More than 160 Ministers, university chancellors, technical experts and academic leaders from 55 African countries have met IAEA counterparts to share experiences in promoting nuclear education and training, and to assess opportunities for future cooperation between Africa’s academic communities. The event, held on 23 September on the margins of the 65th IAEA General Conference, set out to examine optimal paths for promoting nuclear training and education on the Africa continent.
“How many post-graduate students are presently enrolled in nuclear sciences in Africa? How many graduates are produced each year? How do we promote research, innovation and intellectual property development on the continent? And how can we reverse the process of brain drain and promote brain gain in our region?” asked Shaukat Abdulrazak, Director of the IAEA Technical Cooperation (TC) Division for the African region.
His questions set the stage for a lively panel discussion, during which counterparts from African academic and intergovernmental institutions described their ongoing work and planned activities to support graduate-level programmes and post-graduate research in the field of nuclear science in Africa.
The safe and sustainable application of nuclear science in any industry relies on the availability of qualified managers and personnel—this is equally true in Africa’s burgeoning nuclear sector. However, bottlenecks in the delivery of training and education, and the current need to rely on non-African academic institutions, are slowing the growth of the region’s nuclear sector.
“The African youth is estimated to include some 420 million people, according to the African Development Bank, and is expected to double by 2050. Africa’s youth are, therefore, a powerful engine with the greatest potential for sustainable development, if properly harnessed,” said Mahama Ouedraogo Director of the AUC’s Department of Human Resource Development. She described how AUC works to build a corps of technically-competent staff through specialized training, mentor-mentee partnerships and entrepreneurship seminars organized at the Pan-African University’s five campuses.
