The African University of Science and Technology (AUST) is a Pan-African institution, established in 2007 in response to a request from several African Heads of State, to give life to a request made by then President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, that the World Bank and the African Union work together to create strong Pan-African centres of excellence to improve sub-Saharan Africa’s capacity in Science and Technology.
Thus a network of the now so-called Nelson Mandela Research Institutes was born. AUST in Abuja was the first of these Centers of Excellence to be established. It currently only offers Graduate level programs by a combination of course work and cutting edge research.
AUST draws both students and faculty from all across Africa. Because of the high level of instruction needed for the specialised course work it offers as the foundation for its demanding research at the Master’s and doctoral levels and the quality of research standards it insists on, AUST taps into a now well-established international network of scientists and engineers who serve as visiting faculty.
As part of its quality assurance structures, the university draws on the knowledge, experience and wisdom of a global interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers, members of the African Scientific Committee (ASC) and an International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB).
While it currently only offers programs by a combination of intensive coursework and research in five disciplinary areas, starting later in 2016, new Master’s level programs, by course work only, will be offered.
What's in this guide?
What Makes AUST Unique?
Support from around the world.
The AUST initiative has received overwhelming support from around the world, especially in the scientific and donor communities, and from a number of bilateral relationships, as well as partnerships with the private sector. In its early stages, two middle income countries were very active in providing support — India through the IIT and IIS Systems and South Africa through the AIMS Mathematical Institute in Cape Town.
Demonstrated African ownership.
A number of African countries, development agencies and the African Union have shown a high level of commitment and clear expressions of interest in supporting the work of AUST.
Autonomy and public-private partnerships.
The players associated with the governance and advisory board structures for the AUST are actively engaged. In its infancy, The World Bank Institute played an active role in shepherding the initiative and coordinating the efforts of an increasing number of parties both in and outside of Africa. The International Finance Corporation has been another active player, assisting in the development of the business and implementation plan and key aspects of the initiative.
Programs
AUST offers graduate programs at the Master’s and Doctoral levels in five specially chosen fields of science and engineering. Admission is applicants who have proven to be among the best and brightest pan-African students, who, at minimum, have a First Class or Upper Second Class Honours degree at the undergraduate level or its equivalent.
The degrees, which are accredited by the Nigerian Universities Commission, are also internationally recognized, making it possible for our Master’s graduates to pursue a doctorate or to enter the workplace at a senior level, while our doctoral graduates are highly sought after as post-doctoral fellows.
The different programs offer a variety of specialist courses, which are built around two complementary elements:
- high-level scientific training in a given discipline, with strong emphasis on modeling, simulation and experimental validation;
- the capacity to become familiar with technical tools relevant to a given discipline, thereby allowing application of the acquired knowledge directly in the workplace or in a research environment.
Computer Science, Materials Science and EngineeringPetroleum, EngineeringPure and Applied Mathematics Theoretical and Applied Physics
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