1 December 2021, Kigali.
Today, the African Leadership University announces its partnership with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to establish a hub for the university in Silicon Valley. From June 2022, select ALU students will be able to learn from and connect with the many innovative companies headquartered in the area and with faculty and students from the United States. More importantly, this will be an opportunity for African students to step out of their comfort zone and step up to the global stage.
Borders are less relevant than ever; we think and act globally. However, Africa has largely remained on the sidelines of the global economy. Borderless collaboration breaks down barriers to Africa’s entry and fosters innovation that is of mutual benefit. The ALU hub in Silicon Valley is the first of many interventions the university is taking to redesign the student’s experience to mirror today’s world. This strategic partnership brings the spotlight on ALU students and enables the continent’s youth to drive global conversations.
“We’re excited to partner with The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which has been at the forefront of defining best practices in teaching and learning across the globe for decades,” says ALU’s founder and CEO, Fred Swaniker. “With our combined efforts, the ALU hub in Silicon Valley will enable our students to gain hands-on experience with technology companies in Silicon Valley and be exposed to the region’s overall spirit of innovation and disruption. Spending time in Silicon Valley will accelerate our students’ ability to solve Africa’s grand challenges and capture its greatest opportunities. We also see a tremendous opportunity to collaborate with Carnegie to define a new model of higher education for the US. Most observers agree that the US higher education sector (and higher Ed globally) is in need of transformation. Today it costs too much, takes too long, and is increasingly inaccessible to those who need it the most. The ALU model offers a blueprint for how world-class higher education can be delivered at scale and at a low cost. In collaboration with Carnegie, we will capture the key tenets of our innovative model and share that with US higher educational institutions as they search for new models of excellence, sustainability, and equity.”
With its extensive expertise in the educational landscape, Carnegie will help shape and elevate this model with the goal of improving both the access to and the effectiveness of higher education for students in Africa.
“The African Leadership University has established a new standard for post-secondary education,” Says Carnegie Foundation President Tim Knowles. “The program is rigorous, affordable, experiential, career aligned, and scalable. Most importantly, it develops ethical, entrepreneurial leaders dedicated to addressing the world’s most complex and important challenges. It is a great privilege to work in partnership with Fred Swaniker and the ALU team, and bring such an important educational model to the United States.”
About the African Leadership University (ALU)
ALU is a higher-education institution with a mission to educate ethical and entrepreneurial leaders. Since its inception, ALU has produced over 2,000 students and alumni that are creating a positive impact across Africa and the world. With its bold, new strategy, this number will multiply by the thousands. By shifting its focus to accessibility, students’ missions, and learning through doing, ALU has designed a learning experience that is among the most innovative and effective in the world. The most notable aspect of the new strategy is the significant reduction in the tuition cost to only $3000/year. This makes an ALU education accessible for Africa’s leaders, regardless of background or financial means. Click here to read the strategic plan in its entirety.
About the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
The mission of the Foundation is to catalyze transformational change in education so that every student has the opportunity to live a healthy, dignified, and fulfilling life.
Contact information:
Kate Ryan Reiling
kreiling@alueducation.com
