Africa Knows! Looking back and looking forward

The Africa Knows! conference (2 December 2020 - 25 February 2021) has come to an end. It straddled many boundaries: geographical (if only for its virtual character), disciplinary, but also between academia and practitioners. The conference made clear that access to knowledge infrastructures in Africa has increased tremendously during the past few decades, but a) expansion of quantity does not always mean expansion of quality; b) there is a major mismatch between the education sector and employment; and c) there is a lack of voice for Africa’s youth in reshaping their educational and research institutions.

In the reflections below, the organisers look back as well as forward: on the ‘lessons learnt’ in terms of decolonising academic minds and practices, and on the five layers of perceived impact of the conference. They call for follow-up activities by all participants individually, by groups of participants, and by themselves. More specifically, the organisers call for the devotion of funds to facilitating online education, for example through global classrooms, and such online education should be firmly co-created.

Read their reflections!

Also check out the:

• conference magazine
• blogs
• podcasts
• videos of the panels
• higher education country profiles
• African museum collections
• Kora concert
• documentary films

(Photo: Dominic Chavez/World Bank)