In The News

eLearnAfrica in the News

 

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 eLearnAfrica Announces Financing the Development of Online Degrees with African Universities

5 September 2018

eLearnAfrica, the premier online learning company in Africa, has announced today that it will be providing financing for the design, development, and delivery of online degrees with top African universities.  This effort will expand the company’s contribution to increasing access to online educational opportunities for universities throughout the continent.

eLearnAfrica’s founder and CEO, Brook Negussie, noted the importance of this opportunity for African universities. “Financing the design, development, and deployment of online degrees is essential to meet the demands of our African universities.”

eLearnAfrica works with university administrators and instructors to clearly understand the academic aims of each program.  This is combined with training instructors in the relevant technology and best practices in online teaching.  Development consists of transforming existing learning materials and creating new ones.

African universities have considerable experience in delivering university degrees to non-traditional students.  For decades, this has been done through correspondence courses, radio programming, and television programming.  Now, it is done through the internet.  For them, the partnership permits an important expansion of their current offering of distance learning through online degrees. 

For some of the universities, working with eLearnAfrica will be the first experience in online degrees.  In both cases, the universities are excited to work with a world-class company with considerable resources and access to best-in-class technologies and development practices.

According to a recent report by Ambient Insights, the African e-learning market is witnessing massive growth, spurred by public-private partnerships.  It points out Africa's e-learning market has doubled from 2011 to 2016, reaching US$513 million.

Universities interested in more information about this opportunity should contact: students@elearnafrica.com

 


eLearnAfrica to boost online education throughout Africa

23 April 2018
 
eLearnAfrica and CAFRAD commit to the advancement of education through designing and developing e-learning programs

Online education eLearnAfrica has signed an agreement with the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD), to design and develop initiatives aimed at promoting e-learning on the African continent.

Brook Negussie, CEO of eLearnAfrica, and Dr St'ephane Monney, director-general of CAFRAD, met at the headquarters of CAFRAD in Morocco last week, to put into motion an important set of e-learning initiatives between the organisations, according to eLearnAfrica.

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  and      WebRwanda.com

eLearnAfrica offers Rwandan civil servants a bursary for Coventry University online MBA

9 April 2018

eLearnAfrica, the premier online education provider in Africa, has partnered with Coventry University, one of UK’s top higher education institutions, to provide an entire MBA programme online.

Completion of the programme takes two years of part-time study and will provide graduates with a world-class MBA from a globally recognized university.

As part of the Coventry University and eLearnAfrica initiative, 50 civil servants will initially be offered the opportunity to study the Coventry University online MBA programme.

The CEO of eLearnAfrica, Brook Negussie, explained the benefits of the bursary and MBA. “We are very excited to offer access to this very prestigious programme. As it is fully online and has a more flexible part-time course load, students can continue with their responsibilities while earning a degree from a globally-recognized university. This is an international programme, so students will interact with their peers from around the world.”

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eLearnAfrica launches US$1.5m online MBA scholarship

Published on 05 March 2018
 
By Masibulele Lunika
 
African online learning company, eLearnAfrica has launched a scholarship in Rwanda valued at US$1.5 million to help online learners acquire an MBA (Master of Business Administration) qualification.

The firm told ITWeb Africa that while the program is initially focused on Rwanda, it will be expanded to other academic areas, partner universities, and applicability throughout the continent.

eLearnAfrica did not reveal which countries or relevant time frames and said only, "We will communicate additional information about academic areas and countries in the coming months. This will be a pan-African programme."

Brook Negussie, CEO of eLearnAfrica believes it is imperative that African students have access to online education.

"This degree program is fully online; our students will not have to travel and can continue to fulfil their work and family responsibilities while they study at their convenience."

He also noted that this is only the first of many similar initiatives, "While we are very proud to be able to begin this scholarship in Rwanda with excellent institutional support, we are already in conversation with education leaders across the continent to make this a pan-African scholarship covering a variety of academic areas."

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Former Education Minister, Lwakabamba joins eLearnAfrica Board

By IGIHE

On 5 February 2018 at 08:16

 

Former Minister of Education, Prof Dr. Silas Lwakabamba has joined the Academic Advisory Board of online learning company, eLearnAfrica.

"The Advisory Board oversees the most important academic relationships of eLearnAfrica, including the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Association of Arab Universities (AArU)," notes a statement from the company announcing Lwakabamba’s new responsibilities.

