ACE PROPOSAL PREPARATION GUIDELINES

NUC WORKSHOP FOR NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES ON THE WORLD BANK-

SUPPORTED AFRICAN CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE PROJECT

16th JULY 2013

M. T. Usman

ACEs will be competitively selected and charged with the responsibility to promote regional specialization among participating universities in areas that address regional challenges and strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver quality training and applied research

ACE – The Thrust

Countries participating in the first call include; Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo

Beneficiaries of demand-driven regional servicesLiberiaThe Gambia

ACE – The Competing countries

•We seek to participate in a regional competition and to emerge as ACE-hosting institutions•Key word is “competition”•Each institution therefore needs to put its best foot forward

ACE – Noteworthy points

ACE – Scoring Template

TECHNICAL EVALUATION

Potential for regional development impact 25

Potential for excellence 25

Sustainability 10

Social responsibility 5

Quality and consistency 5

TOTAL 70

ACE – Scoring Template

The qualifying universities (within their specialized topic and knowledge, and focusing on regional development challenges), will specifically: Strengthen post-graduate programs for a regional student body;Offer specialized courses for industry professionals in the region;Establish a regional faculty body, improve their faculty and attract additional top-level faculty;Provide learning resources, labs and minor rehabilitation of existing facilities;

ACE – Expectations

The qualifying universities (within their specialized topic and knowledge, and focusing on regional development challenges), will specifically: Establish linkages with companies, government agencies, and research centres for workplace learning, input into curricula, consultancies and joint research; andCollaborate with partner institutions as a means of sharing the benefits of the investments. For instance, sharing through training of faculty, sharing of curricula and sharing of learning resources.

ACE – Expectations

ACE – Indicators of success

Number of Local and International students in new PG programmes or short courses.

Percentage of females in these programmes Number of Internationally accredited programmes Number of students/faculty with at least one month

internship in Industry Quantum of externally generated revenue through the

programmes New collaborations with regional and international

institutions Number and depth of collaborations with

industry

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Proposals must tie into national development priorities and to extant policies and guidelines in the sector to show how the ACE will contribute to national development.

A history of working relationship(s) with relevant MDAs in the field of interest is a strength that should be emphasised. Indications of how these will be utilised to support proposed research and training programmes would be boosters.

Proposals must tie into subregional and continental development priorities to show that they can contribute to the larger aspirations of the continent.

A tie-in into the goals of the ECOWAS strategy for Higher Education development and of the AUC as enshrined in the second decade of education for Africa, the AU-CAPST, etc.

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Proposals must have linkages with industry to demonstrate relevance of training and research programmes to industrial growth and consequently, job creation and poverty alleviation

Existing linkages with relevant industry players should be emphasised. Where none exist, evidence of plans to initiate new linkages (e.g. for internships) and how they will help achieve PDOs should be stated and

supported with documentation.

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Proposals must show strong existing academic collaborations and how these will be utilised to enhance quality postgraduate training and research competencies

Proposals are required to be;inter-disciplinary multi-departmentalmulti-institutionalInternationalmulti-lingual (bridge the anglophone –

francophone bridge) – the NUC isavailable to facilitate links where necessary

The bigger the resource pool, the better.

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

ACE- Project Contacts

Proposals must demonstrate existence of requisite learning and research resources in staffing and equipment. Emphasis on the acquisition of new heavy equipment will be a big minus

Proposals should flaunt the credentials of interdisciplinary teams of experts

Proposals should flaunt state-of-the-art equipment

Proposals should flaunt high-impact journal articles and other publications in the area.

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Proposals must demonstrate institutional capability and readiness to sustain proposed training and research programmes

Include evidence of previous institutional sustenance of development-partner-supported activities

Include evidence of counterpart funding of such activities if any

Show plan/readiness to utilise existing funding opportunities to sustain project

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Proposals must be socially and environmentally responsible, e.g. be gender-inclusive in the implementation of outreach activities

Include plans for social inclusiveness through; direct and indirect benefits to the poor and the disabled, (gender) affirmative action, etc

Show adherence to environmental guidelines (applicable laws & guidelines, World Bank safeguards)

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Proposals must demonstrate consistency with institutional strategic plan

Show aspects of current institutional plan that the project ties into. Where a current plan is not in place, show links to old plan(s) and to institutional statutes/laws and provide evidence of ongoing activities to review the plan, if any

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Proposals must demonstrate institutional leadership commitment. A statement of which should be part of the submission

A Vice Chancellor’s statement of commitment to support the proposal is a big plus. The VCs are to be interviewed as part of a verification process to ascertain this level of engagement

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Competing institutions should ensure project awareness campaigns are conducted on their campuses to secure buy-in and cooperation during institutional evaluation

Members of the University community will be interviewed to gauge awareness levels. This will form part of the assessment of the level of institutional readiness

ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

Insights from Initial Project

Design

ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)

Introduction of new or enhancement of existing curricula Postgraduate programmes Short courses

In-service Skills acquisition

Through Curricula development workshops Hosting of Professors/industry experts Development/Acquisition of content

and/or LMS Facilitation of access to partner

contents

ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)

Limited refurbishment of facilities Opportunity for demonstrating

counterpart funding capabilitiesLeverage ICT to promote extensive

collaboration while limiting travel costs Opportunity to illustrate the

complementarity of the NgREN project and institutional ICT investments

Opportunities for Staff exchange with local and international partners (institutions/industry)

ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)

Organisation of, and/or participation in, training workshops/seminars/conferences Plan to attend others’ events but

plan to host too to underscore peer acceptability

Opportunities for Staff exchange with local and international partners (institutions/industry) Plan to activate existing MoUs or

pursue new ones Propose knowledge transfer

partnerships with industry

ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)

Development of research activities as bases for; Collaboration short-term training visits or

fieldwork PG and PostDoc scholarships

Provision of Research internships industry-based internships

Publication of research findings Target top-tier journals Link to existing citations credited

to ACE Team members

ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)

Outreach activities Communication Community engagement Local and international Staff and

student recruitment drives Coordination of collaboration

between partners Emphasise use of ICT

infrastructure for easy and less costly coordination

Language services Propose complementary roles for

all partners

Merci pour votre attention

Thank you for your attention

Je vous souhaite bonne chance

I Wish you Good Luck