SBI are pleased to announce that London South Bank University is one of 50 organisations chosen to participate in the British Council's "Innovation with African Universities" (IAU) programme.
The programme aims to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within African universities and facilitate the development of skills required to build industries, companies, products and services.
LSBU partnered with Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) in South Africa. We hope the partnership will develop resilient and industry-ready graduates with the agency to create their own economic opportunities. Applied learning combined with industry insights will ensure that education is commercially relevant. Together, LSBU and MUT will help students to adopt the entrepreneurial thinking and approaches necessary to achieve the project aims.
South Africa's unemployment rate rose from 4% to 32.6% in the first quarter of 2021, the highest since the Quarterly Labour Force Survey began. Unemployment has impacted young people most, with unemployment for those aged 15-24 at 40.3%. These job losses were primarily in construction, demonstrating the sector's need for innovation and job creation.
The partners have identified three distinct stakeholder groups to help the partnership with exploring the problem:
- Students facing economic and social challenges
- Industry with declining economic strength and a shortage of skills needed to adapt and modernise
- University staff with a remit to deliver entrepreneurship education.
The partnership will begin in October 2021.
Find out more from British Council here.