Lwakabamba said he is honoured by the opportunity, "The organisation is dedicated to providing solutions to the difficult issues faced by our universities. I am confident that our students will greatly benefit from the opportunity to study degree programs online. I am very excited to support this important work."

The eLearnAfrica online educational platform offers an array of opportunities to African students at every stage of higher education and career development. It is accessible through desk-tops, as well as mobile devices.

Lwakabamba studied engineering at the University of Leeds in England, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1975. He then returned to Tanzania, where he joined the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam, attaining professorship in 1981, and later rising to the post of Dean of the Faculty.

In 1997, he became the founding Rector of Rwanda’s Kigali Institute of Science and Technology now University of Rwanda College Science and Technology, and in 2006, he was appointed the Rector of former National University of Rwanda, the largest public institution of higher learning in the country.

He occupied this position until his appointment in February 2013 as Minister of Infrastructure. He also served as the Minister of Education from July 2014 until June 24, 2015, when he transitioned to become the Rector of University of Kibungo (UNIK).

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This article has been edited by eLearnAfrica for clarification.

Online platform to give 10 million Africans access to university
 
In sub-Saharan Africa, only 6% of young people are enrolled in higher education

African universities will give 10 million more people the chance to earn a degree by offering online [degrees and] courses from universities like Harvard, MIT and Cambridge.

The Association of African Universities (AAU) has partnered with eLearnAfrica, a social enterprise and the continent’s largest online learning platform, to expand universities’ reach to underserved areas. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, only 6% of young people are enrolled in higher education. Would-be students face barriers like cost, distance and competition for limited spaces.

“I have people very close to me who were not able to complete high school because they became refugees – once you hit your 20s, from an African perspective, there are a lot of responsibilities. You’re working to support your family, so even finishing high school becomes a huge problem. We’re offering an opportunity: if you can get a certificate through online learning, you’re a little closer to freedom,” said Brook Negussie, the Ethiopian-born CEO of eLearnAfrica.

eLearnAfrica will provide their content for free to universities, and only charge to host courses – which is optional. “We’re trying to be disruptive,” explains Negussie. “Hopefully we’ll see a great collaboration where students in East Africa are taking courses from West African universities and vice versa, and I hope that creates a conversation.”

The AAU, which convenes and advocates for 380 higher learning institutions across the continent, will support member universities as they implement online learning. eLearnAfrica will make its online catalogue of 1,000 licensed courses available to all AAU-affiliated universities, and support them as they produce and design their own, locally relevant classes.

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Helping Africa Learn Online

A mission-driven young company aims to help Africa's universities meet the exploding capacity for education and training.

By Doug Lederman, 13 February 2017

As is true in many parts of the world, demand in Africa for postsecondary education and training is exploding. Enrollments in the continent's universities nearly tripled from 1999 to 2012, but existing universities are straining to keep up with demand and it's highly unlikely that enough new institutions can be built to meet the need.

A young company aims to help Africa's universities serve their students by both expanding their offerings and building their own capacity.

Under an agreement announced this month between eLearnAfrica and the Association of African Universities, the association's 380 member universities can make the company's selection of digital courses available to their students. In addition, eLearnAfrica (and its partner, ITsm Mentor) will provide a variety of services to help the universities digitize their own courses to put them online, to help them build their own capacity.

eLearnAfrica's website had more than 1 million visits in its first four months of operation, and "thousands" of students have registered for courses already, mostly delivered in mobile format, says Brendan von Briesen, the company's chief operating officer. "That speaks to the overwhelming demand on the part of Africans to find high-quality higher education opportunities."

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eLearning partnership opens doors to 10 million students

A landmark agreement signed between the 380-member Association of African Universities, or AAU, and Africa’s largest online education platform eLearnAfrica will enable 10 million students to access higher education through online services provided to AAU member universities.

The agreement signed on 3 February will enable member universities to expand their reach through the provision of online, distance-learning opportunities to students everywhere, including rural areas. It will also support universities in the development and deployment of online learning resources and in the use of the eLearnAfrica Learning Management System.

“We're glad to welcome early adapters, like the Zambian Open University, that already offer online degrees. Now, with this agreement with the AAU, we'll be able to support more universities to make the jump to e-learning,” CEO of eLearnAfrica, Brook Negussie told University World News.

The eLearnAfrica platform is fully functional on mobile devices, which represents the most popular form of connecting to the internet.

