International Association of Universities (IAU)
IAU, founded in 1950, is the UNESCO-based worldwide association of higher education institutions. It brings together institutions and organisations from some 120 countries for reflection and action on common concerns and collaborates with various international, regional and national bodies active in higher education. Its services are available on the priority basis to Members but also to organisations, institutions and authorities concerned with higher education, as well as to individual policy and decision-makers, specialists, administrators, teachers, researchers and students.
Tasks: Information, Research, Bibliographic Database, Network, Training
Target: Deans, Management, Academic Staff
Country: All African Countries
Innovative Approaches to Doctoral Education in Africa
The IAU project "Innovative Approaches to Doctoral Education in Africa" is built on a first phase .which allowed to develop a self-assessment tool that was used by six pilot institutions to determine the nature of and challenges facing doctoral programs on the continent. The self-assessment tool is available to all and is to assist with improving data collection and storage mechanisms that can be used by institutions to develop institution-wide doctoral education and research strategies.
The development of the interactive portal www.idea-phd.net is a result of work undertaken since 2009 thanks to financial support provided by Sida, the Spanish Development Agency, and ACUP; Association for Catalan Universities. Data gathered on the portal have beeen provided by African higher education institutions and by various organisations.
For reports on the IAU project initiatives, please click here:
- Changing Nature of Doctoral Studies in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Policy Development Opportunities at six universities in Sub-Saharan Africa
- IAU project 2009-2010 on The Changing Nature of Doctoral Programmes. Initial Conclusions.
- Study and Research Seminar on the Changing Nature of Doctoral Education in Africa, Nigeria, 2010
- Séminaire: Collecte et gestion des données Universitaires, Cameroun, 2011
- Innovative Approaches to Doctoral Education and Research Training in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia, 2012 (Final Report in English and French)
- Barcelona Seminar on Doctoral Education and e-Supervision, Spain, 2013
- Expert Seminar 2014 UNESCO Paris, Making Doctoral Education work in Africa and for Africa - What role for IAU
