Ever since the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held its first meeting in 2000, exchanges between China and Africa have grown tremendously. But compared to the increase of inter-government relationships and at the business level, exchanges between Chinese and African academics still remain limited.

Last year, the China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Program was launched in Beijing to provide an exchange platform for scholars on both sides. A year later, representatives from over 50 African research institutes gathered at another conference in Nairobi to discuss new ways of facilitating effective participation in joint programs with their Chinese counterparts.

Major players at conferences like this one include government-supported policy-oriented think tanks like the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs and the Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development. Independent, non-governmental organizations like the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), and Fahamu, the pan-African social justice organization responsible for the Emerging Powers in Africa Program, also have a presence in the think tank community. And South Africa's universities are participating, too, from China-focused research centers and projects like the Center for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University, to the East Asia Project at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Asia Network at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria.

A number of Confucius Institutes attached to different universities across Africa are also developing programs. "This is a sign that Chinese studies is expanding, though their focus initially is on language training," says Chris Alden, Head of SAIIA's China in Africa Project.

Although China-focused think tanks currently in Africa aren't ubiquitous, African scholars interested in the growing relations between their continent and China are growing in number. With the First China-Africa Think Tanks Forum (CATTF) being held this October on the Chinese mainland, some leading African scholars recently shared their views with ChinAfrica on the future of think-tank exchanges. Their edited opinions follow: