Association of African Universities -

Africa Higher Education Collaborative (AHEC)
Improving Equity and Access to Higher Education in Africa

What is AHEC?
AHEC is an initiative of the Institute of International Education (IIE) and its scholar division, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) , and is sponsored by the Ford Foundation office in Egypt. AHEC is a collaborative of scholars from four African countries – Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Its purpose is to identify strategies for improving equity and access to higher education in Africa. AHEC seeks to accomplish this goal by serving as a think tank and repository of information and analysis about access and equity issues in African higher education so that insights and solutions can be shared with policy makers, fellow scholars and practitioners across the African continent.

A secondary goal of AHEC is to increase collaboration among African scholars. Using joint publications as an indicator, it is evident that collaboration takes place primarily between scholars in the north, and to a lesser extent between scholars in the north and in the developing world. Little collaboration has taken place among scholars in the south and most especially among African scholars. This is clearly limiting, since many of the higher education challenges facing the African continent are context specific and therefore demand context specific solutions. AHEC seeks to build a network of African scholars who are steeped in African higher education and familiar with the acute need for increased equity and access to Africa’s over-extended and under-resourced higher education systems.

Why a Collaborative?
Demand for higher education in Africa grows unabated. Inadequate provision seriously constrains the continent’s future. Increased access to quality higher education will enhance the ability of the African continent to create future prosperity, improve public health, advance sustainability and meet development goals.

Viable and practical solutions to overcome barriers to equity and access to higher education are therefore vital. This requires solid research and scholarly exchange about the sources of inequality and limited access; sound financial mechanisms and funding options to improve access; practicable solutions to improving the readiness and success potential of learners and education systems; and strategies to improve delivery systems responsive to the needs of diverse groups of learners.

Collaboration and networking will promote the exchange and comparing of ideas, sharing information and testing solutions by deliberating upon what works, where and how. The end results will elicit new ways of thinking and new insights towards viable solutions that will assist policy makers and practitioners in improving equity and access to higher education across the African continent.

PARTICIPANTS - EGYPT: Nadia Ahmed; Boshra Awad; Pakinaz Baraka; Ahmed S.H. Hassan; Mohamed Nabih; KENYA: Helen Mwanzi; Ibrahim Oanda; Stephen Odebero; Gerald Ouma; Violet Wawire; NIGERIA: Fatima Adamu; Segun Adedeji; Lilian-Rita Akudolu; Felix Olakulehin; Victor Samson; SOUTH AFRICA: Narend Baijnath; Michael Cross; Sabiha Essack; Peliwe Lolwana; Haroon Mahomed. FACITILATORS & RESOURCES PERSONS - Akilagpa Sawyerr (Chair), Hoda Elsadda, Olive Mugenda, Sabine O’Hara, Pundy Pillay. SUPPORT: Liz Khalifa, IIE Cairo Office, Hajra Zahid, CIES. For more information please visit www.cies.org/programs/ahec