Kigali, Rwanda · 15 September 2020 — As African universities grappled with the sudden shift to online learning triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mastercard Foundation launched the Scholars Program e-Learning Initiative — a multi-phase programme designed to strengthen partner universities' capacity to deliver high-quality, inclusive online instruction.
The initiative, launched in September 2020, responded directly to the systemic disruption of tertiary education across the continent. With campus closures affecting millions of students and faculty, the Foundation recognised that the digital divide was not merely a technical problem but a pedagogical one: universities needed not only platforms and connectivity, but also the instructional design expertise to deliver meaningful education online.
Partner Institutions
The initiative partnered with a network of African universities and academic institutions that were already part of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. These included:
| Institution | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|
| African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) | Pan-African | Mathematical sciences, digital content |
| Ashesi University | Ghana | Liberal arts, instructional design |
| Makerere University | Uganda | Large public university, curriculum migration |
| University of Rwanda | Rwanda | National university, faculty development |
Each partner brought different strengths and faced different challenges. AIMS, with its pan-African network of mathematical sciences centres, had existing experience with virtual learning but needed to scale it. Ashesi University, a private liberal arts college known for its innovative pedagogy, served as a model for instructional design. Makerere University, one of Africa's largest and oldest public universities, faced the challenge of migrating curricula for tens of thousands of students across dozens of disciplines. The University of Rwanda, as a national institution, needed to build faculty capacity at scale.
Phase 1: Instructional Design, Pedagogy, and Digital Content
The first phase of the initiative, running from September 2020 to March 2022, focused on three core areas:
Instructional Design
Partner universities received support to redesign courses for online and hybrid delivery. This went beyond simply uploading lecture notes to a learning management system. It involved restructuring courses around learning objectives, designing asynchronous activities, creating multimedia content, and developing assessment strategies appropriate for remote contexts.
Pedagogy
The initiative invested heavily in faculty development. Workshops, coaching, and peer learning communities helped lecturers — many of whom had never taught online — develop the skills needed to facilitate learning in virtual environments. This included techniques for engaging students synchronously and asynchronously, managing online discussions, and providing meaningful feedback at scale.
Digital Content Development
Partners received support to create digital learning materials — including video lectures, interactive modules, and open educational resources — that could be accessed by students with varying levels of connectivity. The initiative emphasised content that worked on mobile devices and could be downloaded for offline study, recognising that data costs and unreliable internet remained significant barriers for African students.
Supporting Scholars During the Crisis
The e-Learning Initiative was part of a broader Mastercard Foundation response to COVID-19's impact on education. The Foundation's Scholars Program supported over 15,000 scholarship recipients across Africa who faced sudden school closures, travel restrictions, and the transition to online learning.
The Foundation provided emergency funds to ensure Scholars could meet their physical, mental, and academic needs during the crisis. It also encouraged Scholars to engage with their communities — many launched grassroots initiatives in response to the pandemic.
At Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU-Africa) in Rwanda, Scholars launched the "HOPE Campaign" in partnership with the NGO Solid'Africa to provide meals and hygiene products to vulnerable patients in public hospitals. Similar community engagement initiatives emerged across the Scholars Program network, demonstrating how education and civic action could reinforce each other during a crisis.
The Broader COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program
The e-Learning Initiative and Scholars support were components of the Foundation's wider COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program (CRRP), launched in 2020. The CRRP worked alongside educational institutions and governments across Africa to mitigate the pandemic's impact through multiple channels:
- Enabling E-Learning: Supporting educational organisations in transitioning to digital delivery, mentoring, and student outreach. In Rwanda, this included supporting the delivery of radio and television lessons and helping students and teachers acquire hardware and software for online learning.
- Institutional Partnerships: Collaborating with organisations like the African Management Institute (AMI) to offer free virtual business growth and resilience programmes to thousands of small and medium enterprises.
- Digital Solutions: Facilitating access to finance for micro, small, and medium enterprises and supporting the adoption of digital tools for public health, food delivery, and logistics.
The Foundation framed these efforts as part of a broader, multi-year strategy to "scale up rather than scale back" support for young people — ensuring that despite the pandemic, they could continue to access quality education and dignified work.
Implications for African Higher Education
The e-Learning Initiative's emphasis on instructional design and faculty development addressed one of the most persistent gaps in African higher education: the limited investment in pedagogical training for university lecturers. In many African universities, faculty are hired primarily for their subject-matter expertise and receive little formal training in teaching methods — a gap that the shift to online learning made acutely visible.
By investing in this capacity, the initiative aimed not only to address the immediate crisis but to leave partner universities better equipped for the future. The hybrid teaching models developed during Phase 1 were designed to persist beyond the pandemic, offering more flexible learning pathways for students who had historically been excluded by rigid, campus-based models.
The initiative also highlighted the role of philanthropic foundations in supporting systemic change in African higher education — complementing government investment with targeted, agile funding that could respond to emerging needs and test innovative approaches.
Sources
- Mastercard Foundation, Scholars Program e-Learning Initiative — mastercardfdn.org/en/what-we-do/our-programs/mastercard-foundation-scholars-program/mastercard-foundation-scholars-program-e-learning-initiative/
- Mastercard Foundation, How Mastercard Foundation Scholars are giving back amid COVID-19 — mastercardfdn.org/en/articles/how-mastercard-foundation-scholars-are-giving-back-amid-covid-19/
- Mastercard Foundation, COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program — mastercardfdn.org/en/what-we-do/our-programs/covid-19-recovery-and-resilience-program/
- Mastercard Foundation, COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program: Africa — mastercardfdn.org/en/articles/covid-19-recovery-and-resilience-program-africa/
- Mastercard Foundation, Rwanda: Questions and Answers — mastercardfdn.org/en/articles/rwanda-questions-and-answers/
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