Cost-effective strategy

According to Negussie, eLearnAfrica is a cost-effective strategy for delivering higher education because of one-time development costs, low continuing costs, and most importantly, the ability to scale delivery.

“Before, class size was limited by desks; now, it's limitless,” he said. “I would have to say that Africa cannot afford to keep building multi-million dollar physical universities. The continent would have to open a few every week for years just to meet existing demand, to say nothing for meeting the projected demand of a young, digitalised population that knows that education is the key to life-long achievement and success,” he told University World News.

He said the great benefit of the AAU relationship is that the AAU is a membership organisation of accredited, respected higher education institutions in Africa. The partnership, he said, would give AAU member universities access to Africa's largest e-learning platform and support network.

The association is Africa’s largest higher education coordinating body, comprising 380 universities in 46 African countries.

“The AAU is the most important higher education coordinating body; we are looking forward to developing and delivering content with the member universities throughout Africa,” Negussie said.

Expanding access

According to the secretary general of the AAU, Professor Etienne Ehouan Ehile, one of the major benefits of the partnership is its capacity to expand access.

“As an association, challenges of limited access to quality higher education continue to haunt us. Therefore, building capacities of African universities to be innovative in their teaching and learning methods for increased access to quality higher education is top priority for the AAU. This partnership with eLearnAfrica will help us achieve this goal," he said in a statement.

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E-learning deal targets 10m Africans

By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 6 Feb 2017

The African e-learning market is witnessing massive growth, spurred by public-private partnerships.

eLearnAfrica and the Association of African Universities (AAU) have entered into a partnership to provide eLearnAfrica's services to AAU member universities.

This agreement will help African universities take advantage of the tools and delivery platform of the eLearnAfrica portal and mobile application for expanding educational opportunities. The organisations say the partnership aims to benefit about 10 million students on the continent.

According to a recent report by Ambient Insights, the African e-learning market is witnessing massive growth, spurred by public-private partnerships.

It points out Africa's e-learning market has doubled from 2011 to 2016, reaching $513 million. SA is Africa's largest e-learning market, followed by Angola, Nigeria and Tunisia. AAU is Africa's largest higher education co-ordinating body. It comprises 380 universities in 46 African countries.

Reach expansion

The agreement will enable universities to expand their reach by providing online, distance-learning opportunities to students everywhere, especially rural areas, which can access the tools with the mobile application.

Students throughout Africa face considerable difficulties in achieving a university degree, says eLearnAfrica. It notes high costs, competition for limited spaces, and the long distances that must be travelled are common reasons why students abandon their education. Only 6% of young people in sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in higher education institutions compared to the global average of 26%, it adds.

The partnership will permit the AAU to support its member universities in the development and deployment of online learning resources. AAU member universities will be able to participate in Africa's largest resource for online courses and degree programmes.

The eLearnAfrica platform will allow member universities to use the eLearnAfrica Learning Management System by taking advantage of user-friendly technologies to support the didactic and administrative functions of the universities.

Currently, eLearnAfrica has over 1 000 courses from top-ranked universities though partnerships with edX and FutureLearn, including Harvard, MIT, and Cambridge, as well as professional development courses in 175 high-demand vocational and career paths like networking, software development, and business administration.

"The AAU continues to support its member universities to improve the quality of the education that they deliver to students," says Prof Etienne Ehouan Ehile, secretary-general of the AAU. "As an association, challenges of limited access to quality higher education continue to haunt us. Therefore, building capacities of African universities to be innovative in their teaching and learning methods for increased access to quality higher education is top priority for the AAU. This partnership with eLearnAfrica will help us achieve this goal."

"We are excited that the AAU has chosen eLearnAfrica to support the important work of its member universities," says Brook Negussie, CEO of eLearnAfrica. "The AAU is the most important higher education co-ordinating body; we are looking forward to developing and delivering content with the member universities throughout Africa."

Negussie notes the advantage for African universities and students are quite clear. "Online degrees are a great way for universities to extend and diversify their academic reach in a sustainable and scalable manner. We hope to significantly increase the number of students earning degrees in the next few years by literally putting in the palms of their hands the tools they need to succeed."

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 PRESS RELEASE

Agreement between 380-member Association of African Universities and eLearnAfrica aims to benefit 10 million students

6 February 2017

eLearnAfrica and the Association of African Universities (AAU) today announced a partnership to provide eLearnAfrica’s services to AAU member universities.  This agreement will help African universities take advantage of the powerful tools and delivery platform the eLearnAfrica portal and mobile application for expanding and deepening educational opportunities.

