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Where the network gathers.

Each year, institutions from across Africa come together — in person and online — to share what works, benchmark their progress, and set the network’s agenda for the year ahead. It’s where new collaborations begin.

Our convenings are designed as working sessions, rather than as conferences. For several days each year, annual convenings and regional hub convenings allow institutions to compare lessons, from career centers and honor codes, to incubation hubs and teaching practice.

Convening attendees measure their outcomes against peers’, and leave with plans they can act on. Convenings are attended by institutional leaders, faculty, and staff, who all take part across all four areas of the network’s work, and the conversation carries on year-round through communities of practice.

Teach, and learn

Exemplary institutions share what works on their campuses, and every institution adopts what it learns from peers.

Connect with peers

Institutions compare notes and benchmark their progress against peers across all four areas of the network’s work.

Build plans that travel.

Institutions leave with a roadmap — and many turn what they learn into funded projects through Post-Convening Grants.

Two ways we convene.

June Convening

Every two years, the whole network gathers within one of its regional hubs in June, for several days of working sessions, benchmarking, and planning across all four areas of collaboration. It’s where the network sets their agenda for the next two years, and where new collaborations begin.

Regional Hub Convening

Each hub also hosts its own convening every two years, in between June convenings, shaped by the region’s priorities, from employability and entrepreneurship to tech-enabled student success. As the hubs have grown, so have their gatherings.

A forum that drives action.

The best ideas from a convening don’t stay on paper. Through Post-Convening Grants, institutions turn what they learned into real projects on their own campuses; a work-readiness program at Riara University in Kenya, a dual-learning pilot at Davis College in Rwanda, and more.

490+
universities have been represented at a convening
200+
participants at the 2022 hybrid convening in Accra
4
areas of collaboration at the heart of every convening

Voices and Stories

Talks, testimonies, and reporting from convenings across the network.

Video

Highlights from the 2026 West Africa Hub Convening
Video

Why the convening matters: Nelson Mandela University leaders
Video

AI in African higher education: disruptive force or necessary tool?
Video

Kepler and PAU: a partnership forged at the June Convening
Video

Prof. PLO Lumumba on Pan-Africanism and ethical leadership
Article

At the 2025 June Convening, stakeholders recenter student success
Article

Bold commitments to reimagine the student experience
Article

East Africa Convening: accelerating entrepreneurship and employability
Article

2022 East Africa Hub Convening: the summary report
Read more stories

A history of gathering.

From a single gathering at Ashesi in 2017 to a continent-wide rhythm of regional and June convenings, this is where the network has met.

  1. 2026

    A continent-wide rhythm

    Three regional convenings in one year: the Southern Africa Hub’s first gathering in January, the West Africa Hub in Lomé in March, and the East Africa Hub’s fourth edition in Nairobi in October.

  2. 2025

    The June Convening recenters students

    Institutions meet to put student success at the center of their work, leaving with bold commitments to reimagine the student experience.

  3. 2024

    The West Africa Hub finds its rhythm

    The West Africa Hub hosts its inaugural convening, bringing the region's institutions together around graduate employability, entrepreneurship, and tech-enabled student success. A second regional hub begins a rhythm of its own, in the years between June Convenings.

  4. 2023

    Two convenings in one year

    The whole network gathers for the June Convening, and the East Africa Hub hosts its inaugural convening — championing entrepreneurship and graduate employability across the region. For the first time, the network meets twice in a single year.

  5. 2022

    The first hybrid convening

    More than 200 participants gather in Accra, in person and online, working across all four areas of collaboration. The West Africa Hub launches.

  6. 2021

    The network goes virtual

    The first full June Convening is held online — an opening plenary, ideation sprints, and speaker sessions. The East Africa Hub launches the same year.

  7. 2017

    The first gathering

    Ashesi convenes a small group of African universities in Berekuso to teach one another what works. The idea that becomes The Education Collaborative starts here.

Meet the network in person.

Whether it’s the June Convening or a regional hub gathering, there’s a place for your institution in the conversation.

See upcoming events Join the network