About 30 universities across 26 African countries have been pioneering what they believe is a more mutually beneficial approach to cooperation with European higher education through a partnership with a leading Italian university.
The initiative is set to expand through a new Plan for Africa which opens up possibilities for ‘ethical and dignified labour migration’ between Africa and Italy.
Among the major goals of the Plan for Africa launched this year by Milan’s Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore or Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, and its 31 partner universities across 26 African countries is to create more entrepreneurs, both to support African economic development and provide a safe and legal route into Italy’s labour market, which faces major skills shortages.
That’s according to the Italian university’s Professor of Corporate Strategy, Mario Molteni, who has been strengthening the university’s ties with Africa through the E4Impact Foundation which the university set up alongside several Italian and African companies and organisations over a decade ago.
Creating jobs in Africa
Molteni told University World News that more than 2,000 African students have been trained through an MBA for entrepreneurs and accelerated shorter programmes provided through the E4Impact partnership in Africa.
Experts at the university calculate that these “entrepreneurial graduates” have, on average, created 13 jobs each, helping boost local employment and economic growth, and that “40,000 micro-entrepreneurs, primarily in the agricultural sector, have received training to strengthen and expand their businesses” across Africa.
Molteni said his vision was to enhance the “effectiveness of the university’s partnerships and programmes in Africa to make a stronger contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially expanding access to quality education, fostering decent work and economic growth and reducing poverty and hunger”.
Ethical and dignified migration
Unlike some ‘transnational’, or TNE-style higher education initiatives, which focus simply on capacity-building and recruiting more international students in host countries, Molteni and Edilio Mazzoleni, the Italian university’s director of global engagement and international education, claim the E4Impact partnership is opening up “ethical and dignified labour migration pathways between Africa and Italy”.
They told University World News: “Rather than face dangerous and irregular journeys across the Mediterranean Sea, African professionals and workers can access legal, safe, and mutually beneficial employment opportunities in Italy through our initiatives.”
Mazzoleni said: “The approach focuses on circular migration, whereby individuals already trained in Africa are selected by Italian companies based on their skills and industry needs.
“Before migrating, they receive basic Italian language training to facilitate integration.
“They then arrive in Italy with a regular work contract, ensuring legal employment conditions and protection.
“Some of these workers may choose to settle in Italy long-term, while others will return to their home countries after one or more years, bringing back capital, skills and experience to reinvest in their local economies.
Helping Italy’s labour market needs
“This model not only supports African economic development but also helps address Italy’s labour market needs, creating a ‘win-win’ migration framework that promotes both economic growth and social stability.”
The new Plan for Africa was unveiled by Università Cattolica Rector Professor Elena Beccalli on 17 January at a ceremony in Milan attended by 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Leymah Gbowee, and Professor Ernest Aryeetey, emeritus professor and former vice-chancellor at the University of Ghana and former general secretary of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA).
Beccalli said: “Working in partnership with African universities and local institutions, we are fostering mutual enrichment, supporting the holistic education of individuals promoting solidarity and encouraging peaceful social coexistence.”
Molteni told University World News he had been recruiting African students for a master’s programme offered by Università Cattolica’s ALTIS postgraduate school in Milan for two decades but realised this was not enough to generate a truly transformative impact.
Education where it is needed
“So, instead of bringing students to Italy, we shifted the programme to Africa, ensuring that education and training take place where they are most needed.
“Today, the MBA for entrepreneurs is offered in 12 African countries, providing local business leaders with the skills and tools necessary to drive economic growth and innovation.
“Beyond the MBA, the initiative has expanded to include various entrepreneurial development projects across more than 20 African countries, helping to foster sustainable business ecosystems and empowering local economies.”
Molteni was keen to stress what he called the “Three Nots” about the MBA offered by e4Impact in Africa.
“We do not teach entrepreneurship, we train impact entrepreneurs.
“It is not a traditional MBA, but it combines competence development and business acceleration.
“It is not a programme for job seekers, but for job creators.”
He said: “What makes our MBA programme unique is that participants are selected according to their business project, and we are providing international quality at affordable prices, with our MBA programme costing between €2,000 (about US$2,000) and €4,000 and thereby, offering international-quality education at an affordable price.
“There are scholarships sponsored by local banks and companies, including Italian enterprises.
“We also have African universities as partners and leaders and offer a dual degree, from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and the local university.”
Asked if the new University Plan for Africa was linked to the somewhat controversial Italian government’s Piano Mattei, or Mattei Plan, which saw Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travel to Algeria to sign a deal to create a new pipeline to transport hydrogen and reduce Italy’s dependency on Russian gas supplies as part of its new strategy towards cooperation with Africa, Mazzoleni told University World News: “We have been developing this initiative since 2010 and, in some ways, the government is catching up and aligning with us and our goals.”
African alumni of the E4I MBA approached by University World News appeared positive about the programme.
Lawrence Hoba, the founder and CEO of ENRAPOWER and a participant in the first edition of the MBA in Zimbabwe, said: “One of the best things about the E4Impact MBA from Università Cattolica is the creation of a network of people and businesses.
“I have managed to do business with fellow entrepreneurs, who have bought products and solutions from us. We have also been linked to Italian businesses, whom we are currently partnering with.”
Sylvie Ekanza, consultant and CEO of Easy Services and a participant in the third edition of the MBA Ivory Coast, said: “The MBA enabled me to understand the issues and challenges involved in setting up a business and keeping up with the times to innovate and collaborate and meet other interesting and passionate entrepreneurs.”
Wondwosen Tamrat, President of St Mary’s University of Ethiopia and co-chair of E4Impact Alliance, told University World News: “It is having a great institutional impact. Most of our university’s staff and faculties are already adopting the Italian academic model promoted because of its practical orientation, the dual delivery methodology it follows, the strong interest it has created among the students and because of the work opportunities it is creating.”
The African partners in E4Impact are spread across the African continent and include Universidade Católica de Angola; University of Botswana; Jacky Felly Nafack Institute of Technology in Cameroon; Centre d’Etudes et de Formation pour le Développement (CEFOD) in Chad; Centre de Recherche et d’Action pour la Paix in Côte d’Ivoire; Université Catholique du Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; St. Mary’s University in Ethiopia; El Seweidy University in Egypt; Amadi University in Eswatini; University of Professional Studies in Ghana; Tangaza University College in Kenya; TechnoLAB-ISTA in Mali; Université Internationale de Casablanca in Morocco; Universidade São Tomás de Moçambique; and five in Nigeria – Nigerian College of Agribusiness, Spiritan University Nneochi, NILE University, University of Abuja, and the American University of Nigeria.
Also partners are: the University of Rwanda; Groupe ISM and Groupe IAM in Senegal; the University of Makeni in Sierra Leone; Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa; University of Medical Sciences & Technology in Sudan; Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda; Mzumbe University (Dar es Salaam Campus) in Tanzania; Université Centrale de Tunis; Catholic University in Zimbabwe; Honoris University in Mauritius and Espace PME in Gabon.
Nic Mitchell is a UK-based freelance journalist and PR consultant specialising in European and international higher education.
