AWAU - History
On 10th day of January, 2011, at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, the Vice Chancellors and principal Officers of Universities across the West Africa Sub-region met to deliberate on the state of education in the region. The meeting which was chaired by the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Nigeria, Professor Julius Okojie also had the Honorable Minister of Education of Nigeria, Prof. (Mrs.) Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai as a special guest. At the meeting the following observations were made;
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Education remains the bedrock of development across the West Africa sub-region and should therefore be rigorously pursued.
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The West Africa universities have great roles to play in ensuring that education is truly functional in the sub-region, especially for the development of the countries.
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No individual University in the Sub-region could achieve the goal of making education functional without collaborating with other Universities.
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The need to face the challenges of this era of globalization by associating, integrating and collaborating among universities necessitates the establishment of the association of West Africa Universities (AWAU).
Consequently, Association of West Africa Universities (AWAU) was inaugurated for the purpose of:
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Initiating collaboration among Universities in West Africa.
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Enhancing higher Education in the sub-region as it is the case in other Africa sub-regions.
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Enhancing the improvement of infrastructure across the sub-region which will also serve to improve manpower development
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The Association of West Africa Universities (AWAU) will also be of relevance to the achievement of the goals of the Association of African Universities (AAU).
It is envisioned that AWAU would make a landmark in the provision of qualitative Higher Education that could guaranty employability.
It is against this background that Ilorin declaration was made.