A network of fully operational e-learning centres is being set up across Africa, giving the continent the capacity to train up large numbers of teachers in the fields of science, engineering and technology.

Where traditional training methods were restricted in the number of teachers they could reach, this method has provided an efficient solution. It enables many teachers to get to grips with the complex content and methods required in covering science and technology today.

The basis for this development was the Avicenna Virtual Campus which, in just four years, established itself as a model for quality in teacher training and student learning in the Mediterranean region. The African Virtual Campus is Avicenna’s sister network and targets 54 countries in Africa’s five main regions.

Already Benin, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Togo have joined the virtual campus. Senegal ‘s University of Cheikh Anta Diop joined in 2008. Since then, e-learning modules have been recorded for first year chemistry and physics students. The modules give students the possibility of following classes, revising and testing themselves online.

Among the many aims of the African Virtual Campus are: teacher training in the production of online multimedia courses; a virtual science and technology library which includes teaching material; specific online courses covering science policy and innovation. In due course, the campus network will be extended to the countries of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), namely Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

Shortly after the EU-AU Lisbon summit held in December 2007, eight priority areas were identified as key areas for cooperation and development. The eighth priority area targets science, information society and space and aims in particular to support Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action. It is in this context, that the African Virtual Campus was pinpointed as one of the flagship projects to be supported.