The ''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie'' (AUF; ) is a global network of French-speaking higher-education and research institutions. Founded in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada in 1961, as the ''Association des Universités Partiellement ou Entièrement de Langue Française'' (AUPELF),''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, History''
the AUF is a multilateral institution supporting co-operation and solidarity among French-speaking universities and institutions. It operates in French-speaking and non-speaking countries of Africa, the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, Central, Eastern and

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

. As of 2020, the AUF has 1,007 members (public and private universities, institutes of higher education, research centers and institutions, institutional networks, and networks of university administrators) distributed throughout francophone countries on six continents. It is active in 119 countries, and represented by regional offices and information centers on campuses and in institutes. The Association receives funding from the (OIF), and its headquarters are located at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

History

Origins

In 1959, Jean-Marc Léger (Canadian journalist at ''

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

'') and André Bachand (public-relations director at the University of Montreal) voiced the idea of a worldwide organisation which would create a link between French-speaking universities. On 13 September 1961 in Montreal, some 150 representatives of the French-speaking world created the foundation of what would become ''Association des Universités Partiellement ou Entièrement de Langue Française'' (AUPELF), French for the "Association of Partially or Entirely French-speaking Universities." From 1972 to 1975, Robert Mallet chaired the board of directors of AUPELF.

Expansion

In 1987, during the heads of state summit in Quebec, an "exchange university" project was implemented under the name UREF (''Université des Réseaux d'Expression Français'', University French Expression Networks). Its purpose was to create a university network for research and education. In November 1993, AUPELF became ''AUPELF-UREF''. In April 1998, in Beirut, AUPELF-UREF became the ''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie''.

Reforms

To answer the

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

action plan's request, the AUF undertook reforms in three fields in 1999: * Modification of its status * Administration * Programmes In 2005, the AUF endowed a four-year program to meet the goals and priorities of the decennial strategic agreement of the institutional French-speaking world. This agreement, adopted in 2004 by member states of the French-speaking world, sets the principles and strategies of the institutional French-speaking world and controls its activities.

Structure

The association is composed of seven bodies: *General assembly: Main body of the AUF. Every four years, the 774 members of the association gather to decide goals and strategy for the four next years. It oversees the board of directors. *Association council: Enhances solidarity among higher-education and research institutions of the association, encouraging them to pursue relevant objectives *Board of directors: The management body, comprising university and government representatives *Scientific council: Decides the methodology of AUF programs and ensures their academic quality. Its members are selected for their technical and professional skills in culture, science and technology. *President: Elected by the general assembly for a single four-year term, they head the association council and board of directors. *Rector: Elected by the board of directors for a four-year term, their primary function is to implement financial commitments by higher-education and research institutions. *University development and co-operation fund: Administered by the rector

Activities

The primary activities of the AUF are distributed among four scientific administrations, each aiming at a specific goal. These four branches are: *Language and communication: Supports French-language development through instruction in the scientific disciplines; promotes multilingualism and cultural diversity by stimulating the production, spread and teaching of scientific knowledge in French. Coordinates research projects, training and curriculum reform in linguistics, culture, literature and education. Monitors meetings and scientific conferences, emphasizing publication (particularly online publication). Significantly, more than 2,250 specialists improve understanding of the French-speaking world and the impact of cultural and linguistic diversity on societies. *Economic development: Fundraising and public relations *Scientific skill reinforcement: Acts as liaison between scientific departments and regional offices. Administers French-speaking digital campuses and institutes in four-year cycles. Evaluates relations between the association and the French-speaking scientific community in the fields of the environment, water, energy, climate, sustainable development and well-being of populations; supports research. *Education: Supports communication and information technology in higher education and research; encourages digital development and offers training in the Technologies of Information and Communication (TICE) for teachers, students and staff.

Partnerships

The ''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie'' has developed partnerships with three objectives: *To establish more universities and giving them significant developmental roles *To develop ties between the AUF, its member institutions and developmental agencies (foundations, NGOs, territorial collectivities, etc.) *To increase development in the following ways: ** Place the association's knowledge at the disposal of the projects in question ** Promote scientific evaluation ** Use tools of university and scientific co-operation AUF numbers among its partners the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. It has been requested to assist in: * Project management * Technical evaluations * Information technology and communication * Developmental networks

Publishing

In 2001, the ''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie'' facilitated the creation of electronic French-language science journals. Francophone digital campuses were created to support the development of TIC (technologies of information and communication). AUF conducts workshops on the presentation and publication of scientific articles. Financial support is available for selected projects.

AUF worldwide

The AUF's education office and headquarters are in Montreal; central services and a second education office are in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Regional offices have been established in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

.''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, Regions''

Golden anniversary

2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the ''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie''. To mark the occasion AUF promoted the

Francophonie The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

throughout the year with events devoted to "50 years of the Agency", celebrating its role as an academic agent of the French-speaking scientific community.

Networks

Research

Lexicology Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that analyzes the lexicon of a specific language. A word is the smallest meaningful unit of a language that can stand on its own, and is made up of small components called morphemes and even smaller elemen ...

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, Compound (linguistics), com ...

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

Sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies unde ...

Erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

and

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Demography Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...

Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

Biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

Health sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences – those sciences that focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple a ...

Institutional

Veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

(AEEVTPLF) *

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

(CIDEGEF) *

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

(CIDMEF) *

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

(CIDPHARMEF) *

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

(CIFDUF) *

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(CITEF) *

Journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

(Théophraste) *

Dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

(CIDCDF) * Information sciences (AIESI) *

Science and technology Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

(CIRUISEF) *

Urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

(APERAU)

References

External links

*
50th-anniversary website

''Francophonia's Encyclopaedia''

official website''
{{Authority control 1961 establishments in Quebec Universities and colleges established in 1961 International organizations based in Canada Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Organizations based in Montreal University associations and consortia