French expertise features prominently in the eLearning Africa 2019

French expertise features prominently in the 2019 edition of Africa’s most respected technology supported education and training conference and exhibition event. This year’s eLearning Africa convenes in Abidjan on 23-25 October under the theme “learnability and employability”. The annual pan-African conference is dedicated to examining the potential for using new communications technologies to spread educational opportunity.

Ivory Coast, host of eLearning Africa 2019, has the fourth-largest Francophone population on the continent^[1]. On the whole, Africa makes up more than 70% of the world’s total French-speaking population, and France’s commitment to Africa is profound. Many representatives of prominent French educational institutions will take part in Abidjan.

Within the OECD, France is the fourth-largest donor country to education and has recently developed a new strategy^[2] for external action on education, vocational training and integration. Entitled L’ Action Exterieure de la France pour l’Education, la Formation Professionnelle et l’Insertion dans les Pays en Developpement – 2017-2021, Africa is a principal partner in the efforts

Highlights of eLA 2019 include a session focused on “Business Skills, Soft Skills, Competency Frameworks and their Tools to Support Learners’ Employability”. This is one of several scheduled discussions directly related to the overall conference theme.

Africa has no shortage of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The challenge is how to boost their potential to add value and employ more young people. Another eLA session, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, will explore initiatives in Africa that provide entrepreneurs with the crucial knowledge and skills they needed to grow their businesses and make them sustainable.

There is clearly no one-size-fits-all approach to addressing Africa’s many challenges and opportunities. In this context, Francophone experts are set to lead a very practical session on “Design Thinking for Problem Solving in Africa”. This process offers an innovative approach to dealing with complex problems that encourages out-of-the-box thinking toward finding revolutionary solutions. The aim is for all participants to leave the room with practical skills that can be used almost immediately in their own environments.

With enhanced partnerships essential to success, attention is also dedicated to discussing Francophone-world perspectives on collaboration. This includes sessions on Transnational Cooperation in Higher Education and Training: success factors and development perspectives offered by the pedagogical and digital revolutions; Exploring North-South Digital Collaboration Experiences;and Using open educational resources, platforms and tools developed by French Digital Thematic Universities.

Young Africans need to be well prepared for the digital disruptions that are transforming – and will continue to revolutionise – the future of work in their countries. A workshop on Blockchain at the Service of Education presented by experts from the French-speaking world will provide an updated overview of this powerful technology. Its potential impacts on academic spheres and human resources (diploma issuance and skills-based certifications for long-life access), as well as education science (off-centring education with open badges) in Europe and the entire world need to be understood.

The following French institutions will be present at at eLearning Africa 2019:

• Ministère de l’Economie numérique et de la Prospective
• CNED
• HEC
• UNIT (Université Numérique en sciences de l’ingénieur et en technologie)
• AUNEGe (Université Numérique Economie Gestion)
• UOH (L’Université Numérique des Humanités)
• e-Charlemagne / Chaucot-Dubost
• FIED (Fédération inter universitaire de l’enseignement à distance)
• Université Paris 8
• Université de Lorraine
• Université de Strasbourg
• Université de Lille
• Université d’Artois
• Ecole Nationale des Sciences Géographiques
• FERDI (Fondation pour les études et recherches en développement international)
• CIEP – France Education International
• ETS Global, France
• OpenINSA
• INSA Toulouse

Background

eLearning Africa brings together international education and technology specialists, government ministers, entrepreneurs and investors to focus on the expansion and enhancement of Africa’s education sector. As in the past, the subject – at the heart of the African Union’s plans for turning Africa into a “transformed continent” by 2063 – will be intensively discussed and debated during three days of presentations, workshops, seminars, and ministerial meetings in Abidjan from 23-25 October. Major international organisations such as UNESCO, the European Commission, the World Bank, GIZ and the African Union feature prominently on the conference programme.

eLearning Africa, an annual, pan-African conference held in a different capital on the continent each year, is dedicated to examining the potential for using new communications technology to spread educational opportunity. The event is now in its fourteenth year, and since its launch in Addis Ababa in 2005, technology-assisted learning has expanded massively worldwide and now plays a major role in the delivery of learning, training, research, and development in schools, colleges, universities, companies, and organisations across Africa. It has enabled millions of Africans to expand their horizons and take advantage of the countless possibilities technology offers in the realms of education and the acquisition of new skills and qualifications.

For more information about the eLearning Africa conference and exhibition, or the associated eLearning Africa Ministerial Round Table attended by Education and ICT Ministers, please contact Rebecca Stromeyer, founder and curator of eLA.

eLearning Africa is the continent’s key networking event for ICT-supported education, training, and skills development, bringing together high-level policy makers, decision makers and practitioners from education, business, and government. Since its 2005 inception in Addis Ababa, eLearning Africa has hosted 17,278 participants from 100+ countries, with over 85% coming from the continent. More than 3,300 speakers have addressed the conference about every aspect of technology-enhanced education and skills development. A truly pan-African platform, eLearning Africa is a must for those who want to develop multinational and cross-industry contacts and partnerships, as well as enhance their knowledge, expertise, and abilities.

The conference and its associated exhibition, the latter featuring the very latest products, courses, and solutions from around the world, represent “an outstanding networking opportunity and the best vantage point anywhere in Africa to gain a view of the continent’s edTech market,” according to the organisers.

eLearning Africa 2019 – 14th International Conference & Exhibition on ICT for Education, Training and Skills Development
October 23 – 25, 2019, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Secretariat: ICWE GmbH, Leibnizstrasse 32, 10625 Berlin, Germany

Contact: Rebecca Stromeyer, info@elearning-africa.com, Tel: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0, Fax: +49 (0)30 324 98 33

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