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As the world begins to approach the terminal year, 2014, of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and 2015 of the Millennium Development Goals, Africa is receiving more and more attention because of the multitudinous and deep-rooted challenges it faces for achieving sustainable development. There is a consensus emerging that African countries need to build up their capacities to cope with these challenges and, for this purpose, their higher education institutions need to drastically improve their own programmes for turning out future generations of professionals.

Since October 2008 the United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) has teamed up with a number of leading African universities to develop a postgraduate education program for sustainable development in Africa. This effort, supported by the Japanese Government, UNEP, UN-HABITAT and UNESCO, as well as selected Japanese universities, has culminated in the formulation of three thematic programmes, respectively, on ‘integrated rural development,’ ‘sustainable urban development’ and ‘ management of mineral resources.’

This symposium aims at reporting and sharing the principal features of the elaborated programmes and discussing ways to help the African partner universities implement these programmes. Around 20 experts from African universities, including four Presidents, as well as leading personalities from universities in developed countries and international organizations will exchange their views on innovative ways to achieve sustainable development in Africa through higher education.