HSRC signs $5 million dollar contract with Mastercard Foundation
DATE: 2 August 2019
The HSRC has just signed a contract for a five-year-long research study that will investigate the effect of tertiary education on academically talented but socially disadvantaged young people across the African continent. The study entitled “The Imprint of Education (TIE): A Longitudinal Cohort Study of African Alumni of the MasterCard Foundation Scholars’ Programme” commenced on 1 August 2019 and will run until July 2024. TIE consists of five research activities including a tracer study, a central participatory qualitative study focused on giving back and what makes this possible, as well as three smaller collaborative studies on transformative leadership, mentoring and the future of work.
The research aims of the study can be described as an attempt to understand how education impacts individuals and the catalytic effect these individuals have on society, and how this is affected by context and education. The focus will be on Alumni of the Mastercard Scholars program who are currently in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda and who live outside the continent.
The Mastