African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), between Thursday, February 23 and Friday, February 24, 2023, held a Workshop for Directors of its various Centres of Excellence (CoEs). The Workshop, which was held at University of Mauritius, was organised to discuss the operations of the ARUA’s thirteen (13) Centres of Excellence as well as take stock of their performances in the last three years.
The 13 Centres of Excellence are funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The University of Lagos has two Centres of Excellence: ARUA CoE for Unemployment and Skills Development (ARUA CoE-USD) and ARUA CoE for Urbanization and Habitable Cities.
The ARUA CoE for Unemployment and Skills Development of the University of Lagos presented a full and conclusive report of its three-year activities executed under its UKRI-funded project titled: Partnership, Research and Capacity-Building for Youth Unemployment Solutions in Africa (PRAC-4-YUSA).
The Centre was applauded for successfully holding 3 International Conferences in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya; 3 International Youth Business and Innovation Challenges (YoBIC) which have seed-funded 9 Start-ups in Africa (Nigeria – 3, Kenya – 2, Ghana – 2, and South Africa – 2).
The ARUA CoE for Urbanization and Habitable Cities is expected to conclude its activities by May 2023.
The workshop also featured other activities, such as:
- Presentation of an overview of the Network’s expectations on the work of CoEs by the ARUA Secretary-General; and
- Discussions on
- ARUA CoEs and their relationship with the proposed Clusters of Excellence and the Guild of European Research-intensive Universities;
- development of collaborative Ph.D. programmes at ARUA CoEs;
- support for ARUA’s CoEs in the absence of UKRI support: the role of host universities and the partners;
- plans to establish seven (7) additional CoEs;
- strengthening collaborations between CoEs; and
- Terms of Reference for consultants to evaluate ARUA and its CoEs.
The Workshop was brought to a close on Friday, February 24, 2023.
The Africa Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) is a network of sixteen (16) African Universities spread across ten (10) African nations. It aims to develop local research excellence through collaboration to find solutions to the development problems of Africa.
