Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program Announces Partnership with the Association of African Universities and Selects New Fellows

NEW YORK, and ACCRA, GHANA June 27, 2022 – The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP) announces the award of 56 fellowships to individuals and institutions to take part in joint academic projects with resident institutions in Africa. To date, the CADFP has funded 584 fellowships for African-born scholars from the United States and Canada to collaborate with over 203 institutions of higher learning in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda in the areas of collaborative research, curriculum co-development and graduate student teaching and mentoring.

Nearly a decade since the launch of CADFP, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Institute of International Education (IIE) continue working with partners, Fellows and Hosts to deepen and strengthen the highly successful CADFP model. In addition to an Advisory Council of prominent African academics, the program has established a new partnership with the Association of African Universities (AAU), a Pan-African higher education institution with a membership of over 400 universities, and focused on higher education development and policy. With the diaspora as a strategic priority, AAU engages governments across Africa on various issues, including advocacy for incremental investments in the higher education sector. The Association also collaborates with key stakeholders to support human capacity development, academic scholarship and innovative research, ultimately aimed at propelling the higher education sector to contribute more effectively to the continent’s transformation and development agenda.

In April of this year, AAU, IIE, and CCNY convened the Advisory Council to select the 56 awardees and hosted a highly successful CADFP Stakeholder Forum in Accra, Ghana. The forum brought together country-level participants including Ghana’s former Minister of Education, Hon.  Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang; the Director of Tertiary Education, Ministry of Education, Dr. Eric Nkansah; the Director of Diaspora Affairs, Office of the President, Ghana, Mr. Akwasi Ababio; as well as international development partners, host institutions, fellows and alumni of the CADFP. CADFP fellows traveling to Africa will collaborate with academics at their host institutions on a variety of projects, ultimately aimed at working synergistically to improve the quality of African higher education.   A full list of the most current projects can be found here. Through these initiatives, CADFP aims to find solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing Africa and the world.

How the Projects and Fellowships Work:

Fellowships match host universities with African-born scholars from Canada or the United States, individually or in groups, and cover the expenses for project visits of up to three months. All scholar and project proposals are evaluated by an independent review committee and must be approved by the Advisory Council. Public and private higher education institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, along with member universities or affiliates of the African Research Universities Alliance including Addis Ababa University, Cheikh Anta Diop University, University of Mauritius, and University of Rwanda are invited to submit a project request to host a scholar for 21 to 90 days. Prospective hosts are eligible but not required to name a proposed scholar in their request. Many African institutions and prospective Fellows collaborate on ideas for a project that is then submitted by the institution. IIE maintains a scholar roster to facilitate matches, according to the discipline specializations, expertise, activities and objectives described in a project request. Candidates are required to have a terminal degree in their field and can hold any academic rank. When a scholar is successfully matched with a selected project, he or she is awarded a Fellowship to conduct a project visit to the host institution.

See a full list of projects, hosts, and scholars and their universities.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York funds the program, with IIE providing comprehensive fellowship design, management and evaluation expertise. An Advisory Council of prominent African academics and AAU provides strategic direction.

Please direct all questions related to AfricanDiaspora@iie.org.

About The Institute of International Education (IIE):

Established in 1919, IIE is a global not-for-profit that creates and implements international education programs, conducts research, and provides life-changing opportunities for students and scholars worldwide. IIE collaborates with a range of corporate, government and foundation partners across the globe to design and manage scholarship, study abroad, workforce training and leadership development programs. IIE has a network of 16 offices and affiliates worldwide and over 1,600 member institutions. Visit iie.org.

About Association of African Universities (AAU):

The AAU is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization created by African Universities to promote cooperation among them on the one hand, and between them and the international academic community on the other. Created in 1967, the AAU is the voice of higher education in Africa and aims to improve the quality of African higher education, and to strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development by supporting the core functions of higher education institutions and facilitating critical reflection and consensus building on issues affecting higher education. The AAU is headquartered in Accra, Ghana, has a membership of more than 400 Higher Education Institutions and is the technical implementing arm of the African Union Commission (AUC) in higher education. The Association is also the coordinating agency of the Higher Education Cluster of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25). Through our guidance, our member universities are responsible for implementing the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024) of the AUC. Given the importance of the African Academic Diaspora to the advancement of the continent’s higher education sector, the AAU prioritises engagement with this group and has a strategy and program in place focusing on the academic diaspora. (Website – https://www.aau.org/ | Facebook – Association of African Universities | Twitter -@aau_67).