The World Bank Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project (P126974)

Transcription

1 AFRICA Africa Education Global Practice IBRD/IDA Specific Investment Loan FY 2014 Seq No: 3 ARCHIVED on 25-Jun-2015 ISR19488 Implementing Agencies: National University Commision, Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education, Ministery of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education, Association of African Universities, Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Ministry of Higher Education, Cameroon, National Commission for Tertiary Education, NCTE, Ghana, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Key Dates Key Project Dates Board Approval date:15-apr-2014 Planned Mid Term Review Date:01-Jun-2016 Original Closing Date:31-Dec-2018 Effectiveness Date:16-May-2014 Actual Mid-Term Review Date:17-Nov-2014 Revised Closing Date:31-Dec-2018 Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The Project Development Objective is to support the Recipients to promote regional specialization among participating universities in areas that address regional challenges by strengthening the capacities of these universities to deliver quality training and applied research. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No PHRPDODEL Components Name Component 1:Strengthening Africa Centers of Excellence:(Cost $ M) Component 2: Enhancing Regional Capacity; Evaluation and Collaboration:(Cost $9.20 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating Substantial Substantial 6/25/2015 Page 1 of 10

2 Implementation Status and Key Decisions The majority of the ACEs have started implementing Africa Center of Excellence activities. The progress made on each of the Project Development Objective-level indicators include (i) 3,510 students enrolled in new specialized short-term courses, Master and PhD programs of which 1,458 students are regional students. (ii) 2281 students have undergone an internship/placement of at least one month, the ACEs generated external revenue in the amount of US$5.8 million. These figures were provided by the ACEs themselves. Verification of the figures for disbursement purposes (as they are DLIs) will take place in the last quarter of 2015 by a third-party verification (TPV) agency. This is likely to lead to downward adjustments to these figures. That being said, progress on the indicators and other activities provide some evidence that the regional competitive selection mechanism did select ACE teams in the universities that are strong and highly committed. Progress towards achievement of the project development objective (PDO) therefore continues to be rated Satisfactory. The project effectiveness and disbursements have been progressing steadily with the Association of African Universities, the Gambia and Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Senegal, Nigeria and Togo all declared effective having met all the effectiveness conditions. The remaining country is Ghana where effectiveness is expected by June 30, As a consequence of the outstanding tasks, the rating for implementation progress is downgraded to Moderately Satisfactory. Status for the credit for each country: Effective and disbursed Benin: Credit is effective and first disbursement has been received Burkina Faso: Credit is effective and first disbursement has been received Senegal: Credit is effective and first disbursement has been received The Gambia: effective next step is issuing of a call for proposal for educational services from the ACEs AAU: Grant is effective and making good progress. Effective and pending first disbursement Cameroon: Credit is effective and first disbursement is still pending Togo: Credit is effective and first disbursement is still pending Nigeria: Credit is effective and first disbursement is still pending Non effective and undisbursed Ghana: Parliamentary approval obtained and effectiveness expected in June. The above is the result of close coordination with CMUs, field based co-team leaders and regular meetings between country-based team members and government officials; as well as sector-based experts led by Health, Agriculture and Education Global Practice Bank staff. The project team undertook a supervision and implementation support mission in Banjul, The Gambia from May 11 to 14, Eighteen Africa Centers of Excellence (ACEs) and national government focal points participated. An Additional Financing for Cote d Ivoire was request of the President of Cote d Ivoire and is currently being processed in the Bank. The deadline for proposal submission was June 12, 2015 and seven proposals have been received by AAU. The independent evaluation of the proposals is expected to be completed by mid-july which will be followed by the selection process of the steering committee. The key concern/risk is the possibility that the proposals would not meet the strict minimum threshold in order to be selected, which would lead to disappointment and differences among Cote d Ivoire and other countries; and a way forward would need to be agreed with the project steering committee The Bank is monitoring the situation closely. Negotiations for the AF are planned for early September with a board date in early October The results-based disbursement mechanism is being successfully put into operation, and the first DLI disbursement is on track with a simple third party verification. The second disbursement will be more complicated due to start of disbursement for detailed results, including enrolment of students. The three main challenges for the ACEs to achieve the objective of becoming Regional centers of Excellence are: (i) Attracting regional students (a problem for ACEs, but with progress); (ii) shortage of faculty for taking on new programs and doctorates; and (iii) a steep learning curve for interaction with private sector, meeting international quality benchmarks, and generation of external revenue. To help the institutions, the Bank and AAU project teams has faciliated a number of capacity building and peer learning among the ACEs, including revenue generation capacity building support. The Project Steering Committee with participation of representatives from each country is now well established with the committee having met 6 times since project inception. There is strong and full ownership of the committee and the project. This high level of ownership is critical in fostering regional collaboration through the project. The last committee meeting took place prior to the regional workshops in March in Dakar and in May in Banjul. Steering Committee minutes are publicly available on the AAU website. 6/25/2015 Page 2 of 10

