On September 11, 2026, the “World Bank's Programs for Higher Education in Africa: Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE),” co-organized by the Global Network Program, was held at Kobe University. The information session featured Dr. Trina Haque, Regional Director for Human Development in Western and Central Africa at the World Bank; Dr. Roberta Malee Bassett, Global Lead for Tertiary Education and Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank; and Mr. Koichi Omori, Senior External Affairs Officer at the World Bank Tokyo Office.

The information session introduced the World Bank’s Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) program, which supports the development of higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting its evolution, achievements to date, and future directions. Launched with ACE I in 2014, the program has expanded through ACE II and ACE Impact, strengthening graduate education, applied research, and research collaboration at universities across Western and Central Africa and Eastern and Southern Africa to address key regional development challenges. In particular, the session highlighted the core concept of the ACE program: enabling universities to build on their respective strengths and specialize in key fields while developing cross-border networks for student and faculty exchange and research collaboration, thereby addressing regional challenges that cannot be effectively tackled by a single university or country alone.

Through these efforts, the ACE program has generated a wide range of achievements. To date, approximately 90,400 students have benefited from the program, including 7,650 PhD graduates and 30,200 master’s graduates. The program has also supported approximately 18,000 internships, contributed to 10,350 academic publications, and facilitated 400 research collaborations. Centers have been established across a broad range of fields, including health, agriculture, environment, energy, ICT, education, and engineering. The session also highlighted how regional networks among universities have been strengthened through joint research and publications, the development of joint courses, student and faculty exchanges, international symposia, and partnerships with industry.

Building on these achievements, the session also addressed lessons learned from the ACE program and the direction of “ACE Innovate,” the next phase currently under preparation. Key elements for advancing sustainable higher education reform included university ownership and results-based financing, strong leadership at universities and centers, international quality assurance, sustained engagement with the private sector, and institutional support for women’s participation in higher education. ACE Innovate is expected to place further emphasis on strengthening partnerships with industry, promoting innovation and the use of AI, expanding regional and international partnerships, and scaling up the achievements of individual centers across universities and national higher education systems.

More than 60 students, faculty members, and staff participated in the information session. During the Q&A session, participants raised questions about potential education and research collaboration between ACE universities and Japanese universities, including opportunities for student and faculty exchanges and joint research, leading to a lively exchange of views. The information session provided a valuable opportunity to deepen participants’ understanding of the achievements and future directions of the World Bank’s support for higher education in Africa and to explore new possibilities for education and research collaboration between African and Japanese universities.