Giving Compass' Take:
• The Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller, Hewlett, Mellon, and Kresge Foundation all forged a partnership for Higher Education in Africa. The MacArthur Foundation interviews a professor from a university in Nairobi to talk about how the partnership has affected his institution. 

• How can more global partnerships exist to focus on higher education initiatives? 

• Read more about education in Africa. 

The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa was a joint project of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Kresge Foundation. The Partnership represented both a belief in the importance and viability of higher education in Africa and a mechanism to provide meaningful assistance to its renaissance. From 2000 to 2010, the Partnership awarded more than $439.9 million to support African higher education.

Here is a bit of the interview with Muhammad Yahuza Bello, Professor of Mathematics and Vice-Chancellor, Bayero University Kano in Nigeria:

Why are investments in higher education so important for Nigeria’s development and its future? 

MYB: Not only is education one of the indices of development of any nation, it is also the foundation of all other indices, including health and economic development. This is why it is extremely important for any nation to invest heavily in education at all levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Further, for any nation to facilitate or sustain economic growth and development it must ensure that it has the right infrastructure.

You’ve said the University’s mindset has changed. What do you mean by that?

A popular African proverb says that it is better to teach a person to fish than to give that person a fish. Bayero has been lucky to receive both from its relationship with MacArthur through the Partnership. We received funding from the Foundation (to gain the strength to start fishing on our own), and the Foundation has been an excellent teacher.

Since the Partnership began some 18 years ago, Bayero has enhanced its ability to raise and effectively administer funds, as well as to build an infrastructure for university advancement.

Read the full article about investing in Africa's higher education at MacArthur Foundation.