AUC School of Business Hosts AFAM’s Weeklong African Faculty Development Workshop 2019

During the period of June 9-13, the School contributed to building research capacity across the African continent through hosting the fifth African Faculty Development Workshop (AFDW) organized by the Africa Academy of Management (AFAM) and sponsored by AACSB.

Consisting of a series of programs with the goal of advancing research scholarship in Africa and assisting in developing the next generation of Africa’s academic leaders, the AFDWs are a significant initiative in line with AFAM’s mission to promote excellent doctoral and new faculty research.

The intensive week-long workshop had an objective of improving the theory, methodology and presentation of participants’ research papers or doctoral research projects. Accordingly, a team of scholars and faculty experts in various fields of management from across the continent were assembled to enhance the learning experience. Participants presented their research papers, titled “manuscripts” and received feedback and revisions from fellow scholars.

While the majority of the week was dedicated to the research paper presentations and interactive paper development sessions, a sufficient amount of time was further allocated to networking along with presentations and discussions revolving around topics including asking significant research questions, requirements for academic papers, academics ethics, how to publish in top tier journals, how to review journal articles, and quality requirements for both quantitative and qualitative papers. 

Commenting on the experience at the School, David Zoogah, president of AFAM and professor, Xavier University, emphasizes: “AUC School of Business’ proposal was the one we admired the most out of the proposals we received. We are working on our next conference in North Africa and if the School presents a proposal as good as this one, we will definitely come here again.” 

In order to host the workshop, interested institutions must submit a proposal to AFAM explicitly indicating the ability and commitment to fulfilling the requirements requested, and elaborating on how the institution will achieve each of the requirements. For instance, proposals should include information about facilities in terms of room and space availability, quality and availability of catering services, audiovisuals and IT facilities, and more. 

Zoogah furthermore reflects on the week-long experience: “The hosting was excellent. Everyone was very helpful; whatever we needed was provided. The faculty engagement level is high and the facilitators helped us to understand many Egyptian concepts-it was very impressive.” 

From the School, Neveen Ahmed, assistant professor of finance and who was also an organizer of the workshop and presented her own manuscript comments: “The AFAM Faculty Development Workshop was an excellent opportunity to gather scholars from all over Africa. We are grateful that we were able to grant them the opportunity to explore AUC and more importantly, Egypt. The workshop itself was very beneficial, giving its participants the occasion and platform through which they could develop their research abilities and improve their current manuscripts.” 

The workshop is consistent with AFAM’s mission, being “to foster the general advancement of knowledge and scholarship in the theory and practice of management among African scholars and/or academics interested in management and organization issues in Africa.” Similarly, the hosting of the workshop this year is part of the School’s efforts to expand its footprint in Africa, meanwhile allowing all participants to expand their networks, share their resources, and grow as business leaders.