The role of Universities in promoting Inter-Cultural and Inter-Religious dialogue in Africa

Abstract

Africa is one of the continents that make up the global community. The communities in Africa comprise of people from diverse races, ethnicities and belief systems. Overtime, these communities have clashed along tribal lines and faith inspired conflicts. There is a growing concern in Africa over the need to establish unity entrenched in Pan-Africanism. Africa has more than 1900 universities both faith based and secular oriented. These universities attract a multitude of students from different parts of the continent and the world at large. With such dynamics, these institutions of higher learning could breed a new tolerant generation by fostering values of dialogue and peace amongst the African people. The main objective of this paper was to examine the role of a university in fostering inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue in Africa. The paper was composed using library research where analysis was made using credible multimedia, academic papers and publications etcetera, to enrich the study. From this, conclusions and recommendations were made for instance the need to decolonize the philosophy of African Universities, promoting research and community outreach engagements while involving the students. Promoting and engaging students in courses that are non-discriminative in terms of culture and faith such as astronomy, astrophysics, space exploration and science.