Europe is deepening efforts to attract African talent

It is no secret that Africa – especially Sub-Saharan Africa – will have the strongest demographic growth in the upcoming decade. Numerous studies also predict a growth in academic mobility from Africa in the coming years, if not decades.

According to Campus France’s publication La mobilité internationale des étudiants africains (International mobility of African students), 432,589 African students studied abroad in 2015, according to UNESCO figures. This represents an increase of 16% since 2013.

The top five countries of origin are Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Algeria and Tunisia. In total, about 21% of students came from Maghreb countries. The top five host countries are France, the United States, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Ghana.

The member states of the European Union host 43.1% of African students, and among the top 25 host countries are France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.

However, new destinations are arising, among them Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, India and the United Arab Emirates, which are competing with the traditional host countries. In 2016, the number of international mobile students from Sub-Saharan Africa reached 372,000, according to UNESCO statistics.

Campus France’s annual publication on key figures for student mobility (Chiffres clés 2019) observed that 8.3 million people were enrolled in higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2016. This number is expected to double by 2030. The number of young people (18 to 23 years) is expected to increase from 120 million in 2016 to 173 million in 2030.

The study International Student Mobility to 2027: Local investment, global outcomes, published by the British Council in January 2018, reported that 26 African countries are expected to double their population by 2050. It is expected that by 2027, among the 10 fastest growing 18- to 22-year-old populations will be from five African countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Angola and Egypt).

Many African countries will also expect a growth in tertiary enrolments. Ethiopia, Angola, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria are among those with the highest average annual growth. Moreover, Nigeria and Kenya are among the top 10 growth markets for outgoing mobility.

European programmes

The European Commission has reinforced its initiatives towards a deepened cooperation with the African continent in the field of higher education. Thanks to EU-funded programmes such as Erasmus Mundus and Erasmus+, African universities and African students have benefited from EU funding and cooperated with European universities or studied in the EU.

By September 2018, the EU had already supported 16,000 beneficiaries of these programmes, according to the report Strengthening the EU’s Partnership with Africa.

By 2020 this number is expected to reach 35,000, and 105,000 by 2027, as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in his State of the Union address in 2018. The Erasmus+ calls for proposals in 2019 and 2020 foresee an additional €40 million (US$44.7 million) for cooperation with African countries.

Within this context, this autumn several European events will have a focus on the African continent and on enhancing student mobility and cooperation between the two continents.

The Study in Europe project, a three-year project funded by the European Commission, aims to enhance the attractiveness of European higher education in the world.

The project started in late 2017 and is conducted by a group of European organisations led by Campus France – the French agency for the promotion of higher education, international student services and international mobility – and includes the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Nuffic from the Netherlands, the British Council, Archimedes Foundation from Estonia and the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA), Brussels.

The project involves different promotion activities that are open to higher education institutions and national promotion agencies from the Erasmus+ programme countries.

The organisation of study fairs worldwide which inform international students, their parents and advisers about opportunities in Europe is part of the project. Study in Europe fairs will be organised in Ethiopia in November 2019 and in Nigeria in March 2020, allowing interested students to learn more about different European countries and their higher education institutions.

Through presenting a larger range of European countries, the fairs will give interested visitors the opportunity to learn more about the different European countries, including smaller and less-known countries, to talk to university representatives or embassy staff, to listen to country presentations and receive information about scholarship opportunities, especially opportunities within the scope of the Erasmus+ programme.

Alumni of Erasmus+ are involved and give useful tips to future international students. The events also include networking opportunities for African and European higher education institutions in order to enhance cooperation and exchange between institutions.

In late November, the Study in Europe webinar series ‘Africa’ will inform African students about European higher education systems. During short presentations, representatives of European organisations in charge of promoting their higher education system will present study and funding opportunities to a wider African public.

The objective is to enhance the visibility of European countries and encourage students to look further into the different European higher education systems.

The main constant source of information on these study opportunities and options remains the Study in Europe portal site, whose content is kept up to date and fresh through cooperation with all the countries featured.

Campus France, DAAD, Nuffic and the British Council are also joining forces, together with the African Union and the European Commission, to organise a high-level Africa-Europe conference on higher education collaboration in Brussels on 25 October 2019 entitled “Investing in people by investing in higher education and skills in Africa”. This conference will tackle topics such as employment, support for refugees, capacity building and quality assurance.

Johanna Hellwig is project manager, European Projects Unit, Department of External and Institutional Relations, Campus France. For more information on the Study in Europe project and the upcoming events, please visit the Study in Europe fair website or the Study in Europe portal. Information on the Africa-Europe conference in Brussels is available here.