The Entrepreneurial African University

Maputo, Mozambique, 29 – 31 MARCH 2016

Across the world, higher education institutions (HEIs) have become potent agents for transformation. While such institutions play a critical role in a country’s economic, social and cultural development, adapting this sector to the ever changing and complex global environment can have a vast impact on its success as a catalyst for social change.

African Universities are without doubt key enablers of our continent’s optimal development. As institutions of higher education, African universities are entrusted with Africa’s most valuable resource, our human capital. African universities have the daunting task to develop graduates with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes (‘graduate attributes’) in order for them to take co-ownership of the challenging task of surmounting the barriers that impede the optimal development of our continent.

We are also required to, in close partnership with public and private sector institutions, generate the necessary knowledge and facilitate application thereof in a suitably contextualized manner and of such a quality that we can compete on an equal footing in a global context.

In a similar vein our respective internal environments on our campuses are marked by ongoing change and transformation, a situation exacerbated by:

• The fast changing needs and behavior of our respective students (undergraduate and postgraduate);
• Staff challenges to attract, afford and retain the ‘best’ staff;
• Outdated programme offerings and old fashioned forms of programme delivery;
• Infrastructural challenges; and
• Resources challenges (especially sustainable funding).

We have therefore as African institutions of higher education probably, and to varying degrees, reached the ‘cusp’ – a point where entrenched paradigms have the potential of ‘putting us back to zero’. Indeed, we have reached the point where our past successes can no longer sustain our journey into the future.

The call is therefore for a ‘new’ type of HEI – an entrepreneurial institution that, in the transformational terminology, is both distinctly different and vastly better than what it was before. The Entrepreneurial African University is an institution of which its sustainable competitive advantage is a function of ongoing value innovation as is evident in its programmes (learning & teaching, research, social impact); support activities (human resources, finance, marketing & communication, infrastructure, ICT services, etc.); meeting of its physical infrastructural needs; and its needs driven and value-adding core policies and processes.

In short, the Entrepreneurial African Universities are HEIs that base everything that they do on clearly articulated and well understood aspirational, entrepreneurial and appropriate business models.

As university leaders it is our collective and individual leadership challenge to ensure that we provide and cascade the ‘right’ entrepreneurial leadership approaches for our prospective institutions. Consequently, the Entrepreneurial African University Workshop slated for 29 – 31 March 2016 in Maputo, Mozambique is both timely and urgent.

Do not miss this important opportunity to:

• Reflect on the context, context and processes of the entrepreneurial HEI;
• Explore ‘best practices’ by both sharing and learning from the experiences of other participants;
• Collectively, articulate entrepreneurial priorities and approaches best suited for the context of African HEIs.

To ensure your place at this very important workshop, please complete the online registration form at your earliest convenience. Due to the nature of the workshop participation is limited to a maximum of 50 participants.

Do not miss this opportunity to register early and gain valuable insights which could be of key importance to the future success of university.

Workshop Target Group

1. Vice Chancellors/Presidents/Rectors of Universities, and their Deputies;
2. Council Members; Provosts; Deans;
3. Other Senior Administrative Leaders of Universities.

The workshop details are as follows:

DATES: 29 – 31 March (Arrival – 28th March – departure, 1st April 2016).

VENUE:  Maputo – but specific venue will be communicated to you soon

COSTS: Inclusive of morning/afternoon refreshments, lunch, gala dinner as well as all workshop materials: $800 per participant. Please find the AAU Bank Details

ACCOMMODATION: The negotiated accommodation will be communicated to participants soon. Accommodation and related costs are to be borne by each participant

REGISTRATIONS:

Workshop: Kindly fill your online registration forms here

VISA ACQUISITION:
Participants should kindly contact the Host Institutions contact person for any inquiries and assistance needed to acquire visa to Mozambique: MR. SILVA MUCHANGA: silva_muchanga@hotmail.com and cc: yaquashie@aau.org