There is an obvious lack of African academics with strong expertise and experience in the internationalization of higher education. ANIE find its imperative to respond to this need by developing research capacity through young, interested and promising African scholars. This it does by organizing workshops through the Network of Emerging Scholars on Internationalization (NESI) which was established with the objective of developing research capacity and an expertise network of young African scholars on internationalization. In September 2009 the first NESI Capacity Building Workshop was organized at Moi University, Kenya. It helped bring out a clear understanding of the complexities of the international dimension of higher education as well as in-depth knowledge on student mobility from a global and African perspective.

As a follow up, the 2nd NESI workshop was held in Kampala, Uganda from 2-3 November, 2010. The workshop provided an opportunity for members to get first hand experiences on the development and utilization of open resources for research and information sharing within members. ANIE has received a grant from the UK Department for International Development (DfID), through the Mobilization of Regional Capacities Initiatives (MRCI) Program administered by the Association of African Universities (AAU), to implement a project entitled Development of a Framework for Sharing Research and Development Resources on the Internationalization of Higher Education in Africa. Part of this funding is to support the development of an open forum to be utilized by members. During the workshop, members were introduced to this portal and how it could support their research and information sharing endeavours within the network. Part of the funding is to support research on the international dimension of higher education in Africa and its role in the achievement of MDGs. Some of the participants at the workshop were recipients of the ANIE research grant.

ANIE is currently in the process of organizing a joint workshop with the International Association of Universities (IAU) to be held on 16th November 2011. The workshop hosted by Kenyatta University is aimed specifically at Higher Education Academics and Professionals working on internationalization in Africa. This highly participatory workshop will give participants a forum to share their understanding about the opportunities, challenges, benefits and risk that need to be addressed when pursuing institutional internationalization strategies. By drawing on examples from African universities experiences of developing their internationalization strategies, and most specifically the review of Moi University’s policy, the workshop will be practical in nature. It will develop the knowledge as they enhance their internationalization strategies. Contemporary research on the subject, including the results of the IAU 3rd Global Survey on Internationalization, will serve to underpin the workshop discussion. (See home page advert for further details)