ZANZIBAR: THE African School of Economics (ASE) plans to open its campus in Zanzibar, a decision which is expected to boost the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educational concept.
ASE, a pan-African institution founded in Benin in 2014 to develop the next generation of African academics, researchers, legislators, and businesses and deliver native solutions to African challenges, announced its plan recently.
According to a press release, it would be the first campus in the East Africa strategically focused on technology, and which also aims at integrating into Silicon Zanzibar’s tech ecosystem.
“ASE is dedicated to actively participating in the establishment of tech startups, developing the human capital and skills required to enable the development and commercialization of new technology, and incubating creative companies,” reads the statement.
Professor Leonard Wantchekon, the founder and president of ASE, has been quoted as saying that since its inception in 2014, ASE’s goal has always been to build a Pan-African network of universities.
“With our first launch in East Africa, we needed to choose an environment which strongly reflected our ethos,” he said.
He pointed out that in addition to accelerating its current recruitment drive to draw in 50 world-class faculty members and 900 international students, the university intends to support the upcoming launch by offering the best possible education to guarantee that African students can compete at a global scale.
He noted that Zanzibar has established policies that strongly promote frontier innovation and that by doing so, it has made great progress in this area through its Silicon Zanzibar project.
According to Australia’s Department of Education Blog, ‘Shaping the Future’, STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Through STEM, students develop key skills including problem-solving, creativity, critical analysis, teamwork, independent thinking, initiative communication, and digital literacy.
Zanzibar’s Minister of Education, Lela Mussa, said the country makes education reforms to fulfill its goal of national development.
“To encourage the growth of human capital, we are encouraging foreign universities and other higher education establishments to open campuses here in the isles,” the Minister said.
Source : Daily News
