African universities are set to receive a major push to strengthen their global visibility and attract more students, researchers and innovation partnerships under a new €60 million initiative launched by the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the European Union.
The five-year Study and Research in Africa (SRiA) programme seeks to change how African higher education is positioned internationally, moving beyond a model in which African institutions primarily participate in externally led research and mobility programmes.
Funded by the European Commission through the EU’s Global Gateway Youth Mobility Flagship, the initiative will run until 2030, with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and AAU leading implementation alongside European partners.
Its focus extends across five areas: increasing the visibility of African universities, expanding student and researcher mobility, improving the relevance of university programmes, supporting green and digital transformation, and strengthening innovation.
The programme was launched during the European Association for International Education conference in Glasgow from 9 to 11 September, where a dedicated Study and Research in Africa Pavilion showcased African higher education and research institutions to an international audience.
Participating organisations included AAU, the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) and the African Network for Internationalization of Education (ANIE).
For Africa, the initiative addresses a visibility gap between the continent’s growing research capacity and its international profile. African universities are producing research and training specialists in fields central to development, but information about their programmes, research expertise and opportunities remains fragmented and less accessible to prospective students and international partners.
Prof Olusola Oyewole, Secretary-General of the AAU, said the ambition was to reposition Africa as a place where people come to study, conduct research, innovate and build careers, rather than simply as a partner in international projects.
Achieving that ambition will require more than promotional efforts. Universities will need stronger internationalisation offices, reliable institutional data, accessible information on academic and research opportunities, improved student support and partnerships capable of generating long-term institutional benefits.
SRiA also places greater emphasis on mobility within Africa, potentially strengthening connections between African universities and creating more opportunities for students and researchers to build careers on the continent.
The initiative reflects a broader debate over the balance of international research partnerships. While European and other international collaborations have supported mobility, research and capacity building, African universities are increasingly seeking relationships in which they have greater influence over research priorities, knowledge production and institutional development.
The larger ambition is to make Africa not only more visible in the global knowledge economy, but more attractive within it. By 2030, SRiA aims to help build stronger systems through which African universities can present their expertise, connect talent and research across borders, and compete for students, researchers and innovation partnerships on a more global footing.
Article by Jed Mwangi
Photo courtesy: Google
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