AFRICA CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT IMPACT (ACE Impact)

1. AFRICA CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT IMPACT (ACE Impact) Djibouti Workshop – Experts Meeting February 18, 2019

2. Outline • Lessons- ACE I • ACE Impact Project Overview • Objectives • Project Components (features, activities, results, indicators) • Implementation arrangements • Status • Timeline

3. ACE 1 - Lessons Learned • Prior institutional and ministerial buy-in • Regional engagement • Institutional impact • Sector engagement and upfront commitment • Sectoral Advisory Board • Networking and Partnerships • Gender • Plan for sustainability

4. The Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) Program • To support excellence in postgraduate education and research • Train MS and PhD students to address the Skills Gap • Provide midcareer Short Courses • Applied Research • Focus on addressing Development Challenges • Regional Focus enables Portfolio of distributed excellence • Partnering: • Sectoral Stakeholders, Sectoral Advisory Board • Global Excellence, Academic Institutions • Government Ownership • Sustainability

5. Objective of the ACE Impact Project • To increase quantity, quality and development relevance of post-graduate education in selected universities through regional specialization • Increase the number of enrolled students (ultimately graduates) in post-graduate programs (Master’s, PhDs) • Enhance the quality of post-graduate programs such that students acquire the necessary theoretical knowledge and applied skills upon graduating • Improve development Impactsuch that the knowledge and skills acquired by graduates are closely linked to development challenges

6. Components Additional support to the best engineering and technology ACE institutions hosting sub-components 1.1 , 1.2 and 2.1 ACEs

7. New Centers (Component 1.1) Deliver top quality postgraduate education (skills) and applied research to address regional development challenges, attractive to regional students, faculty, industry and international partners. Key Activities to be funded Equipment purchase & buildings Faculty training Partnerships & industry outreach Institutional improvement Program redesign and accreditation Increasing enrollment and retention of female students/faculty Scholarships for students On-line learning courses Project management Features • Disbursement of funds to centers are linked to results achieved (DLIs). • 26 new centers will be competitively selected • ~ Half will be in pre-identified priority sectors • ~ US$ 4-8 million per center • Potential to become a regional hub in the ACE’s specialized area

8. Pre-Identified Priority Areas for ACE Impact • Strongly linked to demand expressed by stakeholders working in the region • Terms of reference have been drafted for the different sectors highlighting the skills and applied research gaps • Further consultations will be held with relevant industry/sectoral leaders • The best proposal within the priority will be selected • Around half of the centers selected could be in targeted areas (max. 10 priority challenges)

9. New Centers: Proposed Results & Indicators Focus of improvement: • International quality post-graduate education • Increased enrollment and better retention of women • Targeted research in response to development challenges • Much stronger Industry engagement • Increased strategic/ functional regional and international partnerships • Strengthened Institutional-level Impact • Improved attention to student affairs • Sustainable (revenue generation) Funding linked to results (DLRs): • No. of newly enrolled postgraduate students • No. of ACE related research publications • Amt. in externally generated revenue • No. of newly accredited programs • New facilities/equipment • No. of faculty and students in internships • Institutional impact (governance and regionalization) • Fiduciary (timeliness and transparency)

10. Renewals of existing ACEs (Component 1.2) Support well performing ACEs to scale up delivery of top quality postgraduate education (skills) and applied research to address regional development challenges, attractive to regional students, faculty, industry and international partners. Activities to be funded Equipment purchase & buildings (less compared to 1.1) Partnerships & Industry outreach Institutional improvement Program redesign and accreditation Scholarships for students Increasing enrollment and retention of female students/faculty On-line learning courses Project management Features • Disbursement of funds to centers are linked to results achieved (DLIs). • 18 of the top performing centers will be competitively selected • US$ 2-6 million per center (based on discipline) • Be ready to be a regional hub in the ACE’s specialized area

11. Renewals: Proposed Results & Indicators Focus of improvement: Similar to current ACE I but more emphasis on: • Scale up postgraduate education • Much stronger industry partners • Strengthened Institutional-level Impact • Professionalize regionalization • Accreditation • Increased enrollment and better retention of women • Sustainability Funding linked to results (DLRs): • Similar to the DLRs for the new centers (component 1.1), covering: • Enrollment • Research publication • Accreditation of programs • Civil works and equipment (purchased, installed, in-use) • Internships, externally generated revenue • Institutional impact • Greater funding weight on institutional impact, regional networking and industry/sectoral engagement

