The 4th Industrial Revolution envisions a fundamental change in the functioning of the world, enabled by extraordinary technological advances commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. This vision requires intentional investment in relevant specialised domains such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Quantum Computing, and other related concepts to equip learners with the necessary skills to contribute to and thrive amid the revolution. With mathematics being the backbone of all scientific fields, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) has been ahead of its time, training, since 2003 Africa’s youth with mathematical problem-solving skills to tackle the grand challenges of the continent.
An Applied Science-driven Model
With Centres of Excellence in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, and Rwanda, AIMS is contributing to Africa’s socio-economic transformation through innovative scientific training, cutting-edge research, and public engagement. AIMS provides its students with courses that form the basis of any research program in STEM fields, spanning from Applied Mathematics, Computer Science to Quantum, Mathematical-Physics and Machine Learning, among others. Armed with an introduction to computer programming in the scientific space, AIMS students are well-positioned to fit into the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Alumni Spotlight
Since its inception in 2003, with an alumni community totalling over 2500 graduates, AIMS continues to provide technical human capital to support home-grown solutions in industry and academia. Many of our alumni are pursuing PhD roles in top universities in and outside of Africa. One of such universities is Boise State University.
Within the Fall of 2020, the university’s Computing Department admitted 50 PhD students working on different focus areas in the coming years. Out of the 50 PhD students admitted in September of 2020, seven are alumni from AIMS Rwanda. With specialisations in Cyber Security, Data Science, Computational Math, Science and Engineering, these AIMS graduates are poised to develop solutions to complex problems in every sector of society, from traditional science and engineering domains to critical areas such as national security, public health, and economic innovation.
As an institution that believes in investing in Africa’s youth for the continent’s emergence, AIMS is now more than ever committed to building a critical mass of problem-solvers by training more young Africans. Against the backdrop of global challenges, the AIMS model remains a viable blueprint for academic excellence, mindset transformation, access to quality education, and work-integrated learning opportunities for Africa’s brightest students to flourish.