The All-African Students Union (AASU)

The All-African Students Union (AASU) is the largest student movement in Africa and a very dominant force on the Continent and beyond

The All-Africa Students Union (AASU) organizes all students in Africa – from the basic level to Institutions of higher learning; in essence, the Union is the umbrella organization for all students of Africa. 

Since its inception in 1972, AASU now has presence in 54 Countries in Africa. As the Continent’s largest students group, AASU played an important role in the struggle against colonialism and the ending of apartheid. Today, AASU is at the forefront of the fights for equal access to quality education, quality assurance in higher education, harmonization of higher education systems – with key emphasis on mobility of academics and comparability of qualifications, democratic governance, defending students’ rights, promotion of gender and African culture, sustainable development, entrepreneurship, fostering of academic freedom, freedom of research and autonomy of higher institutions of learning, and the promotion of peace and democratic values, and other noteworthy objectives. 

In the year 2000, the UN awarded AASU a certificate of merit in recognition of the Union’s efforts at advancing students’ rights and championing the democratization of education across the African Continent.

AASU is wholly student-run and student-led, autonomous, representative, democratically elected and operates according to democratic principles. The Union has a democratically elected leadership from the various African countries and the executive structure is representative of all the sub-regions.

The AASU structure is very much like that of the African Union. We are in the process of establishing sub-regional offices to decentralize and complement efforts of the Headquarters in Accra-Ghana.

AASU’s key strength lies in its diversity and numerical strength; which it employs as a bargaining tool to speak for the supreme interests of students at all times. The Union is made up of diverse students, regardless of their religion, gender, cultural background, political persuasion, ethnic origin or social standing.

The Union achieves its core mandate through:Advocacy, Capacity Building, Networking, and Partnership.