The Ngorongoro Scholarship Fund in Tanzania, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Pretoria, and the FORCE-N digital skills programme in Senegal represent three distinct models of scholarship provision that are expanding access to higher education and building human capital across the continent.
Ngorongoro Scholarship Fund Expands Higher Education Access in Tanzania
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, in partnership with Tanzania's Higher Education Students' Loans Board, has launched a special scholarship programme aimed at increasing access to higher education for students from communities living within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The initiative, known as the Ngorongoro Scholarship Fund, will sponsor 15 students from communities living within the conservation area to pursue university studies in wildlife conservation, forestry, archaeology and tourism. The targeted disciplines are considered critical to safeguarding Tanzania's natural heritage while producing professionals capable of supporting conservation, tourism and broader economic development.
The programme comes as demand for university education continues to outpace available funding, placing increasing pressure on HESLB, which has long remained the country's principal provider of higher education loans. The first phase has been supported by TZS 99 million from NCAA to finance the education of the initial 15 beneficiaries.
Launching the scheme, HESLB executive director Dr Bill Kiwia described investment in higher education as an investment in Tanzania's future workforce.
"We believe that investing in education is investing in human capital. Through this programme, more young people from Ngorongoro will have the opportunity to advance their education, acquire specialised skills and ultimately return to serve their communities and contribute to national development," he said.
Dr Kiwia said delivering Vision 2050 would depend heavily on a skilled workforce, making partnerships such as that between HESLB and NCAA increasingly important.
"The implementation of Vision 2050 depends heavily on skilled human resources. This partnership demonstrates how institutions can become part of producing the workforce that will drive the country's future development," he said.
A digital application platform has been developed ahead of applications opening on August 15, 2026. The institutions are conducting awareness campaigns across the conservation area to ensure eligible students understand the application process.
During the 2025/26 financial year alone, more than 15,000 people from communities living within the conservation area benefited from educational assistance in fields such as teaching, medicine, engineering, accounting and conservation.
University of Pretoria Welcomes 177 Mastercard Foundation Scholars
The University of Pretoria has welcomed 177 young leaders from 22 African countries as the 2026 cohort of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, reaffirming its commitment to cultivating ethical, socially conscious graduates equipped to lead across Africa and beyond.
UP was the first South African institution to partner with the Mastercard Foundation, a collaboration initiated in 2013. Since then, the programme has transformed thousands of lives across Africa by investing not only in academic excellence but in holistic development.
The scholarship is fully funded and supports academically talented yet economically disadvantaged students, including young people facing social and economic barriers, such as refugees and students with disabilities. Beyond financial assistance, it offers mentoring, leadership development, structured community engagement and entrepreneurship skills, with graduates expected to contribute meaningfully within their home countries.
Opening the event, Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Francis Petersen situated the moment within the University's broader vision of connected excellence.
"It is powerful to create an engaged, impact-driven university situated in South Africa, grounded in our local context and its importance, but also conscious of the role we must play on the African continent with our sister institutions to build a better and stronger continent," he said.
Prof Petersen emphasised that while UP is firmly rooted in South Africa, its intellectual mission is inherently global.
"We are a university, and as the word indicates, it is universal in nature. We engage with knowledge, and that knowledge is universal. Therefore, global impact is also important. We must build that connection between the local, the continental, and the global, and pursue absolute excellence in all that we do," he said.
Dr Grace Ramafi, senior programme manager of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at UP, described the launch as both a celebration and a declaration.
"This is a declaration of endless possibilities, a celebration of resilience. It marks the beginning of a transformative journey for each of the 2026 scholars and for the communities they represent," she said.
FORCE-N: Digital Skills for Senegal's Youth
In Senegal, the FORCE-N programme, funded by the Mastercard Foundation and implemented by the Université Numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane, has been transforming digital skills training since its launch in December 2020.
The programme offers open training courses to strengthen skills, employment and entrepreneurship in the digital sector. By 2026, the programme aims to have trained 80,000 young people under 36, with 70,000 professionally integrated, of whom more than 55% are expected to be women. The programme also plans to create 1,000 startups to participate in promoting digital professions.
A third certification programme in digital technologies and artificial intelligence was launched on August 5, targeting 105,000 members of the national education system, with the Mastercard Foundation playing a key role in co-financing the initiative.
The programme is structured around three components: competency certificate training, support for professional integration and digital entrepreneurship, and support for secondary schools to achieve excellence in science, technology, mathematics and digital education.
A Continental Movement
The three programmes represent a broader continental movement towards expanding access to higher education through innovative partnerships. The Mastercard Foundation has also launched a $55 million partnership with the University of Rwanda to enable higher education access for 1,200 young Africans, with a focus on women pursuing STEM, young people with disabilities, and refugee and displaced youth. The University of Oxford is also a partner, offering 400 fully-funded places for African scholars to pursue taught Masters degrees in programmes related to pandemic preparedness and recovery.
As governments face budget constraints and the demand for skilled professionals continues to rise, these partnerships are expected to play an increasingly important role in building Africa's future workforce.
With reporting from Daily Nation Tanzania, University of Pretoria, The New Times Rwanda, The Respondent, UN-CHK, Mastercard Foundation and FORCE-N.
