What is the Eastern & Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE II) Project?
The Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project (ACE II) is an innovative regional operation that aims to strengthen the capacity of participating higher education institutions to deliver quality post-graduate education and collaborative research. The Project is funded by the World Bank and supports higher education centers in 8 countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.
Following a competitive and transparent process involving the independent evaluation of international experts, 24 centers that focus on 5 regional priority cluster areas— industry, agriculture, health, education, and applied statistics— were selected to receive support through the project. Each center receives funding that is disbursed as they achieve pre-approved goals – ensuring stronger ownership of the programs’ objectives.
The Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) coordinates and facilitates the management of the ACE II Project under a Regional Steering Committee, which comprises higher education leaders in the ministries of education of each country. Each ACEII center is headed by a center leader and staffed with key personnel necessary for project implementation.
Are universities in Uganda participating? Is PHARMBIOTRAC?
There are 4 Centers of Excellence in Uganda:
Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (MaRCCI)
African Centre for Agro-ecology & Livelihood Systems (ACALISE)
Centre of Materials, Product Development & Nanotechnology (MAPRONANO)
Pharm-Biotechnology & Traditional Medicine Centre (PHARMBIOTRAC)
PHARMBIOTRAC was established in 2017 at the Mbarara University of Science & Technology (MUST) to address the challenges of low life expectancy and productivity due to communicable and non-communicable diseases by “building a critical mass of specialized and skilled human resource that can advance traditional medicine and Pharm-Biotechnology for socio-economic development of Africa.”
Does the WB exercise any guidance or control over the research subjects at any of the ACE II Centers?
No—the WB respects the academic freedom of the universities and research centers supported by the ACEII project. The ACEII centers choose which research areas to focus on and how to distribute funding for that research. Decisions about which fields of research to study and their relevance at PHARMBIOTRAC are managed by Mbarara University and its academic leadership, and, where relevant, the Government of Uganda.
Did the WB finance research at PHARMBIOTRAC to promote herbal and natural products?
Not directly. A committee of experts convened by the Government of Uganda selected PHARMBIOTRAC for inclusion in the ACEII project, and the government financed their operation costs up-front. The World Bank then reimbursed the government, based on the performance of their ACEs and according to the funding agreements between the government and the selected institutions.
In this way, World Bank funds are not directly tied to specific research projects or commercialization activities since all project funds are disbursed after assessing the results of the project-specific indicators. These indicators are focused mainly on student and academic staff outputs and outcomes pre-defined in the project design. For example, disbursements may be tied to enrollment of students of which at least 20% must be regional (African) students; accreditation of quality of education programs; peer-reviewed journal papers or peer-reviewed conference papers prepared collaboratively with national, regional or international co-authors; or partnerships for collaboration in applied research and training.