The African Association of Deans of Student Affairs in Tertiary Institutions (AADSATI) has officially commenced a five-day conference on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, at the Florence Onny Auditorium.
The conference, which runs until August 15, 2025, has attracted participants from various universities across different African countries. It is being held under the theme “Achieving Lasting Peace on Campus: The Roles and Responsibilities of Deans of Student Affairs.” The event aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas among DSAs, address shared challenges and identify unique issues faced by individual countries.
Opening the session, the GCTU Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Michael Nana Owusu-Akomeah, welcomed participants on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa, expressing the University’s honour in hosting the conference. He urged participants to fully engage with the conference, its speakers and the overall experience, hoping it would be more than just another meeting.
Prof. Owusu-Akomeah emphasized that the role of DSAs is a calling – one that requires a special kind of heart. He prayed that the compassion God has given them would grow even stronger, enabling them to better support the students in their care. He recalled several occasions on which he had received preferential treatment, noting, “I always tell my faculty members that the students we see today are the future leaders. Our work is a calling that demands a bigger heart and requires us to open our doors to nurture students, so that when our names are mentioned, it is done with pride and our legacy lives on through them.”
In his lead paper presentation, the Vice-Chancellor of Sam Maris University, Nigeria, Prof. Francis Ayodeji Gbore, emphasized that conferences of this nature offer opportunities to foster a sense of community and enhance capacity to support student success, well-being and development across Africa. Prof. Gbore indicated that when students thrive, the continent will progress faster, as they are the future leaders.
Delving into the theme, he emphasized the importance of peace on campus, describing universities as learning communities that attract students from diverse backgrounds and foster a unique, promising environment. Prof. Gbore further noted that security challenges in some African countries also affect university campuses, stressing that if citizens are not safe, campuses cannot be safe either. He described the conference as a vital call to improve safety and promote lasting peace in academic environments.
“A peaceful campus environment enables students to focus on their studies, achieve their academic goals and develop a sense of safety, security and belonging,” he said. He urged DSAs to be both strong and compassionate, recognizing that supporting students through challenges can be emotionally demanding.
The DSA of Osun State College of Technology, Nigeria, and Coordinator of AADSATI, Dr. Agbolade Bamidele Segun presented key insights on “The Unintended Mentoring and Its Effects on Academic and Moral Life of Students in Tertiary Institutions: The Emerging Trend.” He outlined the role of DSAs, including:
-
Provision of safe environment:- through effective policies and administrative styles, promotes students’ well-being to solve conflicts
-
Supervision and mentoring: – building cordial relationships with various students’ associations to facilitate information-sharing and collaboration
- Establishment of alumni association
- Influencing students’ decision making: – through proactive strategies such as debates, symposiums, and sports.
Dr. Segun emphasized the importance of digital engagement, suggesting that DSAs can embed themselves into student online platforms, raise digital informants, monitor and counter false narratives, and identify and track “difficulty” cases early. He further added that the digital age is a double-edged sword and DSAs must be proactive, not reactive.
The opening session of the conference was successful, and it will continue until Friday, 15th August 2025.
