$200-Million Pledged by U.S. Foundations to Colleges in Africa

By Ian Wilhelm

Six of the wealthiest U.S. foundations on Friday pledged to provide $200-million over five years to improve colleges and universities in seven African nations.

The grant makers will seek to improve the Internet capabilities of higher-education institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The foundations that are working together to provide the grants are the Carnegie Corporation of New York; the Ford Foundation, in New York, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, in Menlo Park. Calif.; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in New York, and the Rockefeller Foundation, in New York.

The partnership "represents our commitment to Africa's next generation of leaders, who deserve an exemplary education to prepare them to help set the course for their nations' futures," said Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation.

The pledge was announced today at Ford's New York headquarters and coincides with the gathering of world leaders in the city at the United Nations and elsewhere to discuss global poverty, environmental issues, and other social ills.

The financial commitment earned praise from presidents of African nations and the United Nations.

"This is an outstanding display of global citizenship," said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The grant makers first joined together to help the continent five years ago as the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa. Since then the philanthropies have spent $150-million to establish the Journal of Higher Education in Africa, awarding almost 1,000 academic scholarships to women, and creating a graduate health program for the countries' public officials.

"Our partnership began five years ago with the recognition that a quiet revolution was taking place in Africa making universities once again a source of innovation, training, and scholarship," said Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation. "This effort expands our commitment to the renaissance of African higher education."