4 African Universities join the Mastercard Foundation’s Scholars Program

The MasterCard Foundation has partnered with 4 African universities in 3 countries through its Scholars program. The Foundation will commit $86.6 million to educate over 2,300 economically disadvantaged university students in Uganda, South Africa and Ghana.

The universities are Makerere University, Uganda, University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, and University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the University of Pretoria and Makerere University have already opened their doors to their first cohorts of MasterCard Foundation Scholars, while the University of Cape Town is expected to welcome its first cohort in January 2015.

“The MasterCard Foundation is excited to have these four new partners joining the Program,” said Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “These universities are aligned with the Foundation’s vision of developing Africa’s next-generation leaders who will apply their ingenuity and empathy to drive progress in their communities and countries.”

These African universities are part of a global initiative. The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program is a 10-year, $500 million Program that hopes to inspire young people to lead change through education. Scholars receive holistic financial, social, academic and leadership development support to create pathways for them to transition to jobs, entrepreneurial activities or further education. By the end of the Program, about 75 percent of the Scholars will be girls and young women. The Program is significant at a time when global investments in education have dropped by 10 percent over the last two years, putting the achievement of existing and future education goals at risk – particularly for young women and girls.

“The pride of a higher education has created in me the urge to give back to society,” said Maame Kwamah Otsieku Baah, a MasterCard Foundation Scholar studying at KNUST in Ghana. “I believe that even if I cannot change the world, I can lead the change. True success can only be the measure of the value I add to the lives of others.”

The Mastercard Foundation also supports the Wings to Fly (secondary schools programme) in partnership with the Equity Group Foundation.

University partners who have joined The MasterCard Foundation’s Scholars Program are:

1. African Leadership Academy, South Africa
2. African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), South Africa
3. American University of Beirut – Faculty of Health Sciences, Lebanon
4. Arizona State University, USA
5. Ashesi University, Ghana
6. BRAC, Uganda
7. Campaign for Female Education (Camfed), Ghana
8. Duke University, USA
9. EARTH University, Costa Rica
10. Forum of African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Rwanda and Ethiopia
11. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
12. Makerere University, Uganda
13. McGill University, Canada
14. Michigan State University, USA
15. Stanford University, USA
16. University of British Columbia, Canada
17. University of California, Berkeley, USA
18. University of Cape Town, South Africa
19. University of Pretoria, South Africa
20. University of Toronto, Canada
21. Wellesley College, USA