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The Aga Khan University is working on a curriculum that focuses on the needs of people who share the vast Indian Ocean.

Dr Rafique Keshavjee, East Africa head of academic planning, said the university will do this by harnessing ideas from an ongoing five-day conference in Nairobi.

The conference is dubbed “The Worlds of the Indian Ocean — connecting the past to the future.”

The conference is the first in a series that aims at engaging people of the Indian Ocean to study and discuss issues affecting them.

The conference will also help them learn and develop solutions to a vibrant Indian Ocean rim.

The Indian Ocean unites countries as diverse as Egypt, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Thailand and Australia.

AKU, through its programmes and outreach initiatives, hopes to enable communities to identify opportunities and challenges that will improve their quality of life.

The university is currently planning a residential campus in Arusha, Tanzania, that will house the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

It will offer an undergraduate liberal arts education, as well as graduate and professional schools.