Enhancing Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability in Higher Education in Africa

Africa is endowed with a huge proportion of natural resources, including many dynamic young people who find themselves un- or underemployed, no matter what degree of education they have undergone. Higher education institutions (HEI) in the continent faces challenges such as, weak links to the wider socio-economic context, textbook based curricula that do not address the local socio-economic problems and needs and outdated pedagogical methods of delivery.This project is designed to reform Higher Education (HE) study programmes to ensure curricula that are highly relevant to the contemporary economic and social needs of Africa, equipping graduates with skills and competences for employability and self-employment. The project involves trans-African and trans-continental cooperation between HEIs in East and West Africa and in the EU, as well as local cooperation with external stakeholders. The project will contribute to objectives of the African Union Commission (AUC) Strategy, including provision of higher education that matches opportunities and requirements of local labour markets.Project outputs will be 5 study programmes, aligned with local, national and regional needs and priorities, partly or fully redesigned in close collaboration with external stakeholders, to integrate entrepreneurship, innovation and ecological, social and economic sustainability into curricula, delivered through student-centred learning (SCL) approaches, such as, problem based learning, challenge driven learning, team based learning etc.These curricula will serve as 'best practice' examples within the HEI and after project completion each HEI will have a team of trainers who have the knowledge, skills and competences to train and assist colleagues in designing similar programmes. In this way the project will impact on HE, first in the institutions involved and later at the national and regional levels.