The incoming Secretary General of AAU, Prof Olusola Oyewole

On 9th August 2021 the outgoing President of the AAU Governing Board, Professor Orlando Antonio Quilambo, announced the appointment of a new Secretary General for the Association of African Universities that is effective 1st October 2021. Professor Oyewole replaces Professor Etienne Ehouan Ehile, an Ivorian higher education guru, who has led the Association for the past nine (9) years.

Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole is a Nigerian professor of Food Science and Technology, specifically Food Microbiology and Biotechnology. He has been a staff member of the Association in the past, as well as a Board Member and President of the Association. He is the former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria and has also worked as a Senior Expert in Higher Education for the African Union Commission in Ethiopia. Professor Oyewole’s work experiences at the national, regional and continental levels have endowed him with a wealth of knowledge in coordinating multinational research and development programs.

His vision is to amplify the relevance of the Association of African Universities as the Voice of Higher Education in Africa. He revealed that during his term of office, his top focus areas will include identifying and implementing strategies for sustaining the Association during and post the COVID19 era and helping African Universities to overcome the challenges of COVID19.

Upon the announcement, Professor Oyewole said that he deems the strategic collaborations and dialogues with development partners and other stakeholders as key for the successful future of the Association. He stated that without strong partnerships and collaborations, the Association would be unable to achieve her grand mission of improving the quality of African Higher Education.  He also stated his intentions to build new strategic partnerships and revive old partnerships for the sustainability of the Association through honest, sincere, visionary, committed, transparent and disciplined leadership. Through vibrant platforms for learning and knowledge exchange, Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole envisions the building of the next generation of academics in Africa and stronger intellectual engagement of AAU Member Universities.

At Research Beeline, we congratulate Prof Oyewole and wish him the very best in his new engagement as Sec Gen of the AAU.

Photo courtesy /AAU

Article by Research Beeline team

https://blog.aau.org/the-association-of-african-universities-appoints-a-new-secretary-general-professor-olusola-bandele-oyewole/