU Education Observatory
5. Review continental education statistical developments in Africa
6. Review regional and country statistical developments in Africa
7. Review the report to Director Generals of Central Statistical Offices s on Science, Technology & Education
8. Review the Statistics Year Book with focus on Science, Technology & Education

Importance of this meeting to the AAU Network

1. Opportunity to bring African Universities on board by ensuring the universities understand the indicators that will be used to track the progress of implementing continental and international frameworks (STISA2014, CESA, Agenda2063, SDG4 etc) – thus guiding African Universities on how to adapt their Management Information Systems
2. Re-enforcement of the role of universities in building capacities for data management at national level – i.e. how universities can respond to address the current situation related to “blank data” in Africa
3. Opportunity for universities to link their self assessment / benchmarking frameworks to relevant indicators being tracked by continental and international frameworks – so that universities begin to naturally contribute to the data sought by STISA2024, CESA, Agenda2063 and SDG4
4. Opportunities for regional Higher Education Networks to engage more closely with the various African Union Specialized Technical Groups. These networks include SARUA, AWAU, IUCEA, RUFORUM, CAMES, ANAFE, etc.