Author: Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo.

Abstract The role of education and research in social progress is vital. Since China was admitted into the World Trade Organization in 2001, its economic, financial and trade assistance with Africa has intensified, reflecting certain aspects of the claims associated with the Bandung Conference in 1955. And Japanese relations with Africa, which were at their peak from the end of 1980s through the beginning of the 1990s, have steadily been declining. Furthermore, as China has become the second largest economy in the World since 2010, it has begun projecting its influential power in Africa. Despite the newfound emergence of Chinese power in Africa, it is Japan that has created the strongest institutional support of its activities in the name of new Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA), which redefines Japan relationship with Africa through the TICAD initiative. The competition between these two powers can benefit Africa if she can build her political leverage in her own capacity to identify her priorities with confidence and determination. Using comparative and historical perspectives, this article focuses on the examination of the new trends regarding Chinese and Japanese assistance to Africa with a particular focus on education and research.