A Centre of Excellence in Planetary and Space Science and Technology (CESST) in Africa: report from first phase of implementation

The project Focus on Africa Space Science and Technology 4 Future development (FAST4Future) aims at strengthening STEM in Africa Higher Education by promoting Planetary and Space Science and Technology (PSST) for sustainable growth and jobs creation. Africa is rapidly embracing the 4th industrial revolution and PSST has been identified as key area of investment to provide graduates and young scientists with both the necessary soft and practical skills to face 21st Century challenges such as digital innovation and higher skilled job creation. The aims of FAST4Future are: i) To increase the accessibility to STEM in African; ii) To modernize existing PSST programmes; iii) To foster the internationalization and South-South collaborations; iv) to promote standardization of PSST in Africa. To achieve these ambitious goals, FAST4Future created a Centre of Excellence in PSST (CESST) hosting a virtual platform (https://lms.cesst.org). Once fully implemented CESST will not only make PSST freely available to African students but will also coordinate collaborative actions to i) analyse the conditions needed to increase the participation of women in STEM in Africa; ii) modernise and harmonize PSST programmes in Africa; iii) promote the transfer of skills in key strategic areas of PSST. The creation of a virtual platform within CESST opened new pathways for the dissemination of high-quality academic contents that will reach thousands of STEM learners across the continent and facilitate the access to STEM disciplines for Africans living in remote areas, conflict zones, and will increase the number of women in STEM.