Northern Illinois University recently signed a Level One Memorandum of Understanding with University of Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD) in Senegal.
The agreement opens the door for discussions and collaborations in four areas: grant writing and management; research and curriculum development; graduate student mentoring and faculty/graduate student exchanges.
UCAD of Dakar, with an enrollment of more than 60,000 students, is one of the oldest universities in Africa. It began in 1918 as a School of Medicine and then gradually expanded to become a full university in 1957. UCAD was the only public university in Senegal until the early 1990s. The institution offers degrees in the humanities, sciences, engineering, medicine, finance, accounting and law.
“Northern Illinois University is proud not only to be a long-term Institutional Member of West Africa Research Association (WARA), but also to be among the first U.S. institutions to promote this exciting prospect for future academic cooperation between our two institutions, especially within the framework of the UCAD African Diaspora Linkages Program,” said Ismael Montana, associate professor of history and president of Faculty Senate.
Montana, who also serves as the president of WARA, visited Dakar in March 2022, proposing the partnership as part of a presentation, “The African Diaspora Origins of Pan Africanism: Strengthening the Ties That Bound.” After a flurry of discussion, Montana visited Rector Ahmadou Aly Mbaye in his office with Ousmane Sene last fall. It was during this visit that the idea of UCAD-African Diaspora Linkages Initiative was born, with an aim to attract African scholars to UCAD with a clear objective to forge academic partnerships with US institutions to expand academic cooperation.
Kerry Wilks, dean of Graduate School and associate vice president of International Affairs, became involved in the budding partnerships when she arrived in March.
While level one agreements establish a relationship and are symbolic, this one is different, according to Wilks.
“I see not just the desire to work together, but I also see the work and effort that has already gone into the project, which tells me that many wonderful things will come from this relationship,” Wilks said. “We will be able to learn from each other to strengthen our ties and our understandings of each other.”
The partnership with UCAD not only aligns well with the University’s mission and commitment to international affairs and increasing access to education, but with the research emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“I cannot think of a more perfect partnership,” she added.
For UCAD, the partnership is important for many reasons, Aly Mbaye explained.
“We are called to be the academic research and cultural bridge between two sides of the Atlantic, particularly between the United States and West Africa,” he said.
Mobilizing intellectual resources in the form of student/faculty exchanges, research, teaching and outreach projects builds knowledge and understanding that goes beyond the two institutions.
“This is going to be beginning of many exciting prospects for future academic cooperation,” he added.
