The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) will seek to reverse Africa's brain drain problem.

Aiming Higher

When ICTP director K.R. Sreenivasan travelled to South Africa to participate in a roundtable discussion at the inaugural ceremony of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) on 18 September, he felt right at home.
AIMS, the brainchild of Neil Turok, a world-renowned cosmologist at the University of Cambridge, UK, will seek to stem Africa's chronic brain drain in mathematics by establishing a pan-African centre of excellence dedicated to the advanced training of the continent's most outstanding young mathematicians.
The centrepiece of the effort is a one-year postgraduate diploma programme in mathematical sciences modelled after ICTP's own Diploma Programme, which recently celebrated its 12th anniversary.
The AIMS diploma programme works like this: Students who have earned high marks as undergraduates are selected on a competitive basis to attend a one-year advanced training programme focussing on the mathematical aspects of a wide variety of subjects that includes astrophysics, bioinformatics, computational science, demographics, ecology and economics.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will receive credit from one of three degree-granting South African universities now associated with the initiative: the universities of Western Cape, Cape Town and Stellenbosch that are working jointly with Cambridge University in the United Kingdom in the organisation of this effort.
In addition to drawing on the faculty of all these institutions for its instruction, AIMS has also received commitments from more than 100 academics from around the world who will serve as guest lecturers at the institute. Among those who have volunteered their services is George Ellis, professor of cosmology at the University of Cape Town and a former collaborator with ICTP's High Energy Physics Group.
The institute, located in Muizenberg, a small seaside suburb of Cape Town, was launched with the help of a US$120,000 grant from the International Council of Science (ICSU). In addition, more than US$500,000 in donations from South Africa's government and several foundations and private firms, including the international communications company Vodafone, have been granted to cover the institute's annual operating expenses.
The first class of AIMS students has just begun their studies. A group of 30 students, coming from 15 African nations, has been chosen from a candidate pool of 85.
"The goal of AIMS is to build capacity in African mathematics and science," Turok says. "By recruiting bright young students and teaching them well in an institute that focusses on Africa and African development, we hope to encourage them to pursue their careers in Africa."
"The ICTP Diploma Programme," adds Sreenivasan, "has earned an excellent reputation for serving as a training ground for the developing world's brightest students in high energy and condensed matter physics, as well as in mathematics--especially students from the world's least developed countries."
"ICTP," he adds, "is indeed delighted to have served as a model for AIMS and we warmly welcome the institute's efforts to provide training to develop a critical mass of skilled mathematicians in Africa."
"While it is clear that the continent as a whole needs a larger scale effort," Sreenivasan notes, "it is also clear that any good effort is worthwhile. The larger the number of efforts like AIMS, the greater the impact on African mathematics. ICTP is pleased to show its support for AIMS and wishes the endeavour great success."

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