Career Choices, Return Paths and Social Contributions THE AFRICAN ALUMNI PROJECT Report prepared for The MasterCard Foundation 2 Please cite this publication as: Marsh, R, Baxter, A, Di Genova, L., Jamison, A., Madden, M (2016) Career Choices, Return Paths and Social Contributions: The African Alumni Project. Full Report. The MasterCard Foundation, Toronto Canada The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of The MasterCard Foundation. 3 Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................................... 4 1. Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Key findings .................................................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 Policy and programming implications ................................................................................................ 13 1.3 Future research ......................................................................................................................................... 15 2. Setting the Stage ....................................................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Research goal, questions, and guiding model .................................................................................. 18 2.2 Collaborative multi-university research ............................................................................................. 20 3. Research Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Tracing African alumni ............................................................................................................................ 22 3.2 Survey design and data management ............................................................................................... 27 3.3 Interview questionnaire design and administration ....................................................................... 32 4. Main Findings .............................................................................................................................................. 35 4.1 Career and life trajectory ....................................................................................................................... 35 4.1.1 Survey analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 36 4.1.2 Interview analysis .................................................................................................................................. 39 4.2 Return paths ............................................................................................................................................. 49 4.2.1 Survey analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 49 4.2.2 Interview analysis ................................................................................................................................. 55 4.3 Social and civic engagement ............................................................................................................... 67 4.3.1 Survey analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 67 4.3.2 Interview analysis ................................................................................................................................. 72 4.3.3 Transformative leaders: making social change happen ............................................................. 84 4.4 Value of an international education ................................................................................................... 86 4.4.1 Survey analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 87 4.4.2 Interview analysis ................................................................................................................................ 91 5. Advice to Current and Future African Scholars .............................................................................. 100 6. Policy and Programming Implications ............................................................................................... 105 6.1 Implications for The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program .............................................. 105 6.2 Recommendations for partner universities .................................................................................... 109 6.3 Dissemination: presentations and publications ............................................................................. 111 6.4 Future research ..................................................................................................................................... 111 List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................................... 114 4 Acknowledgements This study and resulting report have been a collaborative effort of many dedicated researchers, students, and supportive staff from our respective universities. The lead researcher and author, Dr. Robin Marsh at the University of California, Berkeley, was joined by principal researchers Dr. Amy Jamison (Michigan State University — MSU), Dr. Lina di Genova and Professor Andre Costopoulos (McGill University), Suying Hugh (University of Toronto), Dr. Nancy Johnston and Shaheen Nanji (Simon Fraser University — SFU) and Nico Evers (EARTH University). Other critical team members were Dr. Andrew Smith (Graduate Division, UC Berkeley), Professor Rosemary Joyce (UC Berkeley), Dr. Meggan Madden (Middlebury/Monterrey Institute for International Studies), Dr. Aryn Baxter (Arizona State University), Dr. Bret Shaw (University of Wisconsin, sabbatical at EARTH), Professor David Wiley (MSU) and Barry Burciul (Senior Manager, Learning and Strategy, The MasterCard Foundation). Martha Saavedra (UC Berkeley) contributed important inputs to the literature review. We particularly thank Jeff Royal of UC Berkeley for managing the multi-university survey data component with expertise and good humour. Undergraduate and graduate students contributed to all phases of this project and were critical to its success, including Ben Gebre-Medhin, Sidee Dlamini (MasterCard Foundation Scholar), Tessa Emmer, Rami Arafah, Shelley Zhang, David Sung and Ji-hern Baek from UC Berkeley, Pam Roy and Yeukai A. Mlambo from MSU, Geoffrey Plint and Beverlyne Nyamemba from McGill, Stephanie Chow from University of Toronto, and Tess Gregory from SFU. Rachel Clift provided pivotal assistance in converting the full report to the abridged version. We are grateful to The MasterCard Foundation for believing in the potential of this study to shed new light on the role of scholarships in promoting social change in Africa and globally, and for providing the funding to carry out the work. Finally, and most importantly, this study is the product of the African alumni who gave generously of their time to share their experiences and perspectives through comprehensive surveys and interviews. We express our sincere appreciation to all of the alumni who participated in the study. 5 1. Executive Summary This report comes out at a time of increased global demand for access to quality secondary and higher education that leads to meaningful employment. Demographic change in the 21st century signals a particularly challenging education and job creation environment in Sub-Saharan Africa. The MasterCard Foundation has stepped into this scenario with a commitment to make substantial investments to improve access to quality secondary and tertiary education in Africa, as well as school to employment transition support. As part of this investment, the Scholars Program has partnered with international universities, within and outside Africa, to provide comprehensive undergraduate and Master’s-level scholarships to talented, economically disadvantaged African youth who demonstrate leadership potential and a commitment to “giving back” to their communities. Five of these universities, from the United States (UC Berkeley, Michigan State), Canada (McGill, University of Toronto) and Costa Rica (EARTH), plus Simon Fraser University in Canada1, have partnered to conduct this pioneering study on the career and life trajectories of African alumni of their respective universities, with the hope to gain further understanding and insights that may improve outcomes for current and future African scholars. In particular, the study aimed to gather heretofore unavailable evidence of the social contributions of African alumni, and retrospective reflections on the value and challenges of their international education over the course of their lives and careers. The multi-university team adopted a mixed methods approach to analyze four research questions: 1. CAREER TRAJECTORY: What