Our Achievements – ACE – Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence

ACE Impact Achievements as of October 2023

Status of Students, Research Publication and Internships

PHD

2,606 PhD Students enrolled

79% of Project End Targets Achieved

MSC

8,231 MSc Students enrolled

80% of Project End Targets Achieved

Short Course

15,334 Prof. Short Course Students enrolled

100% of Project End Targets Achieved

Regional Sudents

8,182 Regional Students enrolled from the sub-region and beyond

95% of Project End Targets Achieved

Female students

8,491 Female Students enrolled so far at different levels

89% of Project End Targets Achieved

internships

5,138 Practical sector-based internships undertaken so far

74% of Project End Targets Achieved

Accreditation

178 Total number of programmes with national accreditation

297% of Project End Targets Achieved

publications

2,350 Total Research articles published in internationally recognized journals

71% of Project End Targets Achieved

Revenue generated

USD 75 million Revenue generated from external sources

81% of Project End Targets Achieved

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.