Times Higher Education Africa Universities Summit 2025 to take place in Rwanda

This year’s Times Higher Education (THE) Africa Universities Summit will take place in Kigali, Rwanda on 18–20 March 2025. The prestigious summit will bring together cross-continental partners from higher education, industry, policy and civil society to discuss the greatest challenges and opportunities facing African higher education and broader society.

The discussions will centre around the topic of “United leadership: Harnessing African education for sustainable growth” and will bring together a diverse selection of experts from Africa and beyond.

Keynote speakers will include:

• Dr Philip Cotton, Vice-Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity
• Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Chancellor, University of Johannesburg
• Dr DeWayne Frazier, President and Vice-Chancellor, American University of Nigeria

Over three days, 350+ delegates will hear from 100+ thought leaders, experts and changemakers to explore the importance of equitable partnerships for Africa, promoting sustainability in higher education, harnessing digital transformation for good, and improving the quality of research and employability.

The agenda will cover:

• Equitable partnerships: How inclusive and balanced partnerships across and outside the continent can foster greater regional collaboration for higher education
• Sustainability in and for higher education: How context-specific sustainable development can position African institutions to lead the way in addressing environmental, economic and social challenges for long-term regional growth
• Digital transformation: Opportunities and challenges presented by digital innovation and technology for expanding access to quality education and improving institutional efficiency in Africa
• Research and employability: The power and potential of leading, quality African research as the continent works to align higher education with the employability needs of the future workforce

The agenda will also feature two data masterclasses run by one of THE’s expert data scientists to delve into the methodology and results of the THE Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2025 and the THE Impact Rankings 2025. The THE Interdisciplinary Science Rankings recognise, incentivise and celebrate interdisciplinary science in higher education, whilst the THE Impact Rankings assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to benchmark a higher education institutions’ academic and scientific performance.

Phil Baty, THE’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, said: “Africa is vital to the future success of the world, and we are delighted to be hosting such a timely and relevant event to explore development in the higher education and sustainability sectors. This event in Kigali will be a real highlight and gathering of great leadership to showcase the growth of this exciting emerging education hub, and Africa's position at the centre of this.”

Tickets for delegates representing a university, association, public sector or NGO are US$199 until 28 February; subsequently they will cost US$299. Tickets for delegates representing a corporate organisation are US$299. Tickets are available here.