African Continent Seeks Ways to Turn Brain Drain into Brain Gain. At least 300 chief executives of universities across Africa have been hosted in Libya during a five-day conference organized by the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Seventh of April University, Libya in collaboration with the Gaddafi Development Foundation to discuss the increasing problem of brain drain of skilled manpower that is costing the continent up to $4bn a year. The academics were asked by multilateral agencies, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB) to come up with strategies to turn the skills in the Diaspora into a "brain gain." A World Bank representative, Peter Materu said that global experiences suggest that that though it was difficult to stop migration of skills, on the other hand it was possible to strategically harness the Diaspora as a resource that could complement other efforts. He added that at the tertiary skills level, Africa has the largest proportion of its level skills stock outside the continent compared to the total stock available, which was small in the first place. The conference, during which 16 papers by experts from within and outside Africa were discussed, featuring the issue of brain drain, was held under the theme: "The African Brain Drain - Managing the drain: Working with the Diaspora," The Libyan deputy GPC Secretary Prof. Abdelhafeed Zalitni officially opened the conference. AAU president, Prof. Njabulo Ndebele, the secretary-general Prof. Akilapka Sawyerr, the Seventh of April University president, Prof. Shaeban Taher Al-Aswad and Nadia Zakri of the African Union Commission also addressed the august gathering. The AAU is a non-profit continental membership organization started in 1967 by 34 African universities, but today has a membership of 208. Its main objective is to promote cooperation among the member institutions.