Since the start of the year, a brand new institution has been open in the Senegalese capital. Dakar welcomes the first École Doctorale des Ateliers de la Pensée d’Afrique, a graduate school for think tank workshops adressing African issues.

Having seen great minds such as Léopold Sédar Senghor and Cheikh Anta Diop evolving from the country, Senegal continues to occupy the intellectual arena, providing this new centre of excellence. Consequently, Dakar will be responsible for training new researchers on a regular basis by offering extensive teaching across a range of different disciplines.

Social sciences, literature, exact sciences and even cinema are all included in the selection of subjects on offer.

This exclusive school is an opportunity to bring together the country’s leading minds, diaspora as well as local youth. This will be a space of exchange which will deal with major contemporary issues and where culture will be celebrated in its broadest sense.

Invitation for debate will be in French, giving a transnational scope to the graduate school.

Many prominant professors and leading experts on Africa are participating and will be delivering the first courses. These include Achille Mbembé and Yala Kisukidi among others.

Future graduates will receive tangible responses on a local as well as pan-African basis reached through a refreshed theoretical way of working.

Senegal is positioned throughout Africa and beyond, as a dedicated design and innovation laboratory capable of nourishing culture and considering all areas across a broad spectrum.