Carnegie Corporation of New York is a major American philanthropic organization that supports higher education in Africa. For over two decades, its mission has centered around deepening and expanding the continent’s advanced academic communities, networks, and universities. It also focuses on promoting policies that inform the growing higher education sector, aiming to transform it into a cornerstone for knowledge-based economies with research-active academics trained relevant to the African context.
The grant program by Carnegie Corporation of New York aims at nurturing a vibrant corps of African academics within dynamic and supportive university environments across the continent. It focuses on three key areas: supporting early-career African academics and retaining them by enhancing universities and networks capable of becoming regional centers of doctoral education and research; connecting African academic diaspora with African universities for mutual benefits in research and training; and improving higher education policies and practice through data-driven research and publications on Africa’s higher education sector, promoting policy dialogues on national priorities relevant to the sector. This comprehensive approach seeks to address the critical challenge of meeting the growing need for skilled and knowledgeable academic staff amidst the steady increase in university enrollments and the number of institutions, moving towards building robust research programs for training future lecturers.