The ACDE invites scholars, students, practitioners, policymakers, instructional designers, diplomats and industry partners to submit papers for its 2027 International Conference. The conference will explore how open distance learning institutions and those who venture into this space are rethinking anew sciences for Africa in current geopolitics and exponential age. Across the continent, countries are facing grand societal challenges that require intervention of higher education. The higher education landscape itself is undergoing significant change, driven by Africanisation, digital transformation, and geopolitics.
African institutions have a unique opportunity to leapfrog traditional educational models by leveraging these innovations to create inclusive, flexible, and learner-centred ecosystems that expand access while enhancing quality, relevance, employability, and student success. Through an African lens, the conference seeks to critically examine how higher education is financed or should be financed, navigating African innovation in a multi-polar world, emerging fields and future studies in Africa, digital transformation, African studies in diaspora, science diplomacy, internationalisation, and geopolitics resilience.