Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact
The Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact) is a World Bank funded initiative committed to strengthening higher education training and applied research programs, with a focus on development impact through activities targeting overall institutional advancement support on research commercialization, and entrepreneurship.
The project supports 10 countries in West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and The Gambia) including Djibouti to promote regional specialization among participating universities in thematic areas that address common regional challenges and strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver quality training and applied research. There are 53 centers focused on postgraduate education, applied research and addressing development challenges within the region. The thematic areas covered are Agriculture, Health, STEM, Environment, Education and Social Sciences. The ACE Impact project also supports Colleges of Engineering of some participating institutions.