France loans Kenya $30 Million to Improve Higher Ed Infrastructure

The French Development Agency (AFD) has agreed to provide a $30 million dollar grant to 39 Kenyan universities, in a bid to improve access and quality in the higher education sector. The money has been earmarked for certain programs in the STEM fields, and for projects that seek to improve infrastructure of laboratories, lecture halls, equipment and hospitals.

University World News
July 1, 2016

Morocco: Government Creates Career Centers to Soften Difficult Job Market

New Moroccan government initiatives are seeking to address a crippling job market and high unemployment rates. Currently, almost 25 percent of degree holding Moroccans are unemployed, but the Career Center Program, funded jointly by Morocco’s higher education ministry and the United States Agency for International Development, seeks to reduce that number. The new career centers hope to increase the quality of education among students through focused, career-based courses and internships. While the current round of career centers is only planned for public universities, the program plans to extend services to private universities in the future.

Master Studies
July 1, 2016

New Partnership Seeks to Improve African Higher Education System Through Benchmarking

The Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET), held in Nigeria last week, set out to find better metrics for program performance as a means to improve higher education quality among African universities. The new benchmarks, which focus on the graduate employment success, are operating in area where data has traditionally been sparse, as 48 universities participating do not have the necessary information to effectively evaluate their institution. Despite lacking data, many hope the program will foster improvement in the region, and will be representative of an increasing unity among African governments, education institutions and both regional and international businesses.

University World News
June 18, 2016

Nigerian Administrators Join Forces to Strengthen Country’s University System

Leaders of 143 private, state, and federal universities across Nigeria are partnering to address a handful of chronic challenges. The private-public partnership signals a shift both in the quality of some private institutions, and in the public sector’s willingness to embrace private partners. Roughly 1.7 million Nigerian students are enrolled in tertiary education. The entire tertiary sector suffers from underfunding, academic shortfalls, inadequate infrastructure, and strike-related disruptions.

University World News
June 4, 2016