Harnessing Collaboration in Higher Education to Boost Employment Outcomes

Interview with Rose Dodd

Executive Director, The Education Collaborative, Ashesi University, Ghana

Collaboration among higher education institutions is the best way to address challenges, learn quickly, and avoid mistakes others have made, says Rose Dodd, Executive Director of The Education Collaborative (The Collaborative) at Ashesi University in Ghana. The Collaborative aims to help African higher education leaders tap into the resources and knowledge of member institutions to better prepare the continent’s growing youth population for the future. In an interview with IFC, Dodd explains what led Ashesi University to develop The Education Collaborative, the essential skills needed to thrive in a dynamic labor market, and ways the initiative has supported the climate agenda. 

“Technology is an excellent facilitator of skills and efficiency, and one of the biggest things partnerships can do is help us understand what we can accomplish with what is available.”

In 2017, Ashesi University established The Education Collaborative. Can you tell me more about the program and why you launched it?

As you know, the African continent's population is increasingly becoming younger. This presents an incredible opportunity for global economic growth and progress if this young population has the skills to pursue meaningful and productive work. Access to high-quality and intentional higher education will be critical in harnessing this opportunity. Ashesi University, for example, is recognized across the continent for preparing students for the workforce. However, with an enrolment of 1,500 students, Ashesi’s graduates alone cannot catalyze Africa’s demographic opportunity.

Ashesi decided that more collaboration between Africa’s universities—which reach millions of students each year but operate in silos—could be the key to more focused, consistent outcomes. Ashesi founded The Education Collaborative to serve this purpose. The Education Collaborative’s goal is to provide coordination platforms, resources, and opportunities for African universities to better teach the skills and drive the research necessary for developing the continent well into the future.

Why is collaboration with other institutions essential?

Primarily because no single institution can tackle the challenge of educating a critical mass of skilled African talent on its own. Collaboration is very important for the quicker adoption of successful, proven higher education strategies across multiple regions and contexts. One does not need to create new physical infrastructure and recruit new teams and students to execute a successful or proven model from another region. Models can be implemented by existing universities that understand their market and context. This is especially true at the regional level. For instance, strategies in Nigeria are likely to work for universities in Ghana because they share similar regulatory and economic systems. However, the purpose of The Collaborative is not to copy and paste curricula or career-building measures. It's about adapting proven solutions across multiple universities that may have additional priorities and needs, systematically measuring progress and outcomes, and sharing results with peers for learning.

The African youth population is expected to double by 2050. What steps is The Education Collaborative taking to prepare for this demographic shift?

First, we have identified specific skills and areas in which African universities need to invest to help the continent harness this population shift to its advantage: ethical leadership, problem-solving, career readiness, entrepreneurship skills, effective teaching, and faculty development. The Collaborative is corralling resources and expertise across its network and facilitating access to these for universities that need them the most.

We also continue to build strong partnerships between institutions and industries to boost employment prospects for our graduates. For instance, we launched an initiative that helps universities host job fairs. We support institutions in building their capacities through the blueprints we develop and share based on lessons across the network. Instead of reading about best practices, members also get peer mentorship to guide their implementation.

Another strategy is encouraging institutions to publish research that will contribute to knowledge creation on the continent. We focus on fine-tuning applicable research that can be applied to or improve real-world scenarios. Through research and engagement with 32 institutions in our network, for example, we co-created an institutional employability assessment. This assessment helps institutions measure the effectiveness of all efforts to enhance career and entrepreneurial readiness and the successful transition of graduates into industry.                                          

How does The Collaborative adapt its programs to support students from different regions? 

We have structured The Collaborative into hubs: in West Africa and East Africa, which have been running for a couple of years, and Southern Africa, which is just starting up. The hubs help contextualize The Education Collaborative’s initiatives and efforts.

In East Africa, for example, many institutions offer three-year undergraduate programs, whereas West African institutions typically run four-year programs. If The Collaborative is thinking about sharing curriculum or helping institutions implement student exchanges, clustering in regional hubs makes that easier.

What impact has The Collaborative had on addressing climate change?

Although The Collaborative has not explicitly mentioned addressing climate change as one of its key focus areas, many of our member institutions are prioritizing efforts in this area. For instance, Ashesi University and Strathmore University host Climate Innovation Centers that support the advancement of green startup businesses. The University of Cape Coast’s Centre for Coastal Management also helps advance research and action to promote coastal resilience in Africa.

Member institutions also advance partnerships in climate resilience that The Education Collaborative supports. One example I will cite is from Botho University in Botswana. Through The Education Collaborative’s engagement with Botho University’s Faculty of Business and Accounting and the Faculty of Health & Education, a new hydroponics lab has been created to support the teaching of sustainable agriculture. Students at Botho are now able to engage in hands-on experiences in hydroponic vertical farming and building skills in water-efficient and high-yield cultivation practices to address Botswana's agricultural challenges.

How can partnerships help universities and continuing education institutions better use technology innovations to educate the next generation of students?

Technology is an excellent facilitator of skills and efficiency, and one of the biggest things partnerships can do is help us understand what we can accomplish with what is available. There is a hope and a dream for technology to be bigger and better. And while we do want that, right now, we need to make sure every student has a smartphone, laptop, and reliable internet connection. We need to explore how to leverage technology to create fast local networks or shared networks among universities to defray costs. We must combine resources to be more efficient when using technology to increase access to higher education and learning. Sharing information, resources, and costs to achieve goals also makes using technology less daunting.

What three pieces of advice would you give higher education leaders struggling to address these challenges unique to the African continent?

First, I would say that it is important to lean into collaboration and partnerships. Very few difficulties and challenges are unique to one institution alone. In most cases, the problems higher education leaders are grappling with have already been experienced and solved by their peers. Secondly, higher education leaders should prioritize problem-solving and critical thinking outcomes in their strategic goals to build student capabilities as part of a skilled workforce. These will be crucial in addressing the challenges of a rapidly growing population. Lastly, universities should prioritize ethics and leadership training in their curriculum. Students need to understand how to navigate the world ethically and advance a good society where everybody has an opportunity to thrive.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Publish in October 2024

About Rose Dodd

Rose Dodd is a social entrepreneur and program manager with experience managing portfolios with diverse programs, varied reporting lines, and budgets. She is passionate about practice models in entrepreneurship and education in Africa and exploring innovative ways to scale social impact in education. She is currently the Executive Director of The Education Collaborative at Ashesi University. She leads the 10-year strategy to build collaborative models in higher education, to impact over 1.1 million students directly through better systems in the sector. In this capacity, she manages the core operational team, coordinates partnerships, and liaises with key stakeholders toward achieving the initiative's intended impact of improving the collective outcomes of higher education in Africa.