Innovations in Teaching and Learning

September 15, 2022

PRESS RELEASE: ACE Impact Launches its First Students Innovation Research Awards (SIRA)

For Immediate Release

Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact) to Reward Quality, Applied Research and Innovation
ACE Impact Launches its First Students Innovation Research Awards (SIRA)

Accra, Ghana, September 15, 2022. The Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact) project is announcing a call for applicants for its first Students Innovative Research Awards (SIRA). SIRA recognizes and promotes excellent research and innovation which responds to Africa’s developmental challenges. Established by the Regional Facilitation Unit for ACE Impact, the Association of African Universities (AAU), with support from the World Bank, SIRA deepen the project’s commitment to advancing the production of innovative and impactful knowledge

The ACE Impact project aims to advance the quality, quantity, and access to post-graduate education within the region.

Through this award scheme, the project will recognise exceptional research with both scientific and societal value undertaken by students from the 53 African Centres of Excellence. The practical and long-term impact of the research conducted is essential to the region’s most critical priority areas. Students are at the heart of this project. As primary ambassadors, SIRA targets students to boost their interest in implementing the skills and knowledge acquired to drive national and regional development and growth. Submissions are accepted under the following thematic areas; health, power generation, and transmission, renewable energy, mining and extractives, sustainable urban planning and transport, sustainable agriculture, environmental sciences, education, and information
and communication technology (ICT). For each thematic area, three awards (1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place) will be presented.

Industry and development partners with an aligned vision to support and improve the next generation of Africa’s highly skilled workforce through mentorship, hands-on training, and funding, among other kinds of support, are invited to collaborate on the SIRA initiative.

Application Details: Only students enrolled in the 53 centres of excellence under the ACE Impact Project are qualified to make a submission under this award. Interested applicants are encouraged to visit https://sira.ace.aau.org/ for further information.

Application Deadline: 30th September 2022

Contact

For further enquiries related to the Awards, please contact:

Mr. Schneineda Ankomah via email skankomah@aau.org
Mr. Enoch Kpani via email tekpani@aau.org

For Enquiries by the Media, please contact:

Mrs. Millicent Afriyie via email makyei@aau.org

For Partnership related information, please contact:

Dr. Sylvia Mkandawire vía email smkandawire@aau.org

Background Information

The Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project is a World Bank initiative in collaboration with governments of participating countries to support Higher Education Institutions specializing in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Agriculture and Health. Environment, and Social/Applied Science and Education. It is the first World Bank project aimed at the capacity building of higher education institutions in Africa.

The project promotes increased specialization among participating universities, focusing on addressing specific common regional development challenges. It aims to strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver high-quality training and applied research, closing the skills gap, and meeting the demand required for for Africa’s development. The first phase (ACE I) was launched in 2014 with 22 Centres of Excellence in Nine (9) West and Central African countries; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo. The second phase (ACE II) was launched in East and Southern Africa with 24 centers across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Based on the initial successes, the World Bank Group and the French Development Agency (AFD) in collaboration with the African governments, launched the ACE Impact Project in 2019 to further strengthen post-graduate training and applied research in existing fields and support new fields that are essential for Africa’s economic growth. There are 53 ACEs specializing in the broad thematic areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Agriculture, Health, Environment, and Social/Applied Science and Education with a priority focus in sustainable cities; sustainable power and energy; social sciences and education; transport; population health and policy; herbal medicine development and regulatory sciences; public health; applied informatics and communication; pastoral production; entrepreneurship and innovation, among others.

Since its inception, more than 22,000 students have been enrolled under the ACE Impact project. This includes almost 3,000 PhD students, close to 10,000 MSc students, and over 10,000 students enrolled in professional short courses. As a regional initiative, student enrolment extends beyond the participating countries to other African countries including Burundi, and Gabon, among others. In line training and research global standards, the majority of programmed rolled out by the centres are internationally accredited and centres are provided with enabling teaching, learning, and research environment and facilities, including state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories.

For more information on the ACE Impact Project, visit https://ace.aau.org

About Organizers

About the Association of African Universities (AAU): The Association of African Universities is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization created by African Universities to promote cooperation and collaboration amongst the universities, whilst simultaneously building a bridge to the international academic community. Created in 1967, the AAU is the voice of higher education in Africa. AAU aims to improve the quality of African higher education and strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development. Through supporting core functions of higher education institutions, AAU facilitates critical reflection and consensus, building on issues affecting higher education in Africa. The AAU is the Regional Facilitation Unit of the Africa Centres of Excellence project.

