2025 Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Institute Downloads
2025 Final Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Institute Attendee List
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Opening Session
4:30 - 5:45 PM
COMING TOGETHER: PLENARY SESSION
RECOGNISING YOUR BACKYARD
(No presentation to download)
In an evolving global landscape, the traditional focus on Western universities is becoming increasingly complex. This opening plenary brings together leading voices from two universities, a school counselor, and a community-based organization to provide essential perspective on the changing admissions climate and highlight the tremendous opportunities available right on the continent.
This session will empower counselors and recruiters by providing:
● Expert Context and Current Challenges: Panelists will share their on-the-ground perspectives, detailing the shifting trends and unique challenges they've encountered while guiding African students through the contemporary higher education journey.
● A Balanced View of Continental Study: An honest look at the Pros, Cons, and Emerging Opportunities of exploring higher education within Africa, demonstrating why these pathways shouldn't be overlooked.
● Sankofa: Wisdom for the Future: Drawing on the Akan concept of Sankofa—"learning from the past to build the future"—panelists will share practical, high-impact lessons and advice for those who work directly with students from this region.
- Basirat Agboola, Mastercard Foundation
- Tshidiso Konese, University of Johannesburg
- Jacob Dodoo, Ashesi University
- Christabel Ntorinkansah, African Leadership Academy
- Efua Adabie, Breaking Doors Foundation
Session 1
6:00 - 6:50 PM
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO RECRUITING IN AFRICA
The landscape of college recruitment is rapidly evolving, impacting students, college counselors, and university admissions representatives. This necessitates the development of new strategies to effectively support students through the recruitment process. Given that Africa has one of the largest college-going populations, it is an important region to focus on. This interactive session will introduce innovative and creative strategies for recruiting students in Africa, offering valuable insights and practical approaches to navigate the evolving challenges and opportunities.
- Hayat Seid, Meto
- Jenny Hyde, Abertay University
- Eunice Naa Dedei Fianu, American International School, Ghana
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING SUPPORT DURING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS
Support for mental health and well-being during the college application process is crucial for assisting students in coping with the stress, anxiety, and pressure that frequently arise during this significant life transition. This presentation emphasizes equipping students with coping strategies, emotional support, and practical resources to achieve a healthy balance between their academic duties and personal well-being. It offers access to counseling services, stress management workshops, peer support groups, and mindfulness practices.
- Yaw Fosu-Korankye, International Community School of Ghana
- Rita Sadaya, International Community School of Ghana
- Lydia Adusei, International Community School of Ghana
- Lawrencia Oteng, International Community School of Ghana
Session 2
9:30 - 10:30 AM
NAVIGATING US HIGHER EDUCATION WITH EDUCATION USA
Join the EducationUSA team for an informative session on navigating the U.S. college application process and the wide range of resources available to students and counselors. You will learn about EducationUSA, a U.S. State Department program with advising centers across Africa, offering individual and cohort advising, support for school counselors and administrators, student outreach initiatives such as in-person and virtual fairs, webinars and engagement opportunities for universities. Whether you are a student exploring study options in the U.S. or a counselor seeking tools to guide your students, this session will provide practical insights and resources to support every step of the journey.
- Fatou Kine Badiane-Toure, EducationUSA REAC: West & Central Africa
- Marilyn Owusu, Senior EducationUSA Adviser Ghana
- Bernice Affotey, Senior EducationUSA Adviser Ghana
UNICORNS, UNIVERSITIES, AND THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE: THE SCOTTISH HIGHER EDUCATION EXPERIENCE
Studying in Scotland offers international students a transformative education experience. With a distinctive four-year degree structure, students can explore a wide range of subjects, fostering versatility and critical thinking. Innovative teaching methods, world-leading research, and a vibrant, multicultural environment promote global perspectives. Scotland’s stunning landscapes, rich history, and cultural symbols – like our national animal, the unicorn - provide a magical backdrop for a balanced lifestyle alongside enriching academic study and graduate opportunities.
- Aly Stewart, The University of Edinburgh
- Chisom Okpala, University of Glasgow
Session 3
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
A COMPREHENSIVE CHECKLIST FOR EFFECTIVE COLLEGE COUNSELING PRACTICE
A college counselor's role is not just counseling students but disciplined planning, proper record maintenance, and communicating with stakeholders. This session provides a comprehensive checklist that breaks down the important tasks and standards for effective practice.