The Association of African Universities is Africa’s largest Higher Education coordinating body.  The AAU is comprised of 380 universities in 46 African countries.  The agreement will enable universities to expand their reach by providing online, distance-learning opportunities to students everywhere, especially rural areas accessible with the mobile application.

Students throughout Africa face considerable difficulties in achieving a university degree.  High costs, competition for limited spaces, and the long distances that must be travelled are common reasons why students abandon their education.  Only 6% of young people in sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in higher education institutions compared to the global average of 26%. 

The partnership will permit the AAU to support its member universities in the development and deployment of online learning resources.  AAU member universities will be able to participate in Africa’s largest resource for online courses and degree programs.  eLearnAfrica platform will allow member universities to use the eLearnAfrica Learning Management System (LMS) by taking advantage of user-friendly technologies to support the didactic and administrative functions of the universities.

eLearnAfrica is a leading online education platform committed to increasing access to educational and professional development courses throughout Africa.  Currently, eLearnAfrica has over 1,000 courses from top-ranked universities though partnerships with edX and FutureLearn, including Harvard, MIT, and Cambridge, as well as professional development courses in 175 high-demand vocational and career paths like networking, software development, and business administration.  eLearnAfrica is now making available online degree programs to students throughout the continent.

The AAU has chosen eLearnAfrica because of the company’s progressive vision, online learning expertise, and easy-to-use tools.  The Secretary General of the AAU, Prof. Dr. Etienne Ehouan Ehile, stated that, “The AAU continues to support its member universities to improve the quality of the education that they deliver to students. As an Association, challenges of limited access to quality higher education continue to haunt us. Therefore building capacities of African universities to be innovative in their teaching and learning methods for increased access to quality higher education is top priority for the AAU.  This partnership with eLearnAfrica will help us achieve this goal.”

The CEO of eLearnAfrica, Brook Negussie, also welcomed the announcement.  “We are excited that the AAU has chosen eLearnAfrica to support the important work of its member universities.   The AAU is the most important higher education coordinating body, we are looking forward to developing and delivering content with the member universities throughout Africa.” 

Negussie notes the advantage for African universities and students are quite clear: “Online degrees are a great way for universities to extend and diversify their academic reach in a sustainable and scalable manner.  We hope to significantly increase the number of students earning degrees in the next few years by literally putting in the palms of their hands the tools they need to succeed.”

eLearnAfrica launched the website and mobile app to make finding and completing online courses and degrees easier.  Students can search through the catalogue of available courses and select the best ones from the world’s most prestigious universities.  Most of these courses are free, and the student can complete the coursework at their own pace.

Visit www.elearnafrica.com or download the free Android mobile application in the Google Play Store to learn about the courses and degree programs that are already available.

 


  

ZAOU partners with eLearnAfrica to extend learning throughout Africa

6 December 2016 (Staff Writer) Education, Mobile and Telecoms, Southern Africa, Top Stories

ZAUO Vice Chancellor

Left: ZAOU acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Yerokun Olusegun Adedayo.

The Zambian Open University (ZAOU) today announced its courses and degree programs will be available on eLearnAfrica, further extending the university’s reach into the country and across the continent.  eLearnAfrica.com is a newly launched mobile application and portal offering trusted sources of open education for Africans.  The site has seen over 385,000 visitors since its launch last month.

ZAOU is the first Open University in Zambia to actively empower thousands of Africans with easy access to world-class tuition by offering distance and face to face degree programs in Agricultural Sciences, Law, Education and more on the eLearnAfrica platform.  The university has over 3,000 students in 2016 and expects this to increase by 50% by joining the eLearnAfrica platform.

The ever-growing demand for higher education in Zambia is far from being satisfied.  With more than 50,000 pupils about to complete secondary school this year, the influx of hopeful students has grown beyond the capacity of historical higher learning resources.

eLearnAfrica is an innovative web portal built to assist African students and professionals search and access the best distance learning educational courses, online degrees and professional certifications from trusted sources around the world. 

“eLearnAfrica’s mission is to make learning opportunities available to everyone,” says eLearnAfrica CEO, Brook Negussie.  “We understand that it’s challenging to find trusted content on the internet if you aren’t sure what you are searching for.  Our platform was created to help Africans find courses, degree programmes and vocational skills courses for all educational levels from trusted third-party providers.

