African universities have been particularly affected - what does this portend for their future and for the production, consumption and dissemination of scholarly knowledges? In this context, it is critical to interrogate the desirable transformative trajectories for African universities. In March 2015 the first African Higher Education Summit held in Dakar, Senegal, identified the challenges and opportunities for African universities in the realisation of the African Union's Agenda 2063, which remains as pressing as ever. The Dakar Summit sought "to create a continental multi-stakeholders' platform to identify strategies for transforming the African higher education sector" in pursuit of Agenda 2063. Covid-19 should be a wake-up call to African universities and countries to strengthen their research capacities, science, technology and innovation systems, manufacturing capabilities, and inter-institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration through existing consortia, such as the African Research Universities Alliance and new ones.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 05, 2021 14:03 UTC