Pan-African Conference 2025: A fourth edition under the banner of digital transition and educational innovation

For its fourth edition, the pan-African conference "L'Afrique scientifique plurilingue" brought together some 100 participants - ministers, university heads, artificial intelligence experts and international partners - around the theme of "Digital transition and educational innovations". Over the course of two days, the debates outlined concrete guidelines for modernizing African higher education and consolidating a scientifically plurilingual Africa.

Discussion highlights

• Ministerial panel: policy reforms for digital transformation

Moderated by AUF Rector Prof. Slim KHALBOUS, ministers from six countries Slim KHALBOUS, ministers from six countries (Gambia, Mauritius, Guinea, DRC, Chad, Guinea-Bissau) shared their strategies for investing in digital university infrastructures, harmonizing regulatory frameworks and pooling multilingual teaching resources and content.

Delegations from Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal and Togo explored avenues for regional cooperation, particularly in terms of inter-campus connectivity and recognition of digital diplomas.

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• AI, education and research: challenges and prospects

Moderated by internationally renowned researchers such as Moustapha CISSÉ, Director of the African Master of AI, and Abdoulaye Baniré DIALLO, coordinator of Guinea's Cité des Sciences et de l'Innovation de la Guinée, the panel examined the contribution of generative AI models to personalized learning, ethical risks and data sovereignty. It strongly recommended that teacher-researchers be trained in AI tools.

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• Virtual universities: the state of the art in e-learning

A panel of virtual university presidents led by Jean-Marie DIPAMA, President of the Université Virtuelle du Burkina Faso; Tiemoman KONÉ, President of the Université Virtuelle de Côte d'Ivoire; Samuel OUYA, Rector of the Université Numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane in Senegal, also provided an overview of the current state of e-learning and the challenges facing virtual universities.

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• AUF Digital Solutions

A final panel featuring Lassaad MEZGHANI, Executive Director of IFIC, Driss Sayah, advisor to the AUF Rector and coordinator of the AUF's service spaces, and Ibrahima LYON, Director of the AUF's Digital Solutions Division, also took part.AUF and Ibrahima LY, Head of the AUF's Digital Platforms project, highlighted all the pedagogical innovations that the AUF offers its member institutions.

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Partnerships and commitments

• Agreements signed

• • AUF and AULP (International Association of Portuguese Language Universities)
  • AUF and Guinea's Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation
  • AUF and Guinea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

• Conakry Declaration on Digital Transition and Pedagogical Innovations in Plurilingual Africa, articulated around three axes:

1. Promote public policies supporting an effective digital transition in higher education and research.
2. Strengthen skills, encourage institutional mobility and contain the African brain drain.
3. Increase funding for pedagogical innovation and research.

See the full declaration here

Launched in 2022 in Ziguinchor, the Pan-African Conference is the main forum dedicated to Africa that the AUF has set up to strengthen cooperation between ministerial authorities and African higher education institutions. Following on from Ziguinchor (2022), Praia (2023) and Banjul (2024), the Conakry edition continues the collective momentum by placing digital technology and artificial intelligence at the heart of the continent's university renewal strategies.

The fifth Pan-African Conference will be held in Mauritius in 2026.

Source: www.auf.org/

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