KIBU team bags 140 million grant from European Commission under Erasmus + Programme to foster innovation in African HEIs so as to enhance relevance for the digital innovation labour market.
The project dubbed “UNIHUBS” is a collaborative initiative between Kibabii University and Eleven other partners from Europe and Africa, whose aim is to connect Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with digital innovation ecosystems in Three (3) African countries (Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania) and Europe, in a collective effort to improve HEIs’ capacity in adopting innovative educational approaches, so as to address the emerging digital innovation labour market needs and challenges as well as improving graduates’ employability rates. Acknowledging the goals of the EU-AU Innovation Agenda (2022) to strengthen innovation ecosystems and develop sustainable and mutually beneficial Higher Education in Europe and Africa, the project is aimed at contributing to improve the capacity of African HEIs, in their attempt to modernise their curricula and address current and future challenges of the digital innovation labour market. UNIHUBS will focus on curriculum enhancement in Seven (7) Universities in Africa; Two (2) in Kenya, Three (3) in Ghana, and Two (2) in Tanzania, through a series of activities aimed at: promoting collaboration between HEIs and digital innovation ecosystem; fostering the professional development of University Educators and Digital Innovation Professionals; and supporting the business and technology graduates in meeting the requirements of the ever changing digital innovation labour market landscape. The implementation of the UNIHUBS project relies on a combination of quantitative and qualitative research activities, aiming to identify digital innovation labour market needs and innovation requirements in HEIs, with a series of targeted interventions, including training workshops, co-creation of educational material, experiential learning practices and an international online course. All the developed material will be tested through pilot implementations, in order to ensure its relevance, efficiency and effectiveness, and refined through an empowerment evaluation approach, further contributing to HEIs’ capacity-building by enhancing their impact assessment capabilities. Finally, UNIHUBS will adopt an elaborate dissemination and exploitation plan to ensure the sustainability of the project’s outcomes and multiplication of its impacts in other national and regional contexts.
KIBU partners from Europe includes: Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (Netherland; Stimmuli for Social Change (Greece); and University of Macedonia (Greece) while African partners include; Kumasi Technical University (Ghana); Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology Kumasi (Ghana); Hapa Foundation (Ghana); University of Mines & Technology (Ghana); University of Nairobi (Kenya); Tanzania Commission for Science & Technology (Tanzania); Iringa University College Trust (Tanzania); and Mbeya University of Science and Technology (Tanzania).
Project Team
Prof. Joshua Olang’o Abuya (Co-Principal Investigator)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Benedict M. Mutua (Principal Investigator)
Dr. Paul O. Obino (Co-Principal Investigator)
Dr. Patrick Oduor Owoche (Team Member)
Dr. Roselida M. Ongare (Team Member)
Dr. Alice Nambiro(Team Member)
Mr. Stephen O. Nyaare (Team Member)
Jane Torottich (Team Member)
Margaret Wanambisi(Team Member)
