Coventry University Group and MasterStart launch online leadership courses in Africa in landmark development for UK-Africa educational collaboration

Educational innovators Coventry University Group (@covcampus) and MasterStart (@MasterStartEdu) have combined their acclaimed teaching frameworks to create courses aimed at developing the next generation of leaders and to inspire under-represented groups to gain leadership skills.

The collaboration sees the launch of a range of programmes aimed at improving access to education in a range of in-demand topics and with a key focus on diversity, inclusion and sustainable development.

Coventry University Group will join some of Africa’s leading providers of executive and business education, including University of Stellenbosch Business School – Executive Development, University of Cape Town – Graduate Business School and Gordon Institute of Business Science, by collaborating academically online with MasterStart.

The four new micro credentials, accredited by Coventry University, are the first of their kind in South Africa, as MasterStart expands its provision of career-enabling courses for Africa’s future leaders.

With an intake every month, the seven-week online courses include Digital Marketing, High Impact Sales, Managing Diversity and Inclusion and Data Analysis.

Ben Pike, MasterStart CEO said: “This is a massive step forward for MasterStart’s mission of unlocking leadership potential across under-represented groups. Through partnerships like these between African and UK organisations we aim to tackle inequality through accessible, flexible, and industry-led qualifications with human connection at their heart.”

MasterStart’s educational model focuses on providing a humanised online learning experience where students can apply the course work to their real-world challenges. They can also learn from and with their peers, industry leaders and course faculty.

The collaboration follows the launch of Coventry University’s new Africa Hub in Rwanda in June 2021, which will support academic collaborations such as this and provide organisations and individuals across Sub-Saharan Africa with regional access to the growing academic research and commercial expertise that exists within all areas of the Coventry University Group.

Coventry University Vice-Chancellor Professor John Latham CBE said: “We collaborate with more than 150 academic institutions across the globe as we believe that high-quality education should be accessible to all.

“We know there is a demand for high-quality online education in Africa and we look forward to being able to support MasterStart through these micro credentials.”

Emma Wade-Smith OBE, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa at the UK Department for International Trade added:

“It’s encouraging to see leading educational innovators from the UK and South Africa work hand-in-hand to help bridge the skills gap and empower our future African leaders. The launch of Coventry University Group and MasterStart’s online leadership courses in Africa is timely and essential. With the changing corporate landscape and economic challenges of COVID-19, providing upskilling initiatives such as these are key to unlock more job opportunities and open pathways to increase economic inclusion and sustainable growth.”

MasterStart has sold courses in more than 60 countries, has more than 400 enterprise clients and has the ability to train up to 600 learners in a single cohort.