About the World Bank Group: The World Bank Group is a multilateral development institution that works to reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity. Its subsidiary IDA (International Development Association) finances the Africa Centres of Excellence series of projects. Established in 1960, IDA helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 75 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.5 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 113 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $18 billion over the last three years, with about 54 percent going to Africa

October 17, 2018

(New Dates) Strengthening the delivery of post-graduate Education in African Universities

Workshop on Innovations in Teaching and Learning

Strengthening the delivery of post-graduate Education in African Universities

Hosted by AquaFish ACE LUANAR & AAU

~~19-23 November 2018~~, Lilongwe, Malawi

NEW DATES: 4-8 FEBRUARY 2019

Registration Link: https://www.research.net/r/AquaFish

Background

Teaching if done properly results in “quality” academic outputs, that is, the graduates and research. The indicators of quality graduates include ability to conduct research, possessing critical thinking skills, ability to facilitate multi-stakeholder engagements, having entrepreneurial skills, ability to make presentations, exhibiting good written and verbal communication skills, having confidence, displaying life-long learning skills and having the ability to synthesize key information, among several other indicators. African Higher Education institutions continue to be challenged to produce graduates that can solve problems and contribute to the development of their countries. This therefore implies that universities must review how they teach and reflect on how their students learn effectively.

Examples of Innovative teaching and learning methods

Confucius, a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher is quoted as having said “I hear and I forget. I see and I believe. I do and I understand”. This statement links very well with the concept of being innovative in teaching. Clearly innovative methods of teaching and learning require a total mindset change in terms of the roles of the professors and the learners. The innovative methods also allow the learning to be two-way. These new ways facilitate practical exposure for students, experiential learning and role-based learning. The new learning solutions and methods thus become student centered with the objective of producing that “quality graduate”. Some examples of innovative teaching and learning methods include:

Flipped Classroom
Role-based learning
Internships in relevant industries and corporate organizations
Problem Solving linked to real Community Engagements
Twinning programs to promote cross-learning
Regional seminars to facilitate sharing of expertise
Case based learning for fields such as medicine and health
Problem based learning
Group work assignments
Field Visits
Technology-assisted learning (mobile, learning management systems, multimedia technologies, etc)

Excellence in Education and Research Capacity and Development Impact

The Disbursement Linked Indicator 2 (DLI 2) under the Africa Centers of Excellence project places emphasis on “excellence in education and research capacity and development impact”. The sub-indicators further expound on “improved teaching and learning environment as per approved proposal”. The DLI document states that the “implementation plan for each ACE will clearly describe 4 annual main milestones for improving of teaching and learning environment based upon the specific activities to be undertaken by the ACE”. Besides `the creation of conducive physical learning environments through constructing classrooms and equipping of laboratories it is important for the ACEs to articulate how else they are strengthening their teaching delivery methods so that they produce quality graduates.

About the proposed workshop

The Association of African Universities and AquaFish ACE hosted by Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources will deliver a five-day workshop on ‘Innovations in Teaching and Learning’ to spark discussions and understanding how AquaFish ACE is implementing innovative teaching methods and what else they could be doing to improve in this area. The key objectives of the workshop will be to:

Discuss key concepts and case studies on innovative teaching and learning methods
Deliberate on the challenges and opportunities associated with supervising graduate students
Exploring the use of technology to improve teaching delivery methods in African Universities
Participate in learning visits to institutions in Lilongwe that have begun implementing innovative methods of teaching and learning

Draft Program

DAY	PROPOSED ACTIVITIES
DAY 1	A broad presentation that lays the ground on key concepts around innovative teaching and learning methods and practices Hold a brainstorming session in small groups: to discuss why teaching methods need to be reviewed and what to change? This is meant to help in identifying major deficiencies in current higher education delivery by African Universities. This will also discuss the question of “are students graduating from the African Universities adequately trained to respond to the needs of the society?” to discuss the ‘How’ question and share ideas – and suggest proposals to correct the identified deficiencies. Role play the practical implementation of Experiential Learning
DAY 2	Challenges and Opportunities associated with Supervising Graduate Students in African Universities – (what is quality supervision, students’ expectations, supervisor expectations) Importance of the student-supervisor relationship and the various factors that influence it. Strategies to overcome the challenges of a range of supervisory contexts Developing resources for effective research supervision practices
DAY 3	A presentation on how selected universities in Africa are exploring with technology to improve their teaching delivery methods – e.g. mobile learning, use of learning management systems, etc Foundational Theories: Review of Relevant Concepts Principles of E-learning Course Design & Development Experiential Learning Visit to an institution in Lilongwe that has done well in implementing e-learning
DAY 4	Hands On Sessions : Course / Learning Management Systems
DAY 5	Experiential Learning Visit to an institution in Lilongwe that has done well in implementing e-learning

How To Register

Registration Link: https://www.research.net/r/AquaFish

What are the deadlines?
• Early round registration deadline: 31 December, 2018
• Regular registration deadline: 21 January, 2019
• Late registration: Dependent on space

Workshop Fees– include Workshop Tuition, Workshop Materials, Refreshments and Certificates

USD 500 for staff from AAU Member Institutions
USD 600 for staff from non-AAU Member Institutions
Participants from Malawi must consult the AquaFish ACE for details on their participation Fees (Email: jkangombe@luanar.ac.mw)

Contact Details

Association of African Universities: Miss Edith LAARI: elaari@aau.org

AquaFish ACE: Professor Jeremiah KANG’OMBE: jkangombe@luanar.ac.mw

Download the Workshop flyer: AquaFish-Continental Flyer

Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact) to Reward Quality, Applied Research and Innovation ACE Impact Launches its First Students Innovation Research Awards (SIRA)