Fifteen universities from eight African countries recently announced the establishment of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) at the African Higher Education Summit taking place in Senegal’s capital Dakar. The aim of ARUA is to strengthen research and postgraduate training by uniting universities’ distinctive fields of expertise. The universities include the University of Ghana, the University of Nairobi in Kenya, the National University of Rwanda and others.

Max Price, the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Cape Town in South Africa, was elected as the Chair of ARUA. He described how Africa can take lessons from universities in other continents that foster research and education by focusing on collaborative efforts. “By bringing together a group of leading universities, you create a cluster that can act as a catalyst for all other universities. This will in turn raise the quality across the board.” 
 

According to an ARUA news release, there will be three main thrusts that ARUA will be working on: improving training and support for doctoral students, capacity building to enhance research management, and collaborative research.
 

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the chair of the African Union Commission, expressed her strong support for the initiative: “The initiative forms a critical part of the conversation that the continent must have about its future, especially around higher education and research.”
 

(Edited and translated by CSST)