The African Development Bank (AfDB) will invest $45-million, in the form of a grant, to initiate the develop-ment of a $154.2-million multinational science, innovation and technology Pan African University (PAU) project.

The five-year project will see the establishment of a regional university structured thematically within existing institutions across five countries representing the East, West, Central, North and Southern African regions.

Each region would deliver a themed programme, namely basic sciences, technology and innovation; earth and life sciences, including health and agricul- ture; water and energy sciences, including climate change; governance, humanities and social sciences; and space sciences, in an effort to boost the continent’s lagging education in the fields of science and technology.

“Africa has been slow to develop its science and tech- nology sectors and commer- cialise its innovations,” AfDB human development depart- ment director Agnes Soucat says, adding that the PAU will enhance the continent’s com- petitiveness and growth through the creation of high-quality higher education and research capabilities.

The best African university currently has a ranking of 113 globally, with only four – all of which are based in South Africa – of the 400 top univers-ities worldwide on the continent.

Africa also produces only 1.1% of world scientific knowledge, despite accounting for 13.4% of the global population.

According to the AfDB’s project appraisal report, African countries host 35 scientists and engineers per one-million inhabi- tants, compared with 168 in Brazil, 2 457 in Europe and 4 103 in the US.

The lack of ‘high profile’ insti- tutions in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics has also resulted in 260 000 tertiary students from sub-Saharan Africa studying abroad.

As the first three institutes are established, the PAU aims to enrol, during the first five years, 1 064 students in masters’ programmes and 486 in PhD programmes, and award an estimated 794 master’s degrees and 231 PhD degrees.

The first institutes will be launched in East Africa at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, hosting the basic sciences, technology and innovation programme; in Central Africa at Cameroon’s University of Yaoundé II, which will represent the governance, humanities and social sciences programme; and, in Nigeria, at the University of Ibadan, under the programme earth and life sciences, health and agriculture.

Algeria will potentially host the fourth institute under the programme water and energy science, including climate change, on behalf of North Africa, while the host country to represent Southern Africa and the space sciences programme has yet to be selected.

“Thousands of students all over Africa will benefit from this project. This is truly an amazing regional effort to help African universities achieve world-class status,” Soucat says.

The African Union Com-mission, the countries hosting the PAU institutes and the Lead Thematic Partners will provide the balance of funding required for the PAU project, the appraisal report says.