Mastercard Foundation and Carnegie Mellon University to Help Drive Youth-led Digital Transformation in Africa

Mastercard Foundation has announced a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University to help a youth-led digital transformation in Africa.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Mastercard Foundation, in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda, are pursuing a transformational partnership in higher education and innovation in Africa to catalyze opportunities for 10,000 young people to engage with emerging technologies and lead the digital transformation of the continent.

The $275.7 million partnership with the Mastercard Foundation will significantly expand advanced engineering and technology education at Carnegie Mellon University in Africa. The investment from the Foundation includes a $175 million endowment to perpetually fund Carnegie Mellon Africa and $100.7 million to establish CMU-Africa’s Center for the Inclusive Digital Transformation of Africa.

Carnegie Mellon’s commitment to Africa reflects its global mission. With more than a dozen degree-granting locations, students who hail from nearly 100 countries, and research projects and partnerships with organizations around the world, the CMU community is dedicated to its work to solve the critical and most complex challenges affecting society. For more than a decade, this global focus has included its College of Engineering location in Kigali, Rwanda, where it educates the next generation of African tech leaders and innovators. CMU-Africa was established in 2011 through a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University and the Government of Rwanda.

As of fall 2022, the program enrolled students representing 21 African countries. CMU-Africa’s impact includes a close to 90% employment rate within the first year of graduation. Its alumni have founded or joined startup companies, are pursuing their doctoral degrees in top programs in the U.S. and Europe, and are serving in government information offices, including within the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank.

With this new collaboration, we will accelerate our shared mission and provide life-changing educational and career experiences for students across the continent. 

The key to creating opportunities for promising African students from all socioeconomic backgrounds is access to education in the high-tech fields that are driving the economies of the future. We are grateful to the Mastercard Foundation for their partnership with CMU over the past six years to help empower the next generation of Africa’s leaders, and we are delighted to be expanding our partnership even further. With this new collaboration, we will accelerate our shared mission and provide life-changing educational and career experiences for students across the continent.

Farnam Jahanian, President, Carnegie Mellon University

CMU-Africa has a strong connection to Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh through faculty collaborations, teaching and student exchanges. This connection will be deepened as a result of a new partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. Now, additional engineering research, policy research projects and teaching innovations will strengthen both operations to drive inclusive digital transformation.

CMU-Africa offers graduate degrees in information technology, electrical and computer engineering, and engineering artificial intelligence through Carnegie Mellon’s top-ranked College of Engineering, with the same standards, curricula and requirements as its Pittsburgh campus. Carnegie Mellon is the only U.S. research university with master’s degree programs and full-time faculty, staff and operations on the continent.

According to the Mastercard Foundation, Africa has the youngest and fastest-growing population in the world. By 2030, there will be 375 million young people in the job market in Africa, and that number is expected to grow to more than a billion people within the next few decades.

Mastercard Foundation Scholars and graduates from this program will be at the forefront of creating technologies and companies that will generate jobs and enhance Africa’s economic competitiveness. We are excited that this initiative will strengthen the role of African universities in developing the continent’s scientists, innovators and problem-solvers as well as generating knowledge that will benefit society more broadly.

Reeta Roy, President and CEO, Mastercard Foundation

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