of Africa AI Skill Up Program is a multi-country initiative aimed at enhancing advanced artificial intelligence (AI) education across higher education institutions in Africa. led FATE FoundationIn cooperation with African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) and supported Google.orgthis program aims to build a sustainable and scalable ecosystem for AI education. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa.
As AI continues to transform industries, economies, and societies around the world, African universities must be equipped with the tools, curriculum, and pedagogical capabilities needed to remain relevant and competitive. This program directly addresses that need by incorporating industry-aligned advanced AI education within an organizational STEM framework.
Program vision and strategic focus
The Africa AI Upskilling Program aims to help universities become centers of excellence for AI education, research and innovation. Rather than operating as a standalone training initiative, the program prioritizes organizational development and long-term integration.
This program focuses on:
- Strengthening AI education capabilities within STEM departments
- Align academic AI education with industry and research needs
- Build a strong pipeline of graduates with AI skills across the continent
- Helping institutions become pioneers in AI education and innovation
- Contribute meaningfully to Africa’s growing AI ecosystem
By targeting educational institutions, instructors and students simultaneously, the program creates synergies that support sustainable impact.
Advanced AI curriculum and learning models
The core of the program is Google DeepMind AI Research Foundation curriculuma comprehensive, research-driven framework for advanced AI education. The curriculum provides both theoretical depth and practical application, ensuring learners develop future-ready skills.
The curriculum consists of eight specialized courses.
- Build your own small language model
- represent linguistic data
- Design and train neural networks
- Discover transformer architecture
- Fine tune the model
- Adjust the model
- Speed up your model
- Capstone: Develop models that impact the real world
Each course is carefully structured to guide learners from basic concepts to real-world AI system development. To ensure relevance and effectiveness, the curriculum will: thoughtfully localized Provided for each participating country, Local guidance and contextual examples.
Capacity development for instructors and educational institutions
The core pillars of the program are: trainer training modelfocuses on building the long-term educational capacity of participating institutions. Instructors and teaching assistants are trained in advanced AI concepts as well as effective pedagogy and curriculum integration.
Through this approach, institutions will be supported to:
- Strengthening the skills of STEM instructors and teaching assistants
- Enhance curriculum design and delivery of advanced AI topics
- Incorporating AI modules into existing STEM programs to achieve sustainability
- Improve your organization’s readiness for AI research and innovation
This ensures that AI education continues beyond the duration of the program.
Student development and real-world impact
The Africa AI Upskilling Program focuses on applied learning and problem solving. Students will be guided in design and development Projects powered by AI Address real-world challenges related to local and regional contexts.
Key student-centered outcomes include:
- Access to advanced and employable AI skills
- Exposure to real-world AI problem-solving methodologies
- Guidance on developing impactful AI-powered solutions
- Participation in Capstone Projects and Solution Showcases
Through these experiences, students graduate with practical competencies that enhance their employability and entrepreneurial potential.
Target audience
The program is designed to engage multiple stakeholders within the higher education ecosystem.
Eligible participants are:
- Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa
- Lecturers and teaching assistantsCalled AI Champion
- Penultimate and final year STEM students
This multilevel effort ensures coherence between teaching, learning, and organizational strategies.
institutional benefits
Participating institutions gain both academic and strategic benefits through the program, including:
- Access to localized Google DeepMind AI Research Foundation curriculum
- Advanced AI training for instructors and teaching assistants
- Improving student learning outcomes and employability
- Increased visibility within the organization through showcases and evaluations
- Contributing to the continent’s AI knowledge and innovation network
These benefits position institutions as leaders in AI education in national and regional contexts.
Eligibility criteria
To ensure effective participation and impact, institutions must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Be an accredited higher education institution offering STEM programs in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, or South Africa
- Enable active participation by instructors, teaching assistants, and students
- Demonstrate faculty availability and basic technical preparation
- Work on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) reports
- Participate in the development and evaluation of capstone projects
- Demonstrate a desire to integrate advanced AI content into existing STEM programs
Reasons to join
Institutions participating in the Africa AI Upskilling Program will position themselves at the forefront of AI education on the African continent. Participation will enable universities to strengthen their academic relevance, attract high-quality students, and contribute directly to Africa’s digital and technological transformation.
Application and next steps
Interested higher education institutions are invited to complete the following items: Expression of Interest (EOI) Form From the program’s official webpage:
Early submission is highly recommended as onboarding will occur the following day. First come first served. Program slots are limited.
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Disclaimer: Global South Opportunities (GSO) is not a fellowship organization. For inquiries, please contact the official organization directly. Please do not submit your application to GSO as they cannot process it. Due to the large volume of emails we receive every day, we may not be able to respond to all inquiries. Thank you for your understanding.
