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1st SARUA Conference 2025
Innovating Higher Education for Sustainable Development across the SADC: Innovation for Impact
About the 2025 conference
The SARUA Conference theme, ‘Innovating Higher Education for Sustainable Development across the SADC: Innovation for Impact’, highlights the urgent need for universities to adapt to economic, technological and social shifts. In a rapidly evolving world, collaboration across sectors, including academia, government, industry and civil society, is essential to drive innovation and tackle complex regional challenges. By fostering cross-border and multi-disciplinary partnerships, higher education can enhance research impact, inform policy and strengthen its role in sustainable development and economic growth.
Take a look at the programme and abstracts of the 2025 conference.
Programme
The programme will be updated in the lead-up to the conference. Please check back for the latest version.
2025 keynote speakers
Prof. Romeela Mohee
Commissioner of the Higher Education Commission in Mauritius
Prof. Romeela Mohee
Prof. Mohee, CSK, is the current commissioner of the Higher Education Commission in Mauritius, overseeing the regulation of public and private higher education institutions. She holds an engineering degree in energy and environment from La Grande Ecole d’ingénieurs, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées Lyon, France and a PhD from the University of Mauritius.
With 34 years in education, Prof. Mohee has served as professor, head of department in chemical and environmental engineering, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, pro-vice-chancellor, and vice-chancellor of the University of Mauritius from 2013 to 2016. She was also the national research chair in solid waste at the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council.
An expert in higher education development, she worked at the Commonwealth of Learning from 2017 to 2020, advising on e-learning, quality assurance and employability. She has published over 150 research papers and supervised more than 80 students at undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels.
Prof. Mohee’s contributions have earned her several awards, including the African Union’s Best Woman Scientist Award in 2009. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK and the Mauritius Academy of Science and Technology, Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers UK and an associate members of the International Association of Universities.
Prof. Jouhaina Gherib
Former VC Manouba University, Tunisia and VP IAU
Prof. Jouhaina Gherib
Prof. Gherib is the former president of the University of Manouba (UMA) in Tunisia and a full professor of strategic management at ISCAE-UMA. She holds a PhD from the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and her research focuses on strategic decision-making, social responsibility and the SDGs. She currently holds the UNESCO Chair on ‘Higher Education for Sustainable Development in Africa’ at UMA.
In 2011, Prof. Gherib was elected vice-rector for Research and International Relations, and in 2017, she became UMA’s sixth rector, re-elected in 2020 for a second term. She made history as the first woman in Tunisia to be elected to this position. As rector, she worked to increase the visibility of the university’s research and align its education quality with international standards, while prioritising the well-being of the university community.
Prof. Gherib has chaired several committees focused on reforming Tunisia’s higher education and research system and was awarded the Knight of the National Order of Merit in Education in 2019. Actively engaged in civil society, she served as executive director of the United Nations Global Compact Network Tunisia from its inception and has been elected vice president of the International Association of Universities, leading its working group on higher education and research for sustainable development.
Prof. George Openjuru
VC Gulu University, Uganda
Prof. George Openjuru
Prof. Openjuru is the Vice Chancellor of Gulu University in Northern Uganda and a professor of education with a long-standing commitment to community-engaged higher education. He has held this role since 2018, following his tenure as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. A pioneer in lifelong learning, he was the founding Dean of the School of Distance and Lifelong Learning at Makerere University.
Prof. Openjuru’s research explores adult literacy, lifelong learning, community-university engagement and widening access to higher education. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to several transformative education initiatives, including the TESCEA project. His leadership helped shape Gulu University’s development strategies and strengthened its role in advancing sustainable development in Northern Uganda.
Nationally, he chairs Uganda’s National Curriculum Development Centre and is a former chair of the Uganda Vice Chancellors Forum. Internationally, he serves as Vice Chair of the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities and has collaborated with global leaders through the UNESCO Chairs programme, PRIA, and the University of Victoria.
Prof. Openjuru’s work has earned him recognition for advancing social justice, academic innovation, and community-based research, reinforcing his vision of universities as engines of inclusive development.
Dr Andrée Sursock
European University Association
Dr Andrée Sursock
Dr Sursock is senior adviser and former deputy secretary general (2001–2009) of the European University Association (EUA), where she led policy development on quality assurance. She directed the EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme and played a key role in shaping European higher education standards, including the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG), the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) and the launch of the European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF).
Since 2009, Dr Sursock has advised universities and governments internationally on a range of higher education policies. She served on three commissions that allocated funding for the French Academic Excellence Initiative and is an active member of advisory and administrative boards of universities and quality assurance agencies.
Her research and publications focus on topics such as diversity and inclusion, student access and success, university governance, quality assurance, internationalisation, doctoral education, academic careers and community engagement.
Dr Sursock holds a first degree in political philosophy from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr Noah Sobe
Chief of Section for Higher Education at UNESCO
Dr Peter Wells
With a two-decade academic career at Loyola University Chicago, this expert in higher education has also played a leading role in global education policy. From 2019 to 2022, he contributed to UNESCO’s flagship Futures of Education initiative, and currently works at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. A past president of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), he has also served as co-editor of the journal European Education.
SARUA Conference 2025 sponsors
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