FIRST ORDINARY SESSION OF THE SPECIALISED TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Thursday 1st October 2015: - AU Ministers responsible for Education, Science and Technology, and their relevant senior officials, Regional Economic Communities, as well as development partners, will converge on the Headquarters of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa for the First Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology (STC-EST) from the 27th to 30th October 2015. The joint STC-EST meeting which is on the theme Linking Education to Research and Innovation, will take stock of the progress the continent is making in education, science and technology, and deliberate on how to better contribute towards attaining the AU Agenda 2063. The STC-EST session will also consider existing strategies and policies in Education, Science and Technology, namely the Science and Education Strategy for Africa (STISA 2016-2025) and the new Continental Strategy for TVET, in order to make recommendations on how African countries will organize themselves to contribute to and benefit from the AU Agenda 2063.

The AU took a Summit Decision EX. CL/Dec.420 (XIII) to reconfigure all Ministerial Conferences into ‘Specialized Technical Committees” with the objective of enhancing the methods of work, and improving sectorial relationships, synergies, effectiveness and efficiency. In this regard, Education, Science and Technology were merged under the Specialized Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology (STC-EST). In accordance with the Summit Decision, “STCs are expected to work in close collaboration with the various Departments of the Commission so as to provide well-informed inputs in their areas of specialization to the work of the Executive Council towards a collective approach to Africa’s socio-economic development agenda. They should also be involved in monitoring programme development and implementation by the AU and RECs on behalf of the Executive Council”.

The first joint meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology will elect a new Ministerial Bureau for the running of the STC in the next two years, and agree on new mechanisms for partnering for greater complementarity between Education and STI sectors in the continent with special focus on the AU Agenda 2063 journey. Participants are expected to update the Ministers on the status of on-going programmes, as well as RECs and Member States’ performance in the education, science and technology sectors. They will further discuss AU Summit Decisions relevant to the conduct of education, science and technology on the continent, and consider among other things the education and TVET strategies, the STISA implementation plan, and the Africa Space Policy and Strategy.

For further enquiries, contact Adiatou Fatty FattyA@africa-union.org