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UNICAF Offers University Degrees To Africans for 20% Of Western Price

This article is more than 7 years old.

By the year 2040, professional services network PwC estimates that Africa will have the world's largest labor force, ahead of even India and China. However, as of today, this burgeoning labor force has skills shortages and a higher educational hole.

While education in Africa is rising and demand for skilled people also ascends, there are serious challenges to Africans reaching quality Higher Education (HE) levels that are recognised by the world's employers. The gap in the market needs to be addressed now... if the 2040 African labor force is to have global value.

In the UK, the recent vote to leave the EU has seen an almost-instant drop in applications from EU students, leading to an opportunity that will not only help Africa, but will also maintain the status of UK universities on the international educational market.

One such company that is trying to step into this breech is UNICAF, an interesting company dedicated to educate Africa in HE qualifications. Founded in 2012, it partners with Western universities to offer locally accredited degrees to African students who want to study online while continuing to work.

This year, UNICAF has more than 8,000 learning students, a number it expects to rise to 60,000 by the end of 2020. The nub of its business means the fee paid for degrees by Africans is 20% of the price paid in the West.

While UNICAF sounds suspiciously as if it may be a United Nations organisation, it is purely commercial while possessing philanthropic principles. While a saving of 80% may seem highly significant, this still means an African student will still have to spend more than $4,000 acquiring that qualification.

A flexible online course that is  designed with the partnering university means potential students can still work while studying, but UNICAF says it is striving to bring down this cost over the rest of the decade. It is also working with potential future employers to pick up some of the tab.

UNICAF CEO Dr Nicos Nicolaou is also entering discussions with other companies such as IBM who see the potential of Africa, but he also sees the opportunity that Brexit can offer UK/African educational partnerships in the future. Recent figures published by UK-based Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show a 9% drop in EU admissions since the fateful vote earlier this year.

"In order for UK academic institutions to maintain their student numbers, they must look further afield if, as expected, Brexit brings these numbers down. UNESCO data places the UK as the second most popular destination for international students, but sentiment is changing and it needs to raise its game.

"Many UK universities have already taken the initiative of looking at alternative options and we believe we offer the perfect bridge between them and students to create a win-win situation," says Dr. Nicolaou.

The need for such online courses instead of brick-and-mortar campuses is going to be vital in the future education of Africa's people. At the current growth of higher education, the African public sector would need to build 10 universities a WEEK, each with the capacity for 10,000 students, an impossible situation.

Investors seem to be interested in the model. Earlier this year CDC Group, University Ventures and Savannah invested $12 million into UNICAF to support the roll-out of higher learning education centers across African cities, including its first physical university campus in Malawi.

The involvement of CDC may be fundamental to the company's growth as it has a track record of investing in African businesses that have a real impact. Education is one of CDC's seven priority sectors because of the employment opportunities created and UNICAF would seemingly receive the investor support to needs to expand.

The work of UNICAF in Africa appears to have begun brightly, the ensuing decade will show whether it has made a real difference to the future of Africa, and its most important asset, its people.

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