The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) devastation across the world has been phenomenal in the shortest time since its outbreak in December 2019 in China. COVID-19 impacts have been felt in all spheres of the economy and global operations. Tertiary education has seen significant interruptions and according to UNESCO, universities and other tertiary education institutions across 175 countries were closed affecting some 220 million learners globally. In the Sub-Saharan Africa region, COVID-19 affected an estimated 98% of all the tertiary education students as countries imposed measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus. The pandemic besides getting students off-campus caused universities to suffer significant revenue losses from tuition and other services offered by their respective campuses.

In order to galvanize our universities’ responses to emerging challenges and opportunities brought about by the Corona Virus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic, the RUFORUM Secretariat convened a multi-stakeholder online engagement from June-October 2020. Thirteen (13) Webinars were convened to galvanize dialogue and directions for African higher education actors, Governments and Private sector response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and in alignment to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recognizing the role of universities in responding to the Pandemic,the target audience for these virtual convenings included policy leaders, higher education leaders, staff, university students, technical experts, and researchers. The overall theme of the webinar series was Galvanizing Partnerships for Africa’s Universities Response to Emerging Challenges and Opportunities. The Webinars targeted participants from within and outside Africa to position the dialogue within the continental and global contexts and to build on earlier discussions during the Afro-Arab Partnership meeting in Kampala, the Global Partnership meeting for Higher Agricultural Education and Research,held during the 16thRUFORUM Annual General Meeting in Cape Coast, Ghana and the Ministerial Communique on Promoting Africa Wide Cooperation in Higher Agricultural Education, Science, Technology and Innovation. The webinars generated dialogue and action points that have implications for RUFORUM and other academic and research agencies as they engage with continental agencies such as African Union and European Union as well as National Governments and other regional bodies.

This report summarizes emerging issues and recommendations for strengthening higher agricultural education, partnerships and responses to emerging challenges from the Webinar series.

RUFORUM Webinar Series Participation:

The thirteen (13)webinars attracted more than 100 speakers and moderators. These included among others, former Heads of State, AUC Commissioners and Directors, DEVCo-European Commission Director and other representations, FAO Directors and representatives, Government Ministers, Vice Chancellors and other University leaders, Directors and other representations of university and other associations, private sector actors, students, farmer organizations, Government agencies, international Non-Governmental Organizations, and funding agencies such as, the World Bank and BRIDGIN Foundation.

The audience was drawn from over 100countries across all continents. Marked participation was registered from Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Nigeria and the United States of America. The total registration for participation was 5,275 with an average attendance of 60% for each Webinar over a period of five (5) months. The gender distribution was60% male and 39% female.

Read more