General News

The ARUA Executive Committee has approved sixteen (16) Collaborative PhD programmes that will begin in January 2026. All the programmes are designed to be four-year programmes that involve 12 months of common course work to be undertaken at all the participating universities, 18 months of immersion in a research project or a period of ‘research apprenticeship’ at another participating institution. The final 18 months will be spent on students’ independent work leading to a thesis under the supervision of a team of both local and international supervisors.

The ARUA Board is delighted to announce the Second Annual Distinguished Public Lecture, which will be delivered by Professor Funmi Olonisakin. Her lecture will explore the theme, “Collaboration in Higher Education as Service to Society.”

Over 50 institutional research officers from all 23 ARUA member universities converged in Nairobi, Kenya for the fourth Capacity Building Workshop, which was hosted by the University of Nairobi. The two-day workshop, which took place on June 24-25, 2024, formed part of activities planned under Phase 3 of the ARUA-Carnegie Data-Gathering & Benchmarking Project to allow for peer learning and the establishment of best practices for institutional research at ARUA universities.

The Africa-Europe Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE) has launched a new logo to mark the first anniversary since the initiative was established by the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities (The Guild).

Professor Ernest Aryeetey, a distinguished academic leader, will be concluding his eight-year tenure as the founding secretary-general of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) at the end of July.

The University of Glasgow today at a special ceremony conferred an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree on Professor Ernest Aryeetey, out-going Secretary-General of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA). Professor Aryeetey was recognized for his transformative leadership and exceptional contributions to academia and research across the African continent.

The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), jointly representing nearly 50 leading universities on six continents, are moving closer to each other.

Last Friday, 24 May 2024, ARUA honoured its out-going Secretary-General, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, for exceptional service to the Alliance and African higher education, culminating in a distinguished tenure that began with ARUA’s inception in March 2015. The ceremony, organized by the Future Africa Campus of University of Pretoria, took place at a dinner celebrating both the fifth anniversary of Future Africa and Prof. Aryeetey’s retirement. This followed the conclusion of his final Board meeting.

The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) congratulates Professor Mosa Moshabela on his appointment as the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT). As the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Professor Moshabela has worked closely with ARUA, contributing significantly to our mission of advancing collaborative research and higher education in Africa. We look forward to his continued impact.

The ARUA Board convened a two-day meeting on May 23 – 24, 2024, at the Future Africa campus of the University of Pretoria, focusing on the ambitious ARUA-Mastercard Collaborative PhD program initiative. This groundbreaking initiative aims to train 1,000 PhDs annually over the next decade, marking a significant stride toward enhancing research capacity and innovation across the African continent.