Ashesi Hosts MasterCard Foundation Partners On Campus
October 23, 2018 – Ashesi hosted a cross-section of Presidents and Program Coordinators of the Mastercard Foundation’s global partner institutions on its campus. With a vision to fuel social and economic change through education and financial inclusion, the Mastercard Foundation supports students who have financial difficulties with resources to access educational opportunities.
The visit, which formed part of the foundation’s annual convening, provided an opportunity for partner institutions to share learning and engage with each other, as well as gain a perspective on the Mastercard Foundation’s Scholarship program at Ashesi.
Since 2012, The MasterCard Foundation has provided capacity for over 400 scholarships at Ashesi to enable bright students from low-income families to study at Ashesi. With a high retention and graduation rate for scholarship recipients at Ashesi, the theme of this year’s Presidents and Partners convening was to discuss best pathways to transition scholars from high school, through college and then through to successful careers.
“We need to educate people differently,” said Ashesi President Patrick Awauh. “Our educational system at the highest level is not paying sufficient attention to nurturing ethical philosophy for creating change agents that our continent needs. We need to have a movement across the continent where every university educates differently from what is currently the dominant education model.”
As part of the visit, participants engaged with Ashesi students, alumni and staff through panel sessions and discussions. The discussions touched on interventions that institutions in the educational and corporate space are practicing to facilitate successful transitions for scholars.
“Scholars, for the most part, are first-generation college students,” said Araba Botchway, Director of Admissions. “So, when they get into college, they are transitioning into a new environment for the first time and you need to help them. At Ashesi we have the Bridge program, Ashesi Success, coaching and counseling to help them adapt to a new environment and settle down. However, once they’ve settled and successfully graduated from college, they will need help once again adjusting back into the world.”