Wale Adeosun

Welcome to the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation (NHEF) website!

Our mission is quite simple! Since our founding by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2004 our mission has been to enhance the ability of Nigerian universities to help address and solve Nigeria’s most pressing social problems, to enable economic development, and to promote a lasting and stable democracy.

I am very excited to be leading this organization during a period of great advancement in a number of areas in Nigeria!

As an investment professional, Nigeria continues to be a very attractive investment destination with political stability a critical factor, followed by economic growth, urbanization and consumer growth. Yes we still have infrastructure and governance challenges but these challenges are also opportunities.

I continue to be encouraged with the adoption of good global governance practices by businesses on the ground and the telecom phenomenon gives hope to the possibility of conquering our infrastructure challenges.

While Nigerian banks have had some hiccups lately, the growth and penetration of Nigerian banks across Africa is another very impressive achievement. And, we won’t even talk about Nollywood, its impact on the African entertainment industry, its growth potential and the profitability of the industry.

Responding to increasing trends of democratization, public policy reform, and the increasing participation of civil society organizations in a growing number of African countries, four foundations recognizing the indispensable contribution of higher education to social and economic development came together and committed millions of dollars in 2000.

The Ford foundation, The John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Carnegie corporation of New York launched an initiative to coordinate their support of higher education in Africa: the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA).

The partnership aimed to support the priority given to education and the four agreed to work together toward accelerating the processes of modernization and institutional revitalization of universities in selected African countries.

The issues to be addressed included curriculum reform; training and retraining of faculty members and technical and support staff; participation of African experts in international research and scientific networks; improved internal governance and accountability; increased access for students and higher quality of academic activities; diversification of sources of universities' income and greater responsiveness to societal needs; and improved contribution to the alleviation of poverty.

We at NHEF are very proud of our initial accomplishments and our vision is to be the single best source of access by US educational and non-governmental institutions as well as corporations into Nigeria in educating the next generation of Nigerians to prepare them for global competition.

First, we have trained chief development officers from NHEF universities on effective governance, developing strategic partnerships and creating targeted capital campaign through direct exposure to Academic Institutions in the USA, such as Cornell University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Columbia University and the University of Chicago.

Second, we have developed the Skills Inventory Management System (SIMS), which is a repository of vetted Nigerian experts in all academic disciplines in the Diaspora. This platform will allow the matching of availability of Nigerian professionals and friends of Nigeria in the Diaspora with the expressed faculty needs of NHEF universities.

Third, we have assisted the universities in preparing proposals to fund academic programs and research initiatives.

Fourth, we have encouraged the development of collaborative research initiatives with academic colleagues at NHEF and other Nigerian Universities.

I encourage all of you to learn more about the extraordinary work our directors and friends are doing in support of higher education in Nigeria and beyond through and join us at our second annual symposium and gala later this year on September 23, 2010 in New York City.

On behalf of the Trustees of The Nigeria Higher Education Foundation, I welcome you to explore our website to review our detailed goals and objectives and to return for updates on our activities and growth.

I also urge you to join us with your ideas and financial support towards ensuring that through wise investment of our time and resources in promoting Higher Education in Nigeria, we may bring peace, security, growth and prosperity to our beloved country.

With Best Wishes,

Wale Adeosun, CFA
President, Board of Trustees
Nigeria Higher Education Foundation