Michigan State University received a five-year, $17 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to build capacity within Malawi’s higher education ecosystem for sustainable economic prosperity and self-reliance.
“As a leading global public research university, Michigan State is committed to student success and to access and equity in higher education both here on our campus and around the world,” said MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz. “We’re pleased to work through USAID with higher education partners in Malawi to expand their capacity to enroll and develop scholars in the vital science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.”
Through the USAID Transforming Higher Education Systems project, MSU will partner with Malawi’s higher education institutions to increase access to and completion of STEM and other courses and programs, as well as their relevance to industries and markets.
“Our strategy features two components—the university-based Change Champions Program and System-Level Initiatives, which include policy improvement and institutional strengthening dimensions,” said Marcy Hessling O’Neil, the grant’s co-principal investigator and an MSU assistant professor. “Currently, 36 Change Champions and four multi-actor Task Groups are working to tackle challenges from the classroom to the national level, such as access, completion, job placement and student protection.”
While many Malawian youth have a desire to learn about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), a concerning number never reach university, complete their degrees or find jobs in their desired fields. The project team will work to fill this gap between aspirations and higher education institutional capacity.
The project embraces gender equity and social inclusion, with a focus on marginalized and vulnerable student populations, such as adolescent girls and young women, students with disabilities and those from under-resourced areas.
Co-principal investigators Hessling O’Neil and Jessica Garrels (senior program manager in the MSU College of Education) and Chief of Party Tasokwa Kakota will lead work to introduce STEM pedagogies and curricular design; improve students’ technical, soft and entrepreneurial skills; prepare faculty to incorporate students in research; and improve higher education policies and linkages between STEM education and economic growth.
“This project will increase access to higher education for the most vulnerable and marginalized students through bridging programs, mobile and virtual labs, virtual libraries and scholarships,” said Kakota. “We will ensure students are more engaged in learning by building the capacity of lecturers in student-centered pedagogies.”
Collaborators include the Malawi Ministry of Education, World Learning, Catholic University of Malawi, St. John the Baptist University, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malawi Adventist University, Malawi Assemblies of God University, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Malawi University of Science and Technology, Mzuzu University, University of Livingstonia and University of Malawi.
“This project is an opportunity for growth and change for so many in Malawi who aspire to improve their community,” said Jerlando F. L. Jackson, dean of the MSU College of Education and MSU Research Foundation Professor of Education. “The project outcomes will go on to have long-term positive impacts across generations and around the world.”
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