Professor Dhanjay Jhurry
"Innovation is at the centre of our goals. The University should not be considered the centre of our work, innovation is at the centre and the University is a partner in developing innovation. This is an important mindset shift."
Prof. Francis Petersen
For me collaboration around the future of work is non-negotiable; it has to happen and I see the AfricaLive.net platform provides that.
I think Africa Live is a fantastic platform and it is also a fantastic idea to share how Vice-Chancellors across the continent feel about Africa and about higher education in Africa, and to a certain extent- how to get that message out to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, Africa is often seen as a continent that can’t produce high-quality education and high-quality output in research or products. I think this is an opportunity for us to showcase what we are capable of and also an opportunity for us to say that we would not choose to do this alone; that we need to collaborate!
Prof. Nicola Kleyn
"How do we work with business to confront and navigate major technological disruption?
How do we do that in a continent where we can’t assume that the demands and challenges of the third industrial revolution have already been met?
If we are not alert to the way that technology is being rolled out globally, then in Africa we will find ourselves only being consumers of these technologies. That would represent a missed opportunity to be part of the global value chains that are associated with actually producing and delivering these technologies.
You can't set up an insolated think tank to deal with this. You need to embed it across curricula. This is hard in institutions where academia is seen as having the answers, I think the role of academia is to ensure that we are asking absolutely the right questions and to be working towards finding those answers"
Prof. Driss Ouaouicha
"Our primary focus now can be described as ensuring better preparation for the future and for the digital world.
This will encompass everything from renewable energy to dealing with data sciences for business to internationalisation.
Obviously, renewable energy is very important for a country like Morocco which doesn't have a lot of oil and the energy that we produce is expensive. With solar, biomass, and wind power we can save the planet, save the environment and save the economy as well."
