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New grants will enable 52 African Universities to Host 70 African-born Scholars for collaborative projects

Application now open for 2017 Fellowships; Deadline is Dec. 8th

NEW YORK, October 11, 2016 – A higher education fellowship that was created to help avert brain drain in Africa will fund 69 new projects at African universities in the coming months, bringing 52 professors and scholars from universities in the U.S. and Canada to universities in Africa to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda as visiting Fellows. Together, the teams will develop curricula, conduct research, teach graduate students, and train and mentor students and professors in priority areas that were proposed by the African universities. The program is also accepting new applications from host universities and diaspora scholars for projects to be conducted in 2017.

Now in its fourth year, the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program has helped 239 African-born scholars who have been living and working in North America to connect with their peers at universities throughout Africa. The program is designed to build capacity at the host institutions in Africa, and to develop long-term, mutually-beneficial partnerships between the universities. The Fellowships are funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE). The United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) in Kenya provides strategic direction through Dr. Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and an Advisory Council he chairs. The program selects projects that were proposed by the host universities and matches them with African-born scholars, covering the visiting scholars’ expenses, including transportation, a daily stipend, and the cost of obtaining visas and health insurance.

This year, the program has announced grants to alumni to build on successful collaborative projects they conducted on their visiting fellowships in previous years, and to fund groups of fellows to work together in order to deepen the ties among the faculty members and their home and host institutions. Selected projects that will receive funding this year include the following:

  • Ghana: A professor from Duke University will return to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to conduct applied research in geo-environmental engineering and to continue mentoring graduate students to the completion of their dissertations.
  • Nigeria: The University of Benin and Imo State University will host a group of three scholars to design an HIV/AIDS curriculum for faculty and a train-the-trainer curricula for community education.
  • South Africa: Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Stellenbosch University will jointly host a scholar from the University of British Columbia in Canada to cultivate their expertise in vascular biology while establishing a lab that will be made available to institutions of higher learning in the Western Cape.
  • Tanzania: An early-childhood scholar will evaluate and offer feedback on the current early curriculum at Aga Khan University-Institute of for Educational Development in East Africa. The scholar and faculty members will also explore the involvement of teachers and parents in gender awareness and literacy stereotypes.

Call for Project Requests and Scholar Applications
From October 1 until December 8, universities in eligible host countries (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda) can submit a project request for visiting Fellows to come to their universities starting in May 2017. African-born academics residing in the United States or Canada can apply any time, and are matched with accepted projects on a rolling basis. Prospective hosts and fellows can find eligibility requirements and instructions in the “How to Apply” section of the program’s website. Prospective hosts and fellows can work together to develop specific projects. The Advisory Council encourages projects that involve collaboration between multiple institutions and cohorts of faculty members addressing related topics.

Advisory Council Sets Selection Priorities for Fall 2016:
In the Fall 2016 selection cycle, preferred activities are collaborative research and graduate student teaching/mentoring, though curriculum co-development projects may also be funded. Other preferred project types include:

  • Multi-institutional projects
  • Cohort projects
  • Interdisciplinary, thematically structured projects

Please direct all questions related to the application process to AfricanDiaspora@iie.org.

About the Hosts and Fellows

Public and private higher education institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda were invited to submit a project request to host a scholar for 14 to 90 days. Prospective hosts could, but were not required to, name a proposed scholar in a project request. The proposed scholar and project request were each evaluated by a review committee and were subject to approval by the Advisory Council. Many African institutions and prospective Fellows collaborated on ideas for a project that were submitted by the institutions. IIE also maintains a scholar roster to facilitate matches, according to the discipline specializations, expertise, activities and objectives described in a project request. Scholars born in Africa who live in the United States or Canada and work at an accredited college or university in either of those two countries applied to be on the roster of available candidates.  Candidates were required to have a terminal degree in their field and can hold any academic rank. For Fellows matched with a selected project, the fellowship includes a daily stipend, transportation and visa funds and health insurance coverage.

About the Institute of International Education
The Institute of International Education (IIE) is the leader in providing international education strategies and program services. Our international approach to education—diverse, borderless, impactful—is a proven way for governments and companies to invest in global talent and solidify overseas relationships. We work with policymakers, educators and employers across the globe to prepare students and professionals for the global workforce and equip them to solve the increasingly complex challenges facing our interconnected world. An independent, not-for-profit organization founded in 1919, IIE designs and implements over 250 programs of study and training for students, educators, young professionals and trainees from all sectors with funding from government and private sources. IIE has a network of 19 offices and affiliates worldwide and over 1,400 member institutions.

About United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa)
United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) was founded in 1969 as the Africa campus of United States International University in San Diego, California.  Today, the University operates as an independent, not-for-profit institution serving over 6000 students representing 73 nationalities. It offers 24 degree programs from undergraduate to doctoral level, all of which are accredited in Kenya and the United States of America with the Commission for University Education and Senior Colleges and Universities Commission, WASC respectively.

About Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge and the strength of our democracy.

Source: https://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=1c2990d53535fcb3c05526d43&id=94486d0fe4&e=813a818b70