Our Achievements – ACE – Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence

ACE Impact Achievements as of April 2021

Status of Students, Research Publication and Internships

STEM

13,616 Total Students enrolled so far in STEM, Health, Agriculture and other fields. 46% of students project target achieved

46% of total project target achieved

STEM 46%

PHD

2,014 PhD Students enrolled. 71% of total target reached

71% of total project target achieved

PhD Students 71%

MSC

6,352 MSc Students enrolled. 63% of the total project target achieved

63% of total project target achieved

MSc Students 63%

Short Course

5,250 Prof. Short Course Students enrolled. 28% of total project target achieved

28% of total project target achieved

28%

Regional Sudents

3,064 Regional Students enrolled from the sub-region and beyond. 32% of total project target achieved

32% of total project target achieved

32%

Female students

4,270 Female Students enrolled so far at different levels. 40% of the total project target achieved

28% of total project target achieved

28%

internships

2,264 Practical sector-based internships undertaken so far. 38% of the total project target achieved

38% of total project target achieved

Internships 38%

Accreditation

34 Total number of PhD and MSc programmes with accreditation. 41% of target reached

41% of total project target achieved

Accreditation 41%

Research articles

2,074 Total Research articles published in internationally recognized journals. 74% of the total project target achieved

74% of total project target achieved

Research Articles 74%

Revenue generated

38,437,201 Revenue generated from external sources. 57% of total project target achieved

57% of total project target achieved

Revenue Generated 57%

Project implementation support

The Regional Facilitating Unit (RFU), which is the AAU, had made significant progress in the development of the Digital Reporting System for the ACE Impact Project. In addition, the RFU, supported the verification, quality checking and reviewing of the 53 ACE Centers’ websites.

Help desk assistance was also provided for centers who needed capacity building on quality website designs. The RFU developed 10 newsletter articles about the project and nurtured the ACE Impact Online Community of Communication Officers by sharing information for wider dissemination.

Digital Reporting systems for ACE Impact

1. Stakeholder consultation to match the systems functions and user needs
2. Demonstration of the system completed in February 2020, in attendance WB, AAU, & Verification Agency
3. Additional consultation meetings planned with Experts and centers

Communication support

1. Significantly supported the verification, quality checking and reviewing of ACE Centers Websites
2. Help desk for centers who needed capacity building on website designs
3. Developed 10 newsletter articles on the Project
4. Nurturing of ACE Impact online community of communication officers by sharing information for wider dissemination

Lessons learned so far

• Given the diversity and the complexity of stakeholders, timely planning for ACE supervision missions will remain critical for the project to be a success

• Continuous reference to and use of the ACE Impact Project Operations Manual by centers could enhance efficiency and timely delivery of outputs

• Some project disbursement linked results (DLRs) require more time to enhance their understanding because milestones associated with them are unique to each center/university. These DLRs include DLR 7 (institutional impact), DLR 5.3 (entrepreneurship), and DLR 4.3 (learning infrastructure).

• The ACE Impact project is dynamic, and the digital MEL system needs to be flexible and adaptable to the emerging needs but within the ACE impact project guidelines

• Consultations, Feedback and Learning on the implementation process will remain useful strategies for improvement.