The checklist covers important areas such as office management, student advising process, school profile development and updating, administration of online counseling platforms, facilitation of application processes, and regular communication with parents, universities, and other colleagues.
By implementing this model, counselors will have an institutionalized system in which no significant responsibility is forgotten, but simultaneously, there is accountability, transparency, and efficiency. The checklist aims to help both inexperienced and experienced counselors by giving them a best-practice guide that is brief. Lastly, the objective is to professionalize school counseling, ensure uniform standards, and strengthen the counselor's position as a mediator between students, families, and institutions of higher learning.
This session will provide participants with a practical, adaptable tool that they can use immediately in their school settings to foster effectiveness and consistency in college counseling practice.
Career Counseling Checklist (PDF)
Career Counseling Checklist (DOC)
Career Counseling Checklist (Excel)
- Mehmet Adsan, Galaxy International School Uganda
Session 4
2:00 - 2:45 PM
NAVIGATING THE NUANCES: UNLOCKING THE FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICA STUDENT PIPELINE
While many institutions are active in Anglophone Africa, Francophone West Africa remains a largely untapped market brimming with high-potential, resilient students. This session provides a crucial roadmap for universities seeking to diversify their recruitment efforts and build a robust, equitable pipeline from this region. We will move beyond translation and delve into the nuanced realities of the Francophone educational context, including the French Baccalauréat system, financial aid perceptions, and the central role of community-based organizations (CBOs) like EDULCOD-Togo. Attendees will learn to identify true academic readiness, navigate cultural and bureaucratic hurdles, and develop ethical, effective engagement strategies. This is an essential guide for any university representative looking to deepen their understanding of this dynamic market and connect with its top talent and any counselor working with a francophone students’ community to get more insight to improve their counseling.
- David Gathe Nyamikou, The British School of Lome
- Hilarion Vegba, Ministry of Secondary Education
BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE US APPLICATION PROCESS
Hear from a diverse range of U.S. universities to learn what happens between the time that application materials are submitted and when it is reviewed by admission officers. Reasons for discrepancies between item submission and application status portal will be addressed, as well as possibly surprising information about when admission officers stop reading applications and move to final decision making. The panelists want to help counselors understand best practices for a smooth experience for all parties.
- Maggie Brackenridge, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Mikyle Christian, Tulane University
- Amy Markham, Mount Holyoke College
Session 5
3:15 - 4:00 PM
EARLY ACCESS: BUILDING GLOBAL READINESS IN AFRICAN CLASSROOMS
How early should students in Sub-Saharan Africa begin preparing for global university pathways—and what does meaningful preparation actually look like?
Too often, college guidance begins in the final years of secondary school, when gaps in academic preparedness,English proficiency, and soft skill development are already entrenched.
This session introduces a practical, phased framework for building college readiness starting in the early secondary years, with a focus on national curriculum contexts and multilingual environments (e.g., WAEC/WASSCE, Baccalauréat, Portuguese-medium systems).
Participants will engage with a sample progression model that maps age-appropriate benchmarks for academic habits, English language readiness, self-awareness, communication, and global exposure. We’ll also examine how these readiness indicators can be embedded into core classes, extracurriculars, and low-cost enrichment programming—even in schools without formal college counseling offices.
Whether you’re a counselor, teacher, or school leader, this session will equip you with tools to build a sustainable, equitable pipeline that prepares students to navigate international admissions confidently—rooted in the local classroom, not just elite programs or final-year interventions.
Global Readiness Mapping Tool Download
- Eudora Okine, NYU Abu Dhabi
NAVIGATING GLOBAL UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS FOR AFRICAN STUDENTS IN CANADA
This targeted session provides counselors and recruiters with the essential strategies and practical tools needed to successfully guide students through the complexities of applying to Canadian universities
We will focus on key areas to maximize student success:
● Credential Evaluation: Offering clear frameworks and tools to accurately assess and align African academic qualifications with Canadian institutional standards, directly addressing common challenges related to equivalency and transcript gaps.
