Organizing conferences on internationalization of higher education is one of ANIEs key activities. Since its establishment, ANIE has held two major conferences and is currently in the process of organizing its third annual conference to be held in Abuja, Nigeria from 25-26 October, 2011 (see home page for details).

The 1st ANIE Conference was held at Moi University, Kenya in September 2009. The conference looked into the new trends, challenges and opportunities that internationalization posed to Africa’s higher education. Amongst the key outcomes of the conference was the need for research on this relatively unexplored field to respond to the existing knowledge gaps and help institutions understand and respond to the challenges and possibilities presented by internationalization.

As a follow up to this, ANIEs 2nd Annual Conference was held in Kampala, Uganda from 4th to 5th November 2010. The conference was organized in partnership with The Inter University Council for East Africa (IUCEA). It was based on the theme "Internationalization of Higher Education and Research in Africa, Responding to Opportunities and Challenges". The conference brought together 87 participants mostly from Africa. The keynote speakers included Prof. Pai Obanya (Ibadan, Nigeria), Jane Knight (University of Toronto, Canada), Juma Shabani (UNESCO, Bamako), Mohsen Said (Cairo University, Egypt) and Prof. Olusola Oyewole (African Union Commission). One of the aims of the conference was to discuss the status, issues and challenges to furthering research on internationalization of higher education in Africa. It also aimed at developing an African agenda for research on internationalization and identifying partnerships for building capacity and implementing the agenda. Amongst the outcomes of the 2nd ANIE conference were (i) the establishment of a research strategy team (ii) the proposal for the establishment of a Masters program in internationalization of higher education in an African university as part of its research capacity building (iii) review of on-going research initiatives in Africa and making the resources/information available to members (iv) the need to actively sensitize stakeholders, especially policy makers on internationalization.

In response to the need to actively sensitize stakeholders and policy makers on internationalization, this year’s Conference is organized jointly by ANIE, the British Council (BC) and the National Universities Commission of Nigeria (NUC) and it will take the form of a policy dialogue bringing together experts, policy makers, researchers, other higher education stakeholders including diplomats to examine the global trends of internationalisation and the place of Africa in the unfolding developments; critically appraise the gaps and recommend strategic areas of focus for capacity building and funding. By starting this dialogue and making these links, we hope to provide the means through which the conference will lay the foundation for a wider debate on this thematic area. The conference results will be presented at the British Council “Going Global 6 Conference” in London in March 2012 and also fed into the initiatives of other organisations such as the African Union, World Bank, UN and European Union among others.