African Universities urged to be vanguards ....

...in the re-awakening process on the Continent Accra, June 7, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday called on African Universities to be the vanguards in the re-awakening on the Continent.

He said the efforts being taken by African leaders to assert the Continent in the comity of nations should engage the intellectual faculties of the society, adding, "without the vanguard role of the Universities Africa cannot be re-awakened."

President Kufuor made the call when members of the Executive Board of the All Africa Universities (AAU) paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu.

The Board was attending its first meeting at the headquarters of the AAU in Accra after elections in February, this year. President Kufuor urged the AAU to ensure that their presence was felt on the Continent, adding, "when you show the initiative in your deliberations to the efforts of the African leaders they would support you to achieve your objectives".

He pledged the Government's commitment to sustain the AAU headquarters in Accra and also to endeavour to provide a more spacious accommodation and funds for their activities.

Professor Njabulo S. Ndebele, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa and President of the AAU, who led the delegation, said with the many developments on the Continent, Universities should define their specific roles to contribute to its development.