1. ACE PROPOSAL PREPARATION GUIDELINES NUC WORKSHOP FOR NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES ON THE WORLD BANK- SUPPORTED AFRICAN CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE PROJECT 16 th JULY 2013 M. T. Usman

2. ACEs will be competitively selected and charged with the responsibility to promote regional specialization among participating universities in areas that address regional challenges and strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver quality training and applied research ACE – The Thrust

3. Countries participating in the first call include; Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo Beneficiaries of demand-driven regional services Liberia The Gambia ACE – The Competing countries

4. We seek to participate in a regional competition and to emerge as ACE-hosting institutions Key word is “competition” Each institution therefore needs to put its best foot forward ACE – Noteworthy points

5. ACE – Scoring Template TECHNICAL EVALUATION Potential for regional development impact25 Potential for excellence25 Sustainability 10 Social responsibility5 Quality and consistency5 TOTAL70

6. ACE – Scoring Template

7. The qualifying universities (within their specialized topic and knowledge, and focusing on regional development challenges), will specifically:  Strengthen post-graduate programs for a regional student body;  Offer specialized courses for industry professionals in the region;  Establish a regional faculty body, improve their faculty and attract additional top-level faculty;  Provide learning resources, labs and minor rehabilitation of existing facilities; ACE – Expectations

8. The qualifying universities (within their specialized topic and knowledge, and focusing on regional development challenges), will specifically:  Establish linkages with companies, government agencies, and research centres for workplace learning, input into curricula, consultancies and joint research; and  Collaborate with partner institutions as a means of sharing the benefits of the investments. For instance, sharing through training of faculty, sharing of curricula and sharing of learning resources. ACE – Expectations

9. ACE – Indicators of success  Number of Local and International students in new PG programmes or short courses.  Percentage of females in these programmes  Number of Internationally accredited programmes  Number of students/faculty with at least one month internship in Industry  Quantum of externally generated revenue through the programmes  New collaborations with regional and international institutions  Number and depth of collaborations with industry

10. ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals  Proposals must tie into national development priorities and to extant policies and guidelines in the sector to show how the ACE will contribute to national development. A history of working relationship(s) with relevant MDAs in the field of interest is a strength that should be emphasised. Indications of how these will be utilised to support proposed research and training programmes would be boosters.

11.  Proposals must tie into subregional and continental development priorities to show that they can contribute to the larger aspirations of the continent. A tie-in into the goals of the ECOWAS strategy for Higher Education development and of the AUC as enshrined in the second decade of education for Africa, the AU- CAPST, etc. ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

12.  Proposals must have linkages with industry to demonstrate relevance of training and research programmes to industrial growth and consequently, job creation and poverty alleviation Existing linkages with relevant industry players should be emphasised. Where none exist, evidence of plans to initiate new linkages (e.g. for internships) and how they will help achieve PDOs should be stated and supported with documentation. ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

13.  Proposals must show strong existing academic collaborations and how these will be utilised to enhance quality postgraduate training and research competencies Proposals are required to be; inter-disciplinary multi-departmental multi-institutional International multi-lingual (bridge the anglophone – francophone bridge) – the NUC is available to facilitate links where necessary The bigger the resource pool, the better. ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

14. ACE- Project Contacts

15.  Proposals must demonstrate existence of requisite learning and research resources in staffing and equipment. Emphasis on the acquisition of new heavy equipment will be a big minus Proposals should flaunt the credentials of interdisciplinary teams of experts Proposals should flaunt state-of-the-art equipment Proposals should flaunt high-impact journal articles and other publications in the area. ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

16.  Proposals must demonstrate institutional capability and readiness to sustain proposed training and research programmes Include evidence of previous institutional sustenance of development-partner-supported activities Include evidence of counterpart funding of such activities if any Show plan/readiness to utilise existing funding opportunities to sustain project ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

17.  Proposals must be socially and environmentally responsible, e.g. be gender-inclusive in the implementation of outreach activities Include plans for social inclusiveness through; direct and indirect benefits to the poor and the disabled, (gender) affirmative action, etc Show adherence to environmental guidelines (applicable laws & guidelines, World Bank safeguards) ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

18.  Proposals must demonstrate consistency with institutional strategic plan Show aspects of current institutional plan that the project ties into. Where a current plan is not in place, show links to old plan(s) and to institutional statutes/laws and provide evidence of ongoing activities to review the plan, if any ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

19.  Proposals must demonstrate institutional leadership commitment. A statement of which should be part of the submission A Vice Chancellor’s statement of commitment to support the proposal is a big plus. The VCs are to be interviewed as part of a verification process to ascertain this level of engagement ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

20.  Competing institutions should ensure project awareness campaigns are conducted on their campuses to secure buy-in and cooperation during institutional evaluation Members of the University community will be interviewed to gauge awareness levels. This will form part of the assessment of the level of institutional readiness ACE- Ts & Cs for Winning Proposals

21. Insights from Initial Project Design

22. ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)  Introduction of new or enhancement of existing curricula Postgraduate programmes Short courses In-service Skills acquisition Through Curricula development workshops Hosting of Professors/industry experts Development/Acquisition of content and/or LMS Facilitation of access to partner contents

23. ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)  Limited refurbishment of facilities Opportunity for demonstrating counterpart funding capabilities  Leverage ICT to promote extensive collaboration while limiting travel costs Opportunity to illustrate the complementarity of the NgREN project and institutional ICT investments  Opportunities for Staff exchange with local and international partners (institutions/industry)

24. ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)  Organisation of, and/or participation in, training workshops/seminars/conferences Plan to attend others’ events but plan to host too to underscore peer acceptability  Opportunities for Staff exchange with local and international partners (institutions/industry) Plan to activate existing MoUs or pursue new ones Propose knowledge transfer partnerships with industry

25. ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)  Development of research activities as bases for; Collaboration short-term training visits or fieldwork PG and PostDoc scholarships  Provision of Research internships industry-based internships  Publication of research findings Target top-tier journals Link to existing citations credited to ACE Team members

26. ACE- Tips (Activities to propose)  Outreach activities Communication Community engagement Local and international Staff and student recruitment drives  Coordination of collaboration between partners Emphasise use of ICT infrastructure for easy and less costly coordination Language services Propose complementary roles for all partners

27. Merci pour votre attention Thank you for your attention Je vous souhaite bonne chance I Wish you Good Luck