African pole of excellence
The African Cluster Centre (ACC) – of the University Joseph KI-Zerbo (UJKZ) of Ouagadougou, one of the CAMES universities network – is one of the five African Clusters Centres which have been set up in the framework of the implementation of the scientific cooperation project named “Africa Multiple – Cluster of Excellence". The project has been initiated by the University of Bayreuth in the context of the Excellence Initiative of the German Government. It is funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft – DFG).
Funding for the ACC of the UJKZ has been acquired thanks to a competitive fund, following a call for projects launched by the University of Bayreuth in Africa in 2018. An interdisciplinary team at the UJKZ – from The Units of Training and Research in Human Sciences, Arts and Communication (UFR/SH et UFR/LAC) – including researchers from the University Ouaga 2 and the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (CNRST), took part in this competition. Four African Universities – The University of Lagos (Nigeria), Rhodes University in Graham City (South Africa), Moi University in Nairobi (Kenya) and the UJKZ – came out of this process as winners. A cooperation agreement was signed in October 2019 between the University of Bayreuth and the four African Universities. Each of them has set up an African Cluster Center as part of their collaboration with the African Cluster Center of the University of Bayreuth.
The objective of the ACC of the UJKZ is to participate, together with its national and international partners, in the reconfiguration of African Studies both in substance and form and based on the scientific activities of the project.
Accordingly, the ACC participates in a scientific cooperation with different scientific research institutions in the field of African studies and facilitates the circulation of researchers and doctoral students between the Universities and African Studies Centres that are partners of the project “Africa Multiple – Cluster of Excellence".
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