No fewer than 53 universities from 12 West African countries are to converge in Abuja to strengthen implementation and impact of the first phase of the world Bank-funded African Centres of Excellence (ACE) project which is about to end.
Mrs Adebukola Olatunji of the National Universities Commission(NUC), Mr Mansir Nasir, the Senior World Bank External Officer; and Millicient Afriyie Kyel of Association of African Universities have reported.
They said the universities would hold in Abuja, a 4-day biennial workshop from 25th-28th February 2020, designed to strengthen the implementation of ACE impact.
They said the event would be attended by representatives of the ACE centres, World Bank, the French Development Agency, AFD, the Association of African Universities, AAU, and NUC officials.
According to them, the event will afford the institutions the opportunity to exchange information on their respective programmes, build networks and forge partnerships to ensure the successful implementation of the project.
“Based on the initial successes, the World Bank and the French Development Agency in collaboration with African governments, launched the ACE Impact Project in 2018 to strengthen post-graduate training and applied research in existing fields and support new fields that are essential for Africa’s economic growth.
“Currently, there are 43 ACE, 25 new ones and 18 from ACE I, 5 emerging centres, 1 top up centre in Social Risk Management and 5 colleges and schools of engineering.
“The new areas include sustainable cities, sustainable power and energy, social sciences, education, transport, population health and policy, herbal medicine development and regulatory sciences, public health, applied informatics and communication, and pastoral production.”
ACE project is aimed at promoting regional specialisation among participating universities in areas that address specific common regional development challenges.
It also aims to strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver high quality training and applied research as well as meet the demand for skills required for Africa’s development.
It is the first World Bank’s project aimed at the capacity building of higher education institutions in Africa, established in collaboration with governments of participating countries to support specialization in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM, Agriculture, and Health.
ACE, a World Bank’s initiative was first launched in 2014 with 22 Centres in 9 West and Central African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.
The second phase, ACE II, was launched in East and Southern Africa with 24 centers across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
