Varsity reimagines education for a new generation

Founded by Ghana-born entrepreneur and educator, Fred Swaniker, African Leadership University is, in every sense of the word, a world-class tertiary education institution that offers to develop Africa’s next generation of leaders and changemakers.

The university’s curriculum has been designed in a way that is centrally learner-focused, training students in critical leadership skills and exposing them to the real world while shaping their personal and intellectual growth.

Asked about his experience with the school, Samuel Kanu, a Nigerian-born student of the school said, “African Leadership University is better than an ideal university, and not just in Africa.”

“ALU is the answer to my idea of what a university should be like,” said Ariyike Adetimehin, another student, “not because that’s what the school tells me, or because that’s the idea they’re showing off to everybody, but because I truly believe it myself."

“ALU actually shows you why the things you're learning are necessary and helps to apply them to real life situations,” Ebele Molua, another student added, “You don't have to wonder what you'll have to use the knowledge you're gaining for."

Kicking off with 180 students from 29 African countries, African Leadership University’s ultimate plan is to establish 25 campuses across the African continent and train three million African leaders over the next decades. With its inaugural campus in Mauritius and a second one in Rwanda, it’s safe to say that the ALU ship has well and truly sailed.

With the ever-growing demand for ways to accommodate the diverse talent pools on the African continent, African Leadership University provides a never-before-seen, immersive learning environment that is focused on building on the student’s strength as an individual.

This revolutionary style offers its students real world skills and professional expertise across a variety of disciplines. This is made possible in how students are placed in four-month internships every session till they graduate. With working partnerships with a pool of global heavyweights like Bain & Company, Coca Cola, IBM, McKinsey and Company, Thomson Reuters, Ringier Africa, etc., students are afforded the opportunity of gaining invaluable work experience before they graduate.

In a continent where 50% of the 10 million graduates churned out every year are unemployed, with some of them termed as unemployable, this is an incredible opportunity to break out of that rot.

Ariyike said, “You see a lot of situations where people graduate from the university and on their first day at work, they don't know what to do, or how things should work, or how to conduct themselves with people; and that's why employers are not willing to hire most university graduates.

“If you're able to leave the university very ready and very prepared, I think employers will climb over themselves to hire you and that's what ALU is trying to do." she concluded.

Questioned on what she thinks about the ALU model replacing the traditional model, Safiya Olusike Salau, another student of ALU said, "I feel like replace is a very strong word. It suggests the model we have is not good and is to be wiped out. It (the ALU model) is very good in complementing the traditional model.

"There is still a sense of purpose for the traditional system, so if we can incorporate the two and help them work together, that would work effectively.”

Africa has suffered for too many years from a bad case of lackadaisical leadership that has undermined the growth of the continent, and ALU’s aim is to put an end to that and put the continent on the front foot by producing millions of disciplined and motivated leaders over the coming decades.

Ariyike thinks this is possible, "Very soon, you'll have a whole army of people who think differently, who see life differently and are able to integrate other people's ideas and change the continent, because we really need change and that's starting at ALU."

The African Leadership University is without doubt the answer to the teeming population of disillusioned students in Africa who do not have access to teachers, or a system with the capacity to respond to their educational needs.

To this suggestion, Safiya responded, “I feel like as the world is changing, we need people with different set of skills and knowledge and that’s what ALU represents.”

Universities form a vital part of the educational structure and are meant to be a place of where dreams and ideas are brought to life. African universities have struggled to make it an interesting channel for learners and this has played a monumental role in the continent’s incapacity to supply enough well-prepared graduates to rise up to the challenges of the 21st century.

With a multicultural group of students from many different African countries, African Leadership University is just about ready to turn the tide in the continent’s favour.

It is the university of the future.