The African School of Economics (ASE) WhatsApp group titled “ASE Forum” was created September 7, 2014. This idea came from Mr. Simplice Adjisse, a student from the first cohort and a current Pre-Doctoral Fellow at ASE.

The ASE Forum WhatsApp group includes the first cohort and staff of ASE, and it grows every year by adding the incoming students. The group’s goal is to share information among the ASE community about internships, jobs, calls for papers, academic affairs, and so on. Some events, including the celebration of members’ birthdays, have been a fantastic means of making the community closer as a family. But the group surpasses even this by including one-on-one chat sessions with guest researchers of international standing.

In these one-on-one chat sessions, researchers share their experiences and comment on topics including unresolved research questions and job opportunities. Sessions have taken place with guests such as Professor Santos Sylva, JMC, Head of the Economics School of Surrey University in the U.K.; Tite Yokossi from MIT University; Louphou Coulibaly from the University of Montreal; Abhit Bhandari from Colombia University; and Rachael McClellan from Princeton University. Each session dealt with interesting topics in different field of study.

Due to the tremendous amount of information-sharing, the group was recently split into two separate groups. The first is the “ASE Forum Academic” for sharing academic information, including details on the one-on-one sessions, and the second is the “ASE Forum Job” for all information concerning internships, job offerings, and calls for papers.

These WhatsApp groups are assets for the school community, which is expanding year after year.