The 12-month project, which is funded by an award from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), will build upon CASE’s 15 years of experience working with African universities and the extensive research in philanthropy and university funding conducted by Loughborough University’s School of Social Sciences. The goal is to create a sustainable framework for building philanthropic engagement at higher education institutions in Africa.

This project addresses the urgent need for African universities to build and expand philanthropic activities to realize their institutional missions. Enrolment at African universities has risen dramatically from less than 400,000 students in 1970 to approximately 10 million students today.  At the same time, funding cuts by national governments have limited the ability of universities to meet the growing demand for higher education in Africa. 

To address this challenge, researchers in Geography from Loughborough University and professional practitioners at CASE will work with a group of universities in East, West and South Africa to develop a suite of digital resources that address the specific needs of African universities and share best practice in higher education philanthropy on the African continent and across the world. These resources will be designed to support alumni relations activities, fundraising operations and communication strategies.

Michael Hoyler, Reader in Human Geography at Loughborough University and one of the project leaders, said: “We are delighted to be working with CASE on this enterprise project to bring together its professional experience with our research on philanthropy in higher education.”

Tricia King, Vice President, Global Engagement at CASE, noted that CASE is pleased to be working in partnership with the institution to deliver this important work.

“Universities are vehicles for change in the world. In Africa, this is doubly so,” King said. “This work will give our African community exactly what they tell us they need – digital access to the best ideas and case studies about how to fundraise successfully.”

Liz Reilly, CASE’s Executive Director for Global Engagement, Emerging Markets, added: “In the long-term, CASE hopes the lessons learned from this research project will benefit not only African universities, but higher education institutions in Latin America, Asia and other regions of the world as well.”

Other members of the project team include Professor Morag Bell, Heidi Bloomfield, Dr. James Esson and Dr Amil Mohanan from the School of Social Sciences at Loughborough University.