Carnegie Mellon University and Mastercard Foundation Partner to Drive Youth-Led Digital Transformation in Africa

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Mastercard Foundation, in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda, today announced a transformational investment in higher education and innovation in Africa to catalyze opportunities for 10,000 young people from economically disadvantaged communities—particularly young women, young people with disabilities, and forcibly displaced young people—and to drive inclusive development.

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The $275.7 million partnership with the Mastercard Foundation will significantly expand advanced engineering and technology education at CMU-Africa in Kigali. The investment from the Foundation includes a $175M endowment to perpetually fund CMU-Africa. It also includes $100.7M to establish CMU-Africa’s Center for the Inclusive Digital Transformation of Africa.

Specifically, through this historic partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, CMU-Africa will:

1. Expand instructional capacity, including introducing a new degree in engineering artificial intelligence, and online learning programs.
2. Grow the annual cohort of students enrolling in CMU-Africa by more than 33%.
3. Provide additional financial assistance to more CMU-Africa students, including increased support for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at CMU-Africa. The partnership will provide direct scholarship support to a total of 300 students.
4. Ensure programs recruit and provide opportunities for marginalized groups, including women, people with disabilities, and displaced people.
5. Pilot programs for English language immersion to help prepare undergraduate students from other African universities for graduate study.

The new partnership will also strengthen Africa’s research, entrepreneurship, and innovation ecosystem more broadly by:

1. Establishing a network of higher education institutions in Africa that will work with the private sector and governments to create the conditions for inclusive digital transformation.
2. Supporting up to 10 African universities to deliver high-quality engineering and technology education.
3. Increasing digital knowledge creation to drive technology development and job-creating innovation through training, seed funding, and collaboration opportunities for researchers at CMU-Africa and other partner universities.
4. Directly involving faculty and staff from CMU-Pittsburgh in CMU-Africa activities to innovate in education and help create the knowledge needed to drive the inclusive digital transformation of Africa in fields that include agriculture, health, and finance, among others.

Through these various pillars of the partnership, a total of 10,000 young people will gain the skills to compete in the global marketplace, innovate, design new tools that solve regional and global challenges, and bring those tools to market.

Carnegie Mellon is the only U.S. research university with master’s degree programs and full-time faculty, staff, and operations on the continent. CMU-Africa was established in 2011 through a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University and the Government of Rwanda. Through the strategic collaboration and generous support of the Government of Rwanda and the Rwandan people, CMU-Africa has built a strong educational platform that serves the continent.

“The key to creating opportunities for promising African students from all socioeconomic backgrounds is access to education in the high-tech fields that are driving the economies of the future,” said Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University. “We are grateful to the Mastercard Foundation for their partnership with CMU over the past six years to help empower the next generation of Africa’s leaders, and we are delighted to be expanding our partnership even further. With this new collaboration, we will accelerate our shared mission and provide life-changing educational and career experiences for students across the continent.”

Africa has the youngest and fastest-growing population in the world. By 2030, there will be 375 million young people in the job market in Africa, and that number is expected to grow to more than a billion people within the next few decades. Young people in Africa represent the workforce of tomorrow and can serve as a force for Africa’s transformation if they have the skills and knowledge to participate in and build the economies of the future.

“Mastercard Foundation Scholars and graduates from this program will be at the forefront of creating technologies and companies that will generate jobs and enhance Africa's economic competitiveness. We are excited that this initiative will strengthen the role of African universities in developing the continent's scientists, innovators, and problem-solvers as well as generating knowledge that will benefit society more broadly,” said Reeta Roy, president and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation.

The new initiative builds on a previous partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a successful 10-year partnership between the Government of Rwanda and CMU-Africa that has connected 561 young people from 21 African countries to world-class training—including 125 students supported through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.

“The strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University is one of the Government of Rwanda’s key investments to support the development of a critical mass of skills in science and technology, particularly in ICT, required by the knowledge economy and to help accelerate Rwanda’s and the region’s socioeconomic transformation. We express our sincere appreciation to the Mastercard Foundation for their significant support, which will help Rwanda realize its vision for the future in establishing the Regional Center of Excellence in Rwanda (CMU-Africa) and ensure the sustainability of the program. The Regional Center of Excellence, coupled with other important strategies will help ensure that we are part of, and benefit from, the global digital revolution,” said Valentine Uwamariya, minister of education in Rwanda.

CMU-Africa offers graduate degrees in information technology, electrical and computer engineering, and engineering artificial intelligence through Carnegie Mellon’s top-ranked College of Engineering, with the same standards, curricula, and requirements as its Pittsburgh campus. As of spring 2022, the program enrolled over 230 students representing 21 African countries.

“The Mastercard Foundation’s support will enable us to accelerate our Africa strategy, which is uniquely defined to prepare higher education students to meet the complex needs of the digital future along with the research and entrepreneurship necessary to compete in the global economy,” said William Sanders, dean of the College of Engineering.

CMU-Africa’s impact includes a close to 90% employment rate within the first year of graduation. Its alumni have founded or joined startup companies, are pursuing their Ph.D.’s in top doctoral programs in the U.S. and Europe, and are serving in government information offices, including within the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank.

“The Mastercard Foundation has been a critical partner in the growth of CMU-Africa as we help meet the growing demand for high-quality technical talent who will accelerate development on the continent,” said Allen Robinson, director of CMU-Africa and associate dean for international programs in Africa. “This new, extraordinary phase of our relationship will exponentially magnify our ability to build a pan-African network that positively impacts the future of young people across the continent.”

About the Mastercard Foundation:
The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to enable young people in Africa and in Indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest, private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world. The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organization with its own Board of Directors and management. For more information on the Foundation, please visit: www.mastercardfdn.org. Follow Mastercard Foundation on Twitter at: @MastercardFdn.

About Carnegie Mellon University:
Carnegie Mellon, cmu.edu, is a private, internationally ranked research university with acclaimed programs spanning the sciences, engineering, technology, business, public policy, humanities, and the arts. Our diverse community of scholars, researchers, creators, and innovators is driven to make real-world impacts that benefit people across the globe. With a bold, interdisciplinary, and entrepreneurial approach, we do the work that matters.

About the College of Engineering and CMU-Africa:
The College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is a top-ranked engineering college that is known for our Advanced Collaboration culture in research and education. The College is well-known for working on problems of both scientific and practical importance. Our “maker” culture is ingrained in all that we do, leading to novel approaches and transformative results. Our acclaimed faculty have a focus on innovation management and engineering to yield transformative results that will drive the intellectual and economic vitality of our community, nation, and world.

CMU-Africa was established in 2011 through a partnership between Carnegie Mellon and the Government of Rwanda. CMU-Africa is the only U.S. research university offering its master’s degrees with a full-time faculty, staff, and operations in Africa. The institution is addressing the critical shortage of high-quality engineering talent required to accelerate the economic transformation of the African continent. For more information on the Engineering program in Africa, please visit: africa.engineering.cmu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @CMUEngineering and @CMU_Africa.

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Contact information

Media Contacts:
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (US)
Hannah Diorio-Toth
+1 412.268.1208        
hdiorio@andrew.cmu.edu

Sherry Stokes
+1 412.268.5976
stokes@cmu.edu

Kigali, Rwanda (Africa)
Monica Sumbi
+250 791.568.962
msumbi@andrew.cmu.edu