Agricultural Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence (ACE)

2 November 2018. AAU Press release. The Association of African Universities (AAU), the Regional Facilitation Unit (RFU), of the Africa Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project, is pleased to announce the conditional selection of 44 centres of excellence in 12 participating countries in West and Central Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo) under the ACE for Development Impact (ACE Impact) Project.

West and Central African countries, with support from the World Bank and the Association of African Universities, launched the regional Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project in 2014. Building upon the successful implementation of the ACE 1 Project, the World Bank is supporting the current ACE Impact Project which is focused on scaling up postgraduate education and applied research that are fundamental to economic growth in the region.

The following proposals related to agriculture have been conditionally selected as centres of excellence by the ACE Impact Ministerial Project Steering Committee at its meeting in Accra, Ghana, on Friday, 2nd November 2018. This Committee consisted of five Ministers in charge of Higher education and seven high-level government representatives from the participating governments. It is planned that they will be approved for funding by April 2019.

1. CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE, BIODIVERSITE ET AGRICULTURE DURABLE (CEA-CCBAD) - Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Cote d’Ivoire - climate change
2. WEST AFRICA CENTRE FOR CROP IMPROVEMENT (WACCI) - University of Ghana Ghana - Crop Improvement
3. DRY LAND AGRICULTURE (CDA) - Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria - Dryland Agriculture
4. CENTRE FOR FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH (CEFTER) - Benue State University Nigeria - Food tech and research
5. CENTRE D’EXCELLENCE REGIONAL SUR LES SCIENCES AVIAIRES (CERSA) - Université de Lomé Togo Poultry science
6. CENTRE D’EXCELLENCE REGIONAL SUR LES PRODUCTIONS PASTORALES : VIANDE, LAIT, CUIRS ET PEAUX (CERPP) - Université Abdou Moumouni Niger - Livestock
7. AGRICULTURE POUR LA SECURITE ALIMENTAIRE ET NUTRITIONNELLE (CEA AGRISAN) - Université Cheikh Anta Diop Senegal - Food security & nutrition