The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund, the African Development Bank Group's concessional lending arm, has approved a loan of 73.31 million to strengthen science and technology education at the tertiary level.
Under the second phase of the Support to Higher Education, Science and Technology Project - HEST II, the funding will support the upgrade of 19 public universities with modern laboratories, teaching equipment and digital learning facilities. The financing will also be used to establish three centres of excellence in engineering, as well as a science and technology park that will enable students and researchers to turn ideas into business and industry solutions.
The project will fund scholarships for 103 university lecturers, retrain staff to match new technology needs and deploy a competency-based education curriculum, and support youth entrepreneurship through training and mentorship. More than 100 youth-led start-ups will receive support through new incubation hubs, giving young innovators space to grow their ideas into enterprises.
