African Jobs Board Project

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Association of African Universities, in collaboration with Warwick Employment Group (WEG) and Education Sub-Sahara Africa (ESSA), launched the Africa Education Jobs Board as a novel initiative in 2020 to increase the visibility of higher education jobs in Africa and to facilitate academic mobility and recruiting in African higher education institutions (HEIs).

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The platform was created in response to the demand for such a platform by African higher education institutions, and it is modelled after the popular jobs.ac.uk platform. Discussions on how to draw and keep talent on the African continent took place in Accra, Ghana during the summer of 2019 at ESSA’s invitation. After a little over a year of preparation, the African Jobs Board was officially launched in late 2020. It is the first job board on the continent focused on academic and non-academic positions at higher education institutions on the entire continent, as well as featuring PhD and post-doc positions.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

1. To retain and cultivate excellent talent in Africa.
2. To gain knowledge about the African academic jobs market using the data and statistics produced
3. To provide career guidance to help job seekers hone their talents.
4. To share employment opportunities in higher education institutions across Africa.

TARGET BENEFICIARIES

1. Universities and other higher education institutions
2. Recent graduates aiming to join the academic sector
3. Academic staff and non-academic staff
4. Researchers and policymakers
5. Current students benefit from webinars and career information posted on the website

WHY IS THIS PROJECT SO IMPORTANT?

• It will reduce brain drain and retain talent in Africa
• It will help the African Union achieve a connected continent through easing mobility
• Facilitate cross-learning and joint research across the 5 regions of Africa
• It is a potential data source on the trends and status of academic and non-academic jobs in Africa
• It will promote the recruitment of highly skilled labor force through the visibility of academic and non-academic jobs
• It will promote excellence among African universities and higher education institutions through the recruitment of the best candidates for the jobs
• The platform provides affordable advertising of jobs compared to the use of traditional means such as newspapers that also have narrow audience reaches
• The project involves a collaboration among three unique institutions – a network of African universities, a start-up championed by a top UK University and a dynamic charity organization keen on promoting the use of evidence for policy decision-making.

SOME KEY ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE

Here are some key achievements of the project:

• Since its inception, the platform has featured a total of 6,845 job postings.
• The platform currently hosts 280 employers.
• The platform has received 1,658 applications through email and 9,293 applications through URL.
• A total of 780 profiles have been established for different institutions, and job alerts activated by job seekers amount to 2,787.
• The project team has had the opportunity to present the project to several registrars and human resources professionals during high profile events. A few of these events are listed below:
  • The World Conference on Education and Restitution on September 1,2022.
  • The 2^nd Annual applied Research Conference at the Accra Technical University
  • 2022 Africa Universities Day Celebration at the Association of African Universities.
  • AAU capacity building workshop for universities academics, registrars and administrators during the 2023 Africa Universities Day Celebrations.
• The team has organized 4 webinars to enhance the skills of human resource professionals and provide education to students and job seekers.

PROJECT PARTNERS

The Association of African Universities (AAU), Warwick Employment Group (WEG), and Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA), are the project’s three major shareholders.

1. The Association of African Universities (AAU): 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 in Africa. AAU – Voice of Higher Education in Africa

2. Warwick Employment Group (WEG): They provide students, institutions, and their staff with global employment opportunities, allowing them to maximize their potential in the workplace. Warwick University partners develop a quality, ethical, community approach, mirroring the aspirations of Warwick University, to fulfil a recruitment need for the higher education sector. https://www.warwickemploymentgroup.com/

3. Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA): ESSA is a charity using evidence to improve education in sub-Saharan Africa, supporting young people to achieve their ambitions and strengthening society. https://essa-africa.org/

FURTHER DETAILS

For more details and clarifications, please contact the African Education Jobs Board Project Manager – Frank Asefuah: fasefuah@aau.org with copy to africanjobsboard@aau.org.