Catalysing African Universities role and relevance across and beyond the RUFORUM network

This edition, Volume 17 Issue 1, captures papers presented during the Sixth African Higher Education Week and RUFORUM Biennial conference, held in Nairobi in October 2018, under the theme “Aligning African Universities to Accelerate Attainment of Africa’s Agenda 2063”. It documents efforts by African universities and other actors in contributing to the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. Overall, 116 papers (submitted prior to and during the conference) are presented in this edition, and covers eight broad thematic areas, including (i) agri-food systems productivity, (ii) sustainable food and nutritional security and (iii) environment and natural resources sustainability. Our intention in collating this information is to promote visibility and contribution of African scientists to Africa’s development and global knowledge and help catalyse increased engagement of African universities and their partners in championing Africa’s development. While the potential role of African universities in the attainment of the aspirations of Africa’s Agenda 2063 is widely acknowledged, more still needs to be done at various levels to enable Africa’s universities play a more impactful role in Africa transformation. Other papers received during Biennial 2018 will be published in Volume 17 issue 2. Key words: Africa, Agenda 2063, Agri-food systems; African Universities, agricultural transformation, inclusivity, RUFORUM, rural development