The Pan African University was officially launched on December 14, 2011 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union, which has been driving the initiative. Mooted in 2005, the Pan-African University is designed to boost education standards, science and technological innovations across Africa to facilitate faster regional integration and development. The event transformed into reality the dream of creating centers of excellence across Africa to conduct research and train the high-level professionals desperately needed for development. The ceremony was chaired by Jean Ping, president of the African Union Commission.
The ambitious reach of the Pan-African University (PAU), which will focus on research and postgraduate training, will be achieved through five regional centers, each specializing in a key field and comprising an academic and administrative core at a host university and networks of academics and students from elsewhere in Africa working in the same areas. In the arrangement, South Africa will host the space science component of the university with oil rich Algeria hosting the college of water and energy sciences. Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) is expected to take in the study of basic sciences, technology and innovation. Nigeria's University of Ibadan will host the college for life and earth sciences. Representing the Central Africa region is the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon that has been offered the school for governance, humanities and social sciences. To ensure coordination and smooth operation of the different components will be the AU Commission for Human Resources, Science and Technology.
AU chief Jean Ping said that the realization of Pan-African University marked the positive achievement of the union's dream. Core funding for the Pan-African University will be provided by the African Union Commission, and it is expected to earn income from research and tuition fees, as well as voluntary contributions from member states and the private sector. It is also expected that substantial donor funding will be secured to support the university's themes and the training of high-level researchers and professionals. Several donors have expressed a willingness to provide support. Germany is interested in the North African institute for water, energy and climate change, and Japan has announced support for Kenya's work in basic sciences, technology and innovation. India will help to fund Nigeria's institute of life and Earth sciences, and Sweden has said it will assist Cameroon's institute of humanities, social sciences and good governance. It also appears that other donors including the European Union and Belgium are ready to assist. The commission said that these five partners are poised to help finance up to two-thirds of the budget necessary for the first stages operation of the PAU's regional nodes.
Source: www.africareview.com and www.universityworldnews.com