As the first phase of the World Bank-funded African Centres of Excellence (ACE), project winds down, centres from 53 universities located in 12 West African countries are to converge on Abuja to strengthen implementation and impact of the project.
A joint statement by Mrs Adebukola Olatunji of the National Universities Commission(NUC), Senior World Bank External Officer, Mr Mansir Nasir, and Association of African Universities’ Millicent Afriyie KyeI, confirmed the development in Abuja on Monday.
It said that the 53 universities would converge on Abuja for a 4-day biennial workshop from 25th-28th February 2020 to strengthen the implementation of ACE impact.
It added that the event would be attended by representatives from the ACE centres, World Bank, the French Development Agency, AFD, the Association of African Universities, AAU, and NUC officials.
According to the statement, 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, five emerging centres, one top-up centre in Social Risk Management, and five colleges and schools of engineering.
“The new areas include sustainable cities, sustainable power and energy, social sciences and education, transport, population health and policy, herbal medicine development and regulatory sciences.
“Others are public health, applied informatics and communication, and pastoral production,” the statement said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the ACE project is aimed at promoting regional specialisation among participating universities in areas that address specific common regional development challenges.
It also seeks 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 project aimed at the capacity building of higher education institutions in Africa, established in collaboration with governments of participating countries to support specialisation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, agriculture and health.
ACE, a World Bank initiative, was first launched in 2014 with 22 centres in nine 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 centres across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.