The first keynote at the 9th PASCAL International Observatory conference in Gaborone, Botswana was presented by Professor Olusola Oyewole of African Union, Addis Ababa on the topic of Regional Engagement for African Universities: Challenges and Prospects. This presentation complemented a series of excellent welcome sessions from the Mayor of Gaborone City, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Botswana and the Chair of the PASCAL Advisory Board.

The supporting keynote presentation outline appears below:

This event was a major public presentation of material from the substantial research programme jointly funded by ESRC and the funding councils for higher education in England and each of the devolved administrations in the UK. It is a significant multi‐centre programme, embracing work on a wide range of aspects of impact, involving 11 projects spread across 17 HEIs around the UK, coordinated at Strathclyde University, and costing over £3m.