The Education Collaborative
The needed scale and speed for delivering transformation in higher education in Africa is beyond any single institution’s capability. It requires a collective with a shared agenda, mutual accountability, and uncompromising dedication to the vision for transformation
The Education Collaborative spearheads a collective engagement model that promises to transform higher education outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. This initiative uses a network approach to build trust and foster collective commitments among higher education leaders and stakeholders to generate sustainable results within the systems they govern and influence. Central to this pioneering movement is a membership model that promotes open engagement, sharing, and community accountability among participating institutions.
The Collaborative’s dynamic programs are led by exemplary public and private institutions within organized regional hubs, ensuring innovations are deeply contextualized for various cultural and regulatory environments. Our initiatives and programs address the most pressing needs and trends in African higher education, aligning with the strategic priorities of member institutions. By participating in the network, institutions enhance their ability to improve graduate outcomes, elevate standards across the sector, and contribute to our bold vision of impacting over 1.1 million students by 2030 to have the right character and skillset to create and lead industry, economies, and business.
Click here to download or view our brochure to learn more about The Education Collaborative and our work with Higher Education Institutions to enhance learning outcomes for youth across Africa.
What is an Exemplar institution?
Exemplary institutions have evidence of solid outcomes and leadership in higher education in their country. The EduCollab accepts an exemplar on the following criteria, which have been developed over the five years of our establishment:
- The institutional leadership’s interest, willingness, and commitment to working to achieve the vision of scaling transformation.
- Strong teams in university operations, academic, and non-academic units.
- Focus on ensuring little to no exposure to reputational risk and a keen sense of and commitment to good governance and financial sustainability.
- Demonstrate credibility and influence in the region with peer institutions.
- Meet all the accreditation requirements in their country of operation.
- Demonstrate, with evidence, a commitment to strong career outcomes for students and alumni.
Our Mission
Our mission is to leverage collaboration and mentorship to build a network of higher education institutions that are uncompromising in achieving excellence in quality student outcomes in Africa.
Our Bold Vision
Our bold vision is to improve education systems and outcomes on the African continent to transform over 1.1 million students by 2030 to be ethical, entrepreneurial leaders who create jobs, transform industries, and lead economies.
Our Focus Areas for Transformation
The Education Collaborative is dedicated to achieving better education outcomes for students in Africa. Institutions engage to drive their individual needs for systems improvement while contributing to address the challenges of peers in the network.
Participating faculty, administrative staff, institutional leaders, advocacy groups, funders, and research organizations in the higher education sector engage in a variety of ways most relevant to improving their core work. Over the last few years our core focal areas have been driven by trends in African higher education and the strategic priorities of member institutions within our network.
Ethics & Leadership Development
Through engagement in network programs, member institutions maintain a system and culture that empowers individuals and community for ethical action, empathy, teamwork, leadership and influence.
Training Students with Relevant Career Readiness
Through engagement in network programs, member institutions are well-equipped to train and provide all students with the competencies, knowledge and resources to prepare graduates for a smooth transition into successful careers, entrepreneurship, and graduate school.
Enabling an Active Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Member institutions have the tools and know-how to create and sustain a range of institutional and infrastructural support systems that nurture creative thinking and entrepreneurial spirit in students to solve problems.
Developing Systems for Accountability and Sustainability of Impact
Developing a context-specific ranking system focused on outcomes that contribute to Africa’s development.
Faculty Development and Research
Member institutions build their institutional capacity through faculty training, research and development across disciplines and focus areas.
Impact through Regional Hubs
When The Education Collaborative visualized reaching 1M students in 2030, we knew we couldn’t achieve this by ourselves and needed like-minded partners to help actualize this goal. The Collaborative takes a bottom-up approach where regional hubs drive context-relevant programs and solutions for higher-ed stakeholders in the region. Regional hubs are owned by the institutions in each region. A regional hub not only ensures the realization of the vision of reaching 1M+ students in 2030 and transforming them into ethical, entrepreneurial leaders who solve Africa’s challenges but also ensures the sustainability of this goal even after the initial target has been actualized.
Explore our regional hubs below:
Speedily raise a productive and entrepreneurial youth
This project of transforming Africa is not going to be done not by one institution, but by a thousand. We need to build a network of like-minded institutions. Ashesi is a self-contained system, and in order to transform African leadership, we need entire systems working together.
– Dr Patrick Awuah, Founder, Ashesi University
Tackling Africa’s Higher Education Challenge
The challenge of an exploding youthful population
By 2050, Africa’s population will reach 2.5 billion, of which 50% will be youthful (UN, 2017)
The challenge of unemployment
Africa needs to create a minimum of 12 million jobs annually to provide jobs for the 30 million youth who will enter the labor market by 2030 (ADB, 2016)
The challenge of economic development
263 million young people will lack an economic stake in the system by 2025 (ADB, 2016)