PRESS RELEASE: eLearnAfrica and AAU sign landmark MoU

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PRESS RELEASE: eLearnAfrica and AAU sign landmark MoU

AAU and eLearnAfrica

AAU and eLearnAfrica

PRESS RELEASE : FRIDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 2017

Agreement between 380-member Association of African Universities & eLearnAfrica aims to benefit 10 million students

Students throughout Africa face considerable difficulties in achieving a university degree.  High costs, competition for limited spaces, and the long distances that must be traveled are common reasons why students abandon their education.  Only 6% of young people in sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in higher education institutions compared to the global average of 26%

The World Bank estimates that a one-year increase in average tertiary education levels would raise annual GDP growth in Africa by 0.39 percentage points, and eventually yield up to a 12% increase in GDP

Technology is making earning a degree online more accessible and more affordable.  What is more, this can be done anywhere that there is internet connectivity.

eLearnAfrica and the Association of African Universities (AAU) today announced a partnership to provide eLearnAfrica’s services to AAU member universities.  This agreement will help African universities take advantage of the powerful tools and delivery platform the eLearnAfrica portal and mobile application for expanding and deepening educational opportunities.

The Association of African Universities is Africa’s largest Higher Education coordinating body.  The AAU is comprised of 380 universities in 46 African countries.  The agreement will enable universities to expand their reach by providing online, distance-learning opportunities to students everywhere, especially rural areas accessible with the mobile application.

The partnership will permit the AAU to support its member universities in the development and deployment of online learning resources.  AAU member universities will be able to participate in Africa’s largest resource for online courses and degree programs.  eLearnAfrica platform will allow member universities to use the eLearnAfrica Learning Management System (LMS) by taking advantage of user-friendly technologies to support the didactic and administrative functions of the universities.

eLearnAfrica is a leading online education platform committed to increasing access to educational and professional development courses throughout Africa.  Currently, eLearnAfrica has over 1,000 courses from top-ranked universities, including Harvard, MIT, and Cambridge, as well as professional development courses in 175 high-demand vocational and career paths like networking, software development, and business administration.  eLearnAfrica is now making available online degree programs to students throughout the continent.

The AAU has chosen eLearnAfrica because of the company’s progressive vision, online learning expertise, and easy-to-use tools.  The Secretary General of the AAU, Prof. Etienne Ehouan Ehile, stated that, “The AAU continues to support its member universities to improve the quality of the education that they deliver to students. As an Association, challenges of limited access to quality higher education continue to haunt us. Therefore building capacities of African universities to be innovative in their teaching and learning methods for increased access to quality higher education is top priority for the AAU.  This partnership with eLearnAfrica will help us achieve this goal.”

The CEO of eLearnAfrica, Brook Negussie, also welcomed the announcement.  “We are excited that the AAU has chosen eLearnAfrica to support the important work of its member universities.   The AAU is the most important higher education coordinating body, we are looking forward to developing and delivering content with the member universities throughout Africa.”

Negussie notes the advantage for African universities and students are quite clear: “Online degrees are a great way for universities to extend and diversify their academic reach in a sustainable and scalable manner.  We hope to significantly increase the number of students earning degrees in the next few years by literally putting in the palms of their hands the tools they need to succeed.”

eLearn Africa launched the website and mobile app to make finding and completing online courses and degrees easier.  Students can search through the catalogue of available courses and select the best ones from the world’s most prestigious universities.  Most of these courses are free, and the student can complete the coursework at their own pace.

Visit www.elearnafrica.com or download the free Android mobile application in the Google Play Store to learn about the courses and degree programs that are already available.

CONTACT: media@elearnafrica.com / elaari@aau.org

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