African Union : Gaspard Banyankimbona elected Commissioner for Education and Science

Gaspard Banyankimbona of Burundi is elected African Union Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation on 25/07/2025. He succeeds Mohammed Belhocine of Algeria, who had been in office since 2021 and served only one term.

Biologist, Gaspard Banyankimbona obtained a Master’s degree in aquaculture from the University of Liège (Belgium) in 2006, and a doctorate in marine biology and biological oceanography from KU Leuven in 2012. From 2012 to 2013, he headed the Biology Department at the University of Burundi.

After spending a year at the Ministry of National Education and Research as permanent secretary, he was appointed rector of the University of Burundi at the end of 2014. Between 2018 and 2020, he served as Minister of Higher Education and Research during Pierre Nkurunziza’s presidency, then as Minister of National Education and Research when Évariste Ndayishimiye succeeded him. At the end of 2020, he was appointed executive director of the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), a position he held until July.

The election of the Commissioner for…