Creating a project-based degree at a new university in Africa

Abstract

[ES] African Leadership University (ALU), a network of higher education institutions, opened its second campus in Rwanda in September of 2017. In order to achieve the institutional vision to educate three million young African Leaders before 2050, the University has made efforts to embrace ‘innovative pedagogy,’ designing curricula and training its teaching staff in active learning and student-centered pedagogy. This paper provides an account of the design and inital delivery of a new degree that ALU offers to its students in Rwanda, called “Global Challenges,” a project-based degree that requires students to structure their learning around a project that they self-design that addresses a challenge facing the continent of Africa. The paper is authored by a member of the faculty of the new degree and uses qualitative practitioner-based research to describe the degree and analyse its alignment with the innovative practice of Project-Based Learning (PBL). Analysis of the degree design shows strong adherence to the principles of PBL; however, more research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness and broader impact of this new educational program.