The COVID-19 Pandemic has clearly demonstrated Africa’s vulnerability to global pandemics and other natural emergencies such as floods and desert locusts, which struck the Eastern part of Africa in recent years. While it remains true that the Africa’s education sector has been severely affected by COVID-19, the state of higher education on the Continent has long been a cause for concern even before the Pandemic. The Pandemic is exacerbating the already existing vulnerabilities in the education sector thus creating an urgent need to build a reformed education system on the Continent. This reformation entails a change in the perspectives and practices of the policy makers and educators, and requires much thought concerning the why, who, what and how of education. Digitization can help rebuild the disrupted education system, ensure that teaching and learning continues in the new normal, and possibly provide the much needed resilience. Indeed, a number of efforts have been made towards the transformation of higher education in Africa through integration of digital technologies. The COVID-19 Pandemic has accelerated a shift by universities to digitalization. Digital technologies for online teaching and learning are a way to recover from the COVID-19 crisis and to provide the resilience needed for Universities to forge ahead. It should be recognised that digitization must cover all aspects of the university business and should not only be limited to teaching and learning.

It has been argued that for digital technologies to cause a significant transformation in higher education, approaches to their implementation must be given sufficient attention involving a level of change in practice. It is against this background that RUFORUM held an online dialogue to discuss the advances and opportunities of integration of digital technologies, especially for teaching and learning. The dialogue focused on exploring successes and challenges Universities continue to experience in the implementation of online teaching and learning.

Side Event Objectives:

The online dialogue on Realignment towards Online Teaching and Learning in Universities focused on the following:

1. Establish what digital technologies are currently influencing universities in Africa;
2. Discuss the ways in which digital technologies can be integrated into university system in Africa;
3. Outline the opportunities and challenges in implementing online teaching and learning particularly in universities in Africa;
4. Explore the skills and competences required for leadership, staff and students to enable universities and other sectors integrate the use of digital technologies; and,
5. Examine the policies and other reforms needed to facilitate effective online teaching and learning in African universities.

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