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socio-economic context, textbook based curricula that do not address the local socio-economic problems and needs and outdated pedagogical methods of delivery.This project is designed to reform Higher Education (HE) study programmes to ensure curricula that are highly relevant to the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.
Africa is endowed with a huge proportion of natural resources, including 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 face 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context, textbook-based curricula that do not address the local socio-economic problems and needs, as well as out-of-date pedagogical approaches applied.EEISHEA is designed to reform Higher Education (HE) study programmes to ensure curricula that are highly relevant to the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. Furthermore, great emphasis is also placed on students' development of a sustainable mindset (SDG) so that graduates not only possess innovative and entrepreneurial skills but have an awareness of sustainable issues in all respects of their future profession. 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 the objectives of the African Union Commission (AUC) Strategy, including the provision of higher education that matches the opportunities and requirements of local labour markets.Project outputs will be five 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) approach, such as problem-based learning organised as team-based learning, and will make use of modern information and communication technologies to deliver education to on-campus as well as to off-campus students via distance, online education. These curricula will serve as best practice examples within the particular HEI. After project completion each African HEI will have a team of trainers (academic staff) who have the knowledge, skills and competences, as well as training tools and materials, to train and assist colleagues in designing similar programmes. In this way, the project will impact African HE, first within the institutions involved and later spread at the regional and national levels. With skills in innovation and an entrepreneurial and sustainable mindset, future graduates will be equipped to enter the business world as self-employed with their professional and sustainable competencies within their profession. But graduates will also be more employable as researches show that a problem-based learning method and environment foster transversal competences such as communication, teamwork skills, problem‐solving skills, digital literacy, and lifelong learning skills which are all highly demanded in future workplaces.