12. Emerging Centers/Programs (Component 2.1) Provide targeted support to higher education institutions to build national undergraduate and postgraduate education and research capacity in thematic areas of regional need. Activities to be funded Equipment purchase & buildings Regional partnership activities with Component 1 ACE Impact, ACE I and ACE II centers Institutional improvement Industry outreach Faculty training Program redesign and development (education/research) and accreditation Scholarships for students Features • Some disbursement of funds to programs are linked to results achieved (DLIs). • 5 of well written proposals will be accepted • Eligible countries: Small or fragile, no existing ACEs and has low capacity in the proposed thematic area (Djibouti, Niger, Guinea, Gambia) • US$ 5-7 million per center (based on discipline) • Programs that are not yet mature enough to be competitive under Component 1 Will purchase technical assistance (TA) from stronger ACEs in the region (~30% of total funding)

13. Emerging Centers/Programs : Proposed Results & Indicators Funding linked to results (DLRs): • No. of newly enrolled students • No. of newly developed or revamped programs • No. of newly accredited programs • New facilities/equipment completed • No. of faculty and students in internships • Institutional impact (governance and regionalization) • Fiduciary management (timeliness and transparency) Focus of improvement: • Strengthened undergraduate and postgraduate education & research capacity (facilities and faculty) • Stronger alignment with industry needs • Strengthened Institutional-level Impact • Targeted regional networks • Accreditation • Increased enrollment and better retention of women • Sustainability

14. College of Engineering/Technology Additional Funding • Eligibility: Those institutions that have been selected for at least one engineering/technology ACE Impact Center • 3-7 awards anticipated • Institution-wide strengthening of the engineering and technology programs within a College of Engineering • Scale-up of enrollment • Achieving international quality standards • Introducing new academic programs • Promoting project-based learning and innovative pedagogy • Establishing new laboratories • Enabling Technology Transfer and business/entrepreneurship • Building linkages to business programs • Enhancing teaching and research capacity • Promoting institutional transformation in terms of policies and operations

15. PASET - RSIF (Component 2.2 - Optional) Contributes to regional public goods in the domain of creation of applied scientific and technical knowledge relevant to transformative technologies that can help to address critical and common development challenges as well as boost private sector productivity. Contributors African governments; 5 countries have committed, of which two have transferred funds. Another 5 countries have made commitments in principle. Countries with firm commitments by heads of state: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire. Kenya and Rwanda have transferred funds Donors. Korea has made a commitment of $ 10 million to the RSIF for PhD grants and research grants. Private sector. Discussions are ongoing with Phillips, Intel, Samsung, Alibaba and others • Countries can opt to use IDA credit to contribute to the fund ($ 2 million) and leverage an equivalent amount in regional credit) • RSIF will operate through a General Fund and an Endowment (permanent) Fund • Has 3 windows: • Scholarships for PhD students • Research grants for scholars who have completed PhDs and for faculty engaged in doctoral training • Innovation grants for faculty, scholars and researchers

16. PASET – RSIF: Advantages • High level of technical assistance from the Bank and RSIF’s Consultative and Advisory Committee. Country can also benefit from funds mobilized from other donors/private sector. • Countries will be represented on the PASET Board and Executive Committee and hence will help to shape this important regional initiative. • 80 percent of the country’s contributions will go to fund national students who can enter high-quality programs in PASET RSIF host universities, provided they meet the admission/selection criteria. The remaining 20% is for other SSA students. • Merit-based selection of students and economies of scale • Professional management of scholarships • PASET RSIF host universities are competitively selected and they are partnered with international universities. • A long term initiative and countries will continue to benefit according to their contributions and in proportion to the returns from the endowment fund. • Spillover benefits for the countries’ universities and higher education system, as they learn about an international level program, and as faculty and students are trained. • Benefits from other initiative of PASET, such as knowledge-sharing with Korea, China, India, etc., and technical assistance.

17. ACE Impact Implementation Arrangements

18. Status of ACE Impact Phase I – PROGRESS! • Entities/Countries: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal and AAU • 16 (6 renewals) ACEs; 2 Emerging Centers and 3 Colleges of Engineering • 2 National Facilitation Agencies (NCTE (Ghana) and MERSRI-PIU (Burkina Faso)) • 1 Regional Facilitation Unit (AAU) • All Safeguards and Fiduciary requirements completed • All Negotiations meetings completed • Burkina Faso, Ghana and Senegal are contributing $2 Million each to RSIF • Process initiated for the hiring of the new ACE Impact Project Manager

19. Status of ACE Impact Phase II …following Phase I approval • Countries: Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, The Gambia, Togo • 28 (12 renewals) ACEs; 3 Emerging Centers and 3-6 Colleges of Engineering • 1 National Facilitation Agency (NUC- Nigeria) • Experts have been assigned to the Centers • Fiduciary assessments of Centers need to be completed • Draft ESMFs (safeguards document) yet to be consulted on in-country, finalized and disclosed • Technical discussions and Negotiations to be completed.

20. Next Steps Verification Entity Allocated Amount

21. Next Steps Verification Entity Allocated Amount

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