“It’s great that we are able to offer African content to students throughout the continent.  We also help collaboratively create content by providing rich analysis and data to Universities and academic institutions on the portal for them to best meet the demands of their prospective learners, adds Negussie.

eLearnAfrica has partnered with leading online course providers, from some of the best universities in the world.  ZAOU, the first Open University in Zambia, now takes pride of place alongside edX, the open course platform founded by Harvard University and MIT on the ground-breaking portal and mobile app.  edX offers hundreds of courses from the world’s top institutions, such as top-ranked Wharton Business School, the University of California, Berkeley and more.

Professor Olusegun Adedayo Yerokun Acting Vice Chancellor of ZAOU, commented: “Our collaboration with eLearnAfrica will ensure more extensive access to our comprehensive courses and degree programs for the sustainable development of human capital in Zambia and beyond. 

“We realized when we enrolled our first students in 2005 that demand could not be met through traditional methods of education. However, education can be brought to doorsteps, and now handsets, through new, flexible methods and approaches. We look forward to being able to distribute our best content throughout Africa on eLearnAfrica.”

eLearnAfrica encourages African universities to join this important initiative, so that their best programs can be made available online to students throughout the continent.  To find out more, visit http://www.elearnafrica.com/page/become-a-partner

 


 

eLearnAfrica, the on-line training company expands its network

 

eLearnAfrica is a social enterprise that aims to increase and widen access to vocational training in the African continent. It does this primarily through a digital education portal that is still growing, thanks to agreements with private companies in various African countries.

E-learning for Africa

Digitalisation, for Africa, can be an essential tool for socio-economic development. Access to the network provides possible solutions for the continent’s main challenges, from health, to education and the protection of human rights in the workplace. This issue is garnering a growing awareness, made evident by the proliferation of initiatives that focus on promoting the Internet as a tool for growth. An example of this work is eLearnAfrica, a social enterprise active in the field of on-line vocational training and now the leading on-line provider of vocational courses. It counts the continent’s leading institutions and companies as its partners.

One of Africa’s main strengths is its wide availability of workforce. It is a huge and young continent, and such potential requires the best tools and training to make strides in the workplace. On the other hand, raising the professional level of resources can only have positive effects on businesses and on their competitiveness, including internationally. This is why e-learning, capable of reaching the continent’s rural areas where infrastructure is lacking, can be a strategic solution.

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Meet the man who is providing free education to Africans

15 November 2016

Many people on the continent can't afford tertiary education, so Brook Negussie has found a way to make free education possible

As many South Africans battle to afford tertiary education fees, the CEO of eLearnAfrica, Negussie, is spearheading an online platform that offers free courses and degree programmes.

Across Africa, the educational infrastructure cannot meet the current or future needs of the general population. While higher education participation rates in many high-income countries are well over 50%, in sub-Saharan Africa they are in most cases below 5%. As debates about and demands for free education continue, eLearnAfrica presents an affordable solution for students throughout the continent.

As an education platform, eLearnAfrica offers opportunities to African students at every stage of higher education and career development, with courses from the world’s best universities. There are currently 1 071 programmes on the course catalogue, including full degrees, vocational training, and industry-standard professional certifications.

Establishing an education platform

“We set out to combine local knowledge with long-term global expertise to bring the most trusted online educational content to Africa,” says Negussie. “Only a month after going live, we have over 225 000 visitors searching for trusted, professional courses, programmes and degrees.”

He adds that establishing eLearnAfrica has been a truly global effort of collaboration and partnerships. The online platform works with social learning platform FutureLearn and EdX, a non-profit online learning destination founded by Harvard University and MIT, offering hundreds of courses from the world’s top institutions such as top-ranked Wharton Business School, the University of California, Berkeley, and more.

To ensure that potential students are able to navigate the video-based training content, eLearnAfrica has also partnered with itSM Solutions to offer classroom-style, on-demand, video-based professional certification programmes.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response from people who are hungry for quality online content,” says Negussie. “It’s encouraging that we have an answer to a clear need in the market. More and more trusted content providers continue to approach us to include their programmes, degrees and offerings to African high school graduates who cannot study in formal institutions like universities or vocational colleges, largely due to a lack of funding and resources.”

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ELEARNAFRICA AND YOUBORA PARTNER TO IMPROVE ONLINE EDUCATION ANALYSIS IN AFRICA