African Students Day 2024

The very first African Students Day took place in May 2024 at the RWTH Aachen University. We brought together more than 120 members from the African Diaspora, who were students, trainees, young professionals from Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. After an energizing welcoming address from our moderator Liz Shoo, we had an inspirational keynote speech from Prof. Dr. Gael Pentang set the tone for the event and gave all participants the necessary mindset to engage into the subsequent discussions as the program unfolded. We even had the German broadcasting station WDR who covered the event and made a TV report. You can take a look here : Our African Students Day 2024 on German TV

Below you can find more about the panel discussions and our speakers:

Moderator Liz Shoo

An accomplished journalist, moderator and TV presenter with more than a decade of experience. After working at the Deutsche Welle for over 12 years, she currently works as a journalist and presenter at the German public broadcasting institution WDR

Panel Discussion I: African Students Mobility & The Education System in Africa

With Africa being the continent with the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population, this panel discussion was centered around the migration of African students around the world. Issues such as the general increase in the number of sub-Saharan African students leaving their home countries to study in other countries as well as the low inter-regional student mobility rate in sub-Saharan Africa were discussed. The panel also touched on positive examples such as Seychelles which has the best educational System according to the world ranking and on how other African countries could learn from it.

Panel Speakers

Prof. Dr. Gael Pentang
Cybersecurity Professor at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Co-Founder of The SEEDS Leadership Entrepreneurship Program

Dr. Boniface Mabanza
Philosopher, Literary Academic and Theologian, Coordinator at Kirchlichen Arbeitsstelle Südliches Afrika

Dr. Rahab Njeri
Historian, Scholar-activist and Anti-racism Consultant at the University of Cologne

Virginie Kamche
Founder of Afrika Netzwerk Bremen e.V., 2019 Bremen Diversity Award Winner & 2023 Woman of the Year in Bremen

Panel Discussion II: The role of African Students as part of the Diaspora in creating impact on their Home Continent

The African Union has made it clear that it has a strong intent to involve and engage the diaspora in the continent’s development agenda. In this panel discussion we have invited young students throughout Europe with leadership positions at organizations who actively contribute in creating impact for Africans and for the diaspora. These young leaders have purposefully created the time to act and contribute within the African Diaspora community. With this panel, we wanted to provide them a platform to inspire and motivate other participants to do the same but also to simply share their experiences.