● Streamlining the Application Process: Providing comprehensive, practical guidance on navigating specific Canadian university requirements, including application timelines, the role of standardized tests (like IELTS/TOEFL), and crucial steps in the study permit (visa) process.
● Crafting Compelling Recommendation Letters: Sharing best practices, templates, and insights for educators to write effective, globally-competitive recommendation letters that authentically highlight students’ academic and personal strengths for the Canadian context.
The session aims to equip attendees with actionable, Canada-specific resources to foster greater access and success for African students in Canadian higher education.
- Ademola Ademuyiwa, McMaster University
- Tomi Orojinmi, Western University
Session 5
1:00 - 2:00 PM
EXPLORING US UNIVERSITIES ABROAD: A FIRESIDE CHAT ON GLOBAL EDUCATION PATHWAYS FOR AFRICAN STUDENTS
(No presentation to download)
Considering a US-style education but looking beyond the mainland? US-patterned universities operating in locations around the world offer a unique and increasingly popular pathway for African students. This essential fireside chat brings together admissions experts to demystify the process and highlight the distinct advantages of pursuing a globally branded degree closer to home.
The panel will provide straight talk on critical questions, offering high-value insights for counselors and recruiters on the areas of: Admissions and Access, Finances and Affordability, and Student Experience and Global Mobility.
- Joseph Hernandez, Georgetown University in Qatar
- Othman Khunji, Virginia Commonwealth University - School of the Arts in Qatar
- Brian Kamau, John Cabot University
- Eudora Okine, NYU Abu Dhabi
Session 6
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM
BEHIND THE PRICE TAG: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO HELPING STUDENTS FUND THEIR EDUCATION ABROAD
The financial aid process is not a one-size-fits-all. A strategy that works for a university in one country can be completely different from that of another country. In this session, we will share the different roadmaps for various locations and also touch on how to help students figure out what is truly affordable. We will also touch on how we can demystify the process for students and empower them to turn their global academic aspirations into achievable plans.
- Bisi Alawode, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
- Joyce Agyare, Independent Educational Consultant
GIVE YOUR CAREER POWERFUL WINGS
Career management can be likened to parenting. Despite its central place in most people’s lives, only a few have received formal training in it. The assumption seems to be that people can learn on the job and be fine. It turns out that the absence of job satisfaction which has more or less become an epidemic can be circumvented through the deployment of appropriate intellectual tools and behaviours. Society benefits exceedingly when school counsellors and other adults who influence university aspirants know how to manage careers that lead to lives of significance. The multiplier effect of what they know, do and promote can result in an amazing impact on society. This session will equip the audience with those intellectual tools and help them to set up mechanisms for using them to manage their careers in fulfilling ways. The session will provide tips on how to build social capital and other varieties of capital that are necessary for happy and fulfilled lives.
- Peter Ogudoro, Nigerian Teachers Community
Closing Session
3:15 PM - 4:15 PM
What if the university application process were designed like a building — whose layout determines who can enter, who gets lost, and who is left outside? Drawing inspiration from the TEDx framework on gender bias in architecture, this session examines how the global university application system reflects similar patterns of exclusion.
In much the same way that the design of physical spaces can unintentionally marginalise certain groups, university application systems often embed structural inequities that limit access for students from underrepresented regions, particularly across Africa. Complex processes, opaque requirements, and a lack of counselling infrastructure collectively create barriers that make higher education abroad feel out of reach.
This session will invite participants to reimagine admissions design — not as a neutral process, but as an intentional space that can either uphold or dismantle inequity. By exploring both institutional and counselling perspectives, the discussion will identify tangible ways to make application systems more inclusive, transparent, and accessible to African students.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will:
Recognise parallels between inequitable design in architecture and systemic exclusion in university admissions.
Understand the specific barriers African students face when applying to universities globally.
Explore models of inclusion adopted by select universities seeking to diversify their applicant pool.
Identify practical strategies and partnerships that counsellors and institutions can use to reduce structural barriers in admissions.
- Chelsea Dullea, Lincoln Community School
- Liam McCartney, Boston University
- Dexter Padayachee, Crucible Lusaka
- Ankur Vohra, Masters' Union