SARUA was established to assist in the revitalisation and development of the leadership and institutions of higher education in the Southern African region, thus enabling the regional higher education sector to meaningfully respond to the developmental challenges facing the region. Since then, SARUA has conducted numerous leadership dialogues, and undertaken a wide range of research projects. By means of these projects, SARUA has done pioneering work in mapping the status and profile of the higher education sector within the SADC, including country profiles. It has also produced various reports on compelling themes such as climate change, science and technology development within the SADC, and strategies for strengthening the interaction between higher education, the public sector and industry. These studies have made a significant contribution towards the development of a comprehensive and shared development agenda for the region, and to the definition of priorities that the higher education sector must address.

Building on this work, SARUA has continued to host regular annual leadership dialogues in which vice-chancellors and other senior university leaders consider topics such as internationalisation in higher education, open access and research publications in Africa, global trends in technology in higher education, and the contribution of universities and innovation to inclusive regional development. The purpose of these exchanges is to contribute to planning and policy, but also to joint research and curriculum development.