A.D.U. will become the first hub of innovation and excellence in higher education in West Africa. A.D.U. was established to address: 1) the dearth of quality tertiary educational institutions and 2) the increasing cohort of young adults unprepared for the 21st century workforce. In Niger, one of the poorest and most forgotten spots on Earth, access to technology--and connectivity--is rare. We will build a computer lab to connect thousands of students with professors, peers, and knowledge.
In much of the world in 2018, we spend our lives connected to one another. Whether or not we have the latest iPhone or MacBook, we know that we can always access people, ideas, and support from the world. In Niger, most young people have never used a computer. They have never created a presentation, had a virtual face-to-face conversation with someone from another part of the world, or prepared an Excel report. They yearn to engage with the world but lack the ability to do so.
Like young people all over the globe, our students are hungry to engage with the world. Dozens of academic leaders at the world's top institutions have offered to engage virtually with our students as soon as we have the connectivity and tools. With your support, we will build a modern computer lab for undergraduates, graduate students, and community members to learn technological skills, to participate in online course content from around the globe, and to prepare for the workforce.
As A.D.U. develops over the coming years, this computer lab will offer 1,500 undergraduates, 300 master's students, and countless members of the community access to online course content from universities including Harvard, MIT, & Stanford. They will become competent in using and creating technology. As our alumni enter the workforce, they will have the tools to catalyze change in their communities and ultimately to tackle the crises confronting 20 million people: food, water, power, health.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
