The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), in partnership with the University of Nairobi, will host an international conference and workshops on 18-20 November 2019 under the theme “Africa and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Defining a Role for Research Universities.”

The main conference will take place over two days, 18-19 November, followed by several one-day workshops on 20 November 2019, driven by ARUA Centres of Excellence. The conference will be officially opened on 18th November, 2019 by

 Hon. Prof. George Magoha, Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Education, Republic of Kenya.

There will be 2 plenary and 10 parallel sessions on each day, covering specific relevant thematic areas of interest to ARUA. The 13 ARUA thematic areas will have slots at the parallel sessions with a view to mapping out expectations of how the Fourth Industrial Revolution will play out in the particular thematic area, and how African universities could prepare for that. Other thematic areas to be discussed include: Education, HealthCare, Agriculture, The Built Environment and Transportation.

ARUA) was inaugurated in Dakar in March 2015. It brings together sixteen (16) of the  region’s leading universities in a network of universities from different countries and different historical backgrounds, but with a common vision to expand and enhance the quality of research undertaken in Africa by African researchers. 

ARUA brings together peer African institutions that are willing to work together by pooling their limited resources, with a view to generating an environment that could support the growing number of researchers , while leveraging additional resources from outside the region. ARUA member universities are:

1. University of Lagos, Nigeria

2. University of Ibadan, Nigeria

3. Obafemi Awolowo University lle-Ife, Nigeria

4. University of Ghana, Ghana

5. University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

6. University of Nairobi, Kenya

7. University of Cape Town, South Africa

8. University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

9. University of Rwanda, Rwanda

10. University Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal

11. Makerere University, Uganda

12. University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

13. University of Pretoria, South Africa

14. Rhodes University, South Africa

15. University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

16. Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

For the full programme of the ARUA Conference click here: Programme