Nigerian based enterprise support organisation FATE Foundation has partnered with Google and the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences to offer six universities in Kenya cutting edge AI curriculum curriculum adapted to local contexts and datasets.
The Africa AI Upskilling Programme will focus on empowering educators, strengthening institutional capacity, and integrating AI into learning experiences that equip students with future-ready skills. The programme will train university lecturers and teaching assistants to deliver an AI curriculum developed by Google DeepMind.
The selected universities include USIU Africa, Strathmore University, Kibabii University, University of Embu, Kenyatta University and Zetech University. Under the programme, Google DeepMind will be the curriculum developer, Google.org the funder, FATE Foundation the lead implementer and AIMS South Africa as the technical delivery partner.
During the launch that was held at USIU Africa, FATE Foundation Executive Director Ayomide Akindolie-Igwe said that the Kenyan project is part of a wider US$4 million programme targeting universities in four African countries namely, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
Under the project, the selected universities will seek ways of incorporating different aspects of AI curriculum into the academic programmes while at the same time introducing tailor-made short courses before the curriculum can be fully integrated.
Kenya’s National Research Fund Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Dickson Andala, urged the universities to explore ways in which AI can be used to solve pressing needs of the country and the continent including smart agriculture, climate change, health and business.
He said NRF is keen on providing grants that solve critical issues in Africa. He welcomed the integration of AI into the curriculum saying it could generate solutions through research and critical implementation in areas like health and agriculture.
He also noted that there are emerging issues in AI adoption including energy needs from data centres noting that the government is addressing sustainable energy use in such centres.
“AI is here to stay and as government we are exploring how we can power these data centres with green energy and other ways to address climate change concerns sustainably,” he added.
Somo Africa which is also part of the partnership powering AI curriculum upskilling in Africa has committed itself to ensuring that the AI skills generated at the universities is localized for uptake by the general population. According to Catherine Masolia, Somo Africa CEO, there is a need for that high-level knowledge to have a trickle-down effect and multiply its effects to those in need of it.
