PREAMBLE

The Association of African Universities (AAU) whose headquarters is in Accra, Ghana (www.aau.org and www.blog.aau.org) invites all suitably qualified persons to respond to this call. The AAU is the Apex Body and Voice of Higher Education in Africa, the implementing arm of the African Union on Higher and Tertiary Education matters as well as the Coordinator for the African Union Commission’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2015-2025) Cluster on Higher Education.

The AAU has extensive experience in organizing and delivering high-quality workshops tailored to the needs of higher and tertiary education practitioners. We have effectively trained over 63,000 academic staff since the Association’s founding in 1967 and have a vast database of higher education experts that we mobilize to support the delivery of required workshops – including Francophone, Arabic, Lusophone and Anglophone experts. Currently, the Association is seeking to expand this database to include more experts in the areas where it has been running workshops over the years, as well as experts in other specialist areas where the Association is yet to implement capacity building in, but which are critical for Higher and Tertiary Education (HTE) Personnel.

The overall target is for AAU to improve the quality of workshops (run at institutional, national and international levels) and expand its training programmes to reach more African HTE personnel. This can only be achieved through the involvement of specialist area experts in the facilitation of the training workshops and the creation of quality resource materials with commonly accepted concepts, themes and areas of coverage. This open call will, therefore, enable the AAU to build a database of specialist area workshop facilitators to sustain capacity development of personnel in African Higher and Tertiary Education Institutions, through workshop training sessions.

Building a pool of specialist facilitators will also make it easier for the AAU to engage them and increase the speed at which we move to implement workshops for our stakeholders. The workshops are tailor-made to address key areas of concern indicated by institutions and prospective participants during the workshops’ online registration. This results in having an African HTE community with a shared vision which they can all rally behind and support with adequate understanding.

The AAU works in four languages – Portuguese, Arabic, English and French, therefore we encourage facilitators from these linguistic backgrounds to respond to this call. Kindly complete the online form through this link which you can copy and paste onto any browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FAC2021WORK

The successful specialist area candidates, among other things, will

1. Develop quality content through specialist area groups headed by group leaders to be appointed from among the selected applicants.
2. Facilitate virtual and Face-to-Face AAU institutional, national and international workshops.

Kindly use the contact details below for any further communication and inquiries:

• Dr Violet Makuku vmakuku@aau.org; vmakuku@gmail.com +233 263 129 798
• Ms Pamela H. Boamah: adomboamah1@gmail.com+233 249 644 795
• Ms Agnes Apedoe: secgen@aau.org+233 20 815 2735     +233 55 349 5797
• Frank Asefuah (Technical Challenges): fasefuah@aau.org +233 548 880 855

CAPACITY BUILDING AREAS

The table below presents some thematic areas that the AAU has been implementing workshops in.  We are calling for experts both in these areas, as well as in other important areas which are not included in this table, but are critical areas where capacity building is required to help improve African Higher Education’s quality in general.

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

AAU was established in 1967 and is the current implementing agency of the AUC’s initiatives and activities related to HE. It is also the coordinator of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2015-2025) cluster on HE. This activity seeks to fulfil some of CESA’s 12 strategic objectives which are in line with revitalizing the quality of all aspects of Higher Education in Africa.

Vision

To be the leading advocate for higher education in Africa, with the capacity to provide support for its member institutions in meeting national, continental and global needs.

Mission

To enhance the quality and relevance of higher education in Africa and strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development.

Core Values

• Transparency and Accountability
• Equity and Inclusiveness
• Excellence and Professionalism
• Responsiveness
• Sustainability
• Teamwork and Collegiality

Objectives of the Association of African Universities (AAU)

1. To promote interchange, contact and cooperation among universities and other institutions of higher education in Africa,
2. To collect, classify and disseminate information on higher education and research, particularly in Africa,
3. To promote cooperation among African higher education institutions in curriculum development, post graduate training, research, quality assurance, recognition of qualifications, the determination of equivalence of degrees, and other matters of special policy or practical interest to African higher education,
4. To encourage and empower members of the Association to address developmental challenges and become an effective voice in national, regional and global institutions,
5. To study and make known the educational and related needs of African universities and other institutions of higher education and, as far as practicable, co-ordinate the means whereby those needs may be met,
6. To contribute to the improvement of leadership, institutional management and the policy environment of African higher education,
7. To organise, encourage and support public fora for information dissemination and exchange and policy dialogue on issues of higher education,
8. To promote gender and social equity in policies on higher education and in the delivery of higher education services and
9. To promote linkages with the international higher education community.