DigItAfrica - Fostering Digital Transformation in Africa by Building Digital Capability for All

The Covid-19 pandemic has come, in 2020 and 2021, to confirm even more the importance of the digitalisation of administrations, companies, and of course higher education institutions. African countries are committed to the digital movement, nevertheless, they are doing so at a slower pace. This is certainly linked to economic, cultural, and political factors, but also to a lack of knowledge and capacity of HEIs to renew their teaching practices through the prism of digital technology. In this project, we dig deep into this problem of digital divide and propose à contribution to its reduction. We base our ideas and orientations on previous studies that have clearly delineated the critical need but also the challenges faced by African HEIs to adapt to current and future labour market demands and student expectations. We thus propose a strategic framework to accompany digitalisation. This framework is culturally as well as functionally adaptable to avoid a one-size-fits-all solution. The transfer of good practice from Europe to Africa is important to serve this objective, for this we propose the creation of digital centres baring the mission of growing all stakeholders involved in the mission of higher education in digital and soft skills. We liaise with other societal stakeholders for knowledge transfer by establishing communities of practice and digital divers. Our dissemination approach aims to influence towards sectoral change in Africa and a better tackling of widening participation in Europe.