The IRGIB African University in Cotonou, Benin, successfully hosted the first of two planned physical summer schools in 2022 within the framework of the African Center for Career Enhancement and Skills Support (ACCESS) project. The 5-day event began on March 28th, 2022, and ended on April 1st, 2022, under the slogan: ‘’Improving graduate employability through service-learning implementation in African HEIs: Academic and business collaboration’’. Over 50 participants, including on-site and online, took part in the Summer School. The main participants were representatives of the seven partner universities of the project – board members, project coordinators, lecturers, and Ph.D. students.
The opening ceremony was held at the IRGIB African University auditorium with guest speakers from the public and private sector, the education ministry in Benin, universities, the German Embassy in Benin, students, and other key stakeholders interested in Service-Learning at HEIs.
After the keynote addresses, it became clear that the educational sector in Africa needs reform to enhance knowledge transfer efficiency while prioritizing and intensifying interventions in vocational and practice-oriented training at higher educational institutions (HEIs). This means increasing graduates’ entrepreneurial capabilities, skills, and competencies to curb the rate of graduate unemployment in the African region. This highlighted the importance of incorporating Service-Learning into the curriculums and teaching modules of HEIs.
Service-Learning is an educational approach that combines academically relevant service or practice activities that address human, community, environmental, or business needs in the training course. The summer school was thus intensive learning and sharing ideas through presentations, lectures, and group workshops. The objective of the summer school was to ensure that each ACCESS partner university presented the status of Service-Learning in their universities, learned from others, brainstormed and designed new service-learning modules, curriculums, or initiatives to be implemented in their universities.
The topics include an introduction to service-learning, strategies for implementing a service-learning program, service-learning course planning and design, integrating service-learning using modern digital tools, collaborations for successful service-learning, and sustaining a service-learning program in HEIs. Each topic was presented using theory and real-world examples from the represented universities to help participants to understand and apply. For example, the Online Marketing Challenge (OMC), a service-Learning extracurricular module implemented by SEPT at Leipzig University, was presented as a case study to inspire participants.
The key presenters of the ACCES Summer School 2022 were Prof. Dr. Utz Dornberger (Leipzig University), Prof. Houinsou Dedehouanou (IRGIB Africa University), Dr. Ralph Nyadu Addo (KNUST), Dr. Gonzalves Nshimiyimana (INES Ruhengeri), Vanessa Mbamarah (IRGIB Africa University), Dr. Henry Yatich (Mount Kenya University), and Dr. Ademola Lawal (University of Ibadan) and Dr. Marwa Chérif (University of Tunis).
In the end, each of the seven universities worked as a group and presented a service-learning initiative to be implemented at their educational institutions. A final keynote was made by Prof. Utz Dornberger, head of the SEPT Competence Center. He thanked all participants and especially the IRGIB African University, for the splendid organizational work done, and further motivated each university to implement the initiatives developed, those lessons can be organized into a service-learning handbook to inspire other African universities. Participants received a certificate.
Aside from the intensive training, social activities such as city tours, sightseeing, and joint dinners were also arranged for participants to deepen their interactions and networking and better experience the host city, Cotonou. An excursion to the historical town of Ouidah was organized on the last day of summer school. Participants visited the python temple and the Museum of the Zinsou Foundation.
The second ACCESS Summer School in 2022 will be hosted by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in Ghana, from May 16th to 20th 2022. Learn more about it here.