3 Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance -- Substantial Substantial Macroeconomic -- Substantial Substantial Sector Strategies and Policies -- Moderate Moderate Technical Design of Project or Program -- Moderate Moderate Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Sustainability -- Substantial Substantial Fiduciary -- Substantial Substantial Environment and Social -- Moderate Moderate Stakeholders -- Moderate Moderate Other Moderate Overall -- Substantial Substantial Results Project Development Objective Indicators PHINDPDOTBL No of students enrolled in new specialized Master, PhD, post-grad, post-doc and/or short-term courses/ programs (Number, Custom) Value /25/2015 Page 3 of 10

4 PHINDPDOTBL Number of regional students enrolled in new specialized short-term courses, Master and PhD programs (Number, Custom Breakdown) Value Date 30-Nov Jun Dec-2018 PHINDPDOTBL No. of internationally (regionally/sub-regioanally) accredited education programs. (Number, Custom) Value Date 30-Nov Dec-2018 PHINDPDOTBL Number of Students with at least 1 month internship in a private sector company or a local institutions relevant to their field/ sector. (Number, Custom) Value PHINDPDOTBL Amount of externally generated revenue by the ACEs. (Amount(USD), Custom) Value Date 01-Nov Jun Dec-2014 Overall Comments Intermediate Results Indicators 6/25/2015 Page 4 of 10

5 No of faculty trained by the ACEs (Number, Custom) Value Date 01-Nov Jun Dec-2014 Number of regional faculty trained by the ACEs (Number, Custom Breakdown) Value Number of female faculty regionally trained by the ACEs (Number, Custom Breakdown) Value Number of regional faculty trained by the ACEs (Number, Custom Breakdown) Value /25/2015 Page 5 of 10

6 Number of national faculty trained by the ACEs (Number, Custom Breakdown) Value Number of national female faculty trained by the ACEs (Number, Custom Breakdown) Value No of newly established or revised curricula (meeting labor market skills), as approved by the appropriate institutional organ. (Number, Custom) Value Date 01-Nov Jun Mar-2018 Increase of internationally recognized research publications in disciplines supported by the ACE-Programme (Percentage, Custom) Value /25/2015 Page 6 of 10

7 No of partnership agreements between ACEs and engaged partner institutions (Number, Custom) Value ACE project implementation team meetings with openedly disclosed minutes (Number, Custom) Value Annual disclosed unqualified external financial audit with the ACE annual budget (planned and executed). (Number, Custom) Value Date 01-Nov Dec-2018 RFU holding regular meetings with at least 15 ACEs participating (Number, Custom) Value Date 01-Nov Dec May Dec /25/2015 Page 7 of 10

8 Level of satisfaction of ACE and ACE Steering Committee on quality of support provided by the Regional Facilitation Unit (AAU). (Percentage, Custom) Value Date 20-May Dec-2018 No of ACE-Institutions reporting on at least 85% of their indicators, submitting the RF to the AAU in time. (Number, Custom) Value Date 01-Nov Dec Jun Dec-2018 Annual program report prepared and submitted to WB (Text, Custom) Value N/A Two semi-annual activity program reports have been delivered by AAU Two semi-annual activity program reports have been delivered by AAU Done Date 01-Nov Dec Dec Dec-2018 Direct project beneficiaries (Number, Core) Value Date 01-Nov Dec /25/2015 Page 8 of 10

9 Female beneficiaries (Percentage, Core Supplement) Value Date 01-Nov Dec-2018 Overall Comments Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed Disbursed P IDA Effective XDR % P IDA Not Effective XDR % P IDA Effective XDR % P IDA Effective XDR % P IDA Effective XDR % P IDA Effective XDR % P IDA Not Effective XDR % P IDA Effective XDR % P IDA-H9300 Effective XDR % P IDA-H9320 Effective XDR % Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P IDA Effective 15-Apr Jun Sep Dec Dec-2018 P IDA Not Effective 15-Apr Feb Dec Dec-2018 P IDA Effective 15-Apr Jul Dec Dec Dec /25/2015 Page 9 of 10

10 P IDA Effective 15-Apr May May Dec Dec-2018 P IDA Effective 15-Apr May May Dec Dec-2018 P IDA Effective 15-Apr Aug Apr Dec Dec-2018 P IDA Not Effective 15-Apr Apr Dec Dec-2018 P IDA Effective 15-Apr Jul Jan Dec Dec-2018 P IDA-H9300 Effective 15-Apr Jun Sep Dec Dec-2018 P IDA-H9320 Effective 15-Apr Jun Aug Dec Dec-2018 Cumulative Disbursements Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) P Africa Hgher Education Centers of Excellence Project Add. Fin. 6/25/2015 Page 10 of 10