Mastercard Foundation Scholarship Program e-Learning Initiative Summit

UDI is one of four ASU units serving as key implementation partners to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program e-Learning Initiative. The initiative was launched in September 2020 to address the disruption to learning at higher education institutions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many universities at that time were not prepared or equipped to scale their online programs and services. The goal of the initiative is to strengthen partner universities to deliver high-quality and inclusive online instruction and provide virtual support to all students. Partner universities include 10 public and private institutions from Benin, Costa Rica, Ghana, Rwanda, Lebanon, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

As part of Phase 1, UDI provided strategic workshops to operational leaders. The workshops were designed to share best practices amongst the network and to co-design solutions to challenges in scaling their online programs such as: instructional infrastructure, online policy development, video production, and identifying the right technical equipment for their needs. In addition, UDI provided one-on-one scaling consultations to support specific priorities in their online development journey.

To recap lessons learned from the first phase and to gather consensus for next steps, over 70 representatives from the partner institutions met in Senegal from May 21 - 23, 2023.

Here are six key insights from UDI relating to our work in Phase 1:

Government and academic leaders are beginning to align e-learning policies that may increase institutional ability to scale and transform
Often, public institution’s goals and measurements are tied to country plans around economic development and workforce development.
In a post-COVID environment, many universities are revisiting their approach to e-learning.
As e-learning was not originally in most of their strategic plans, many universities are now working to understand how to prioritize funding and allocate resources to sustain diversity in teaching and learning approaches.
Globally, there is an absence of a common framework and language to discuss the complexity of building online programs
Faculty, staff, and student leaders need training and equipment to champion e-learning at all levels

Based on the success of Phase 1 of the MCF Scholars Program e-Learning Initiative, along with the continued need for support services, development is currently underway for a phase 2. A key focus of the collaboration will be knowledge exchange and exploration of innovative practices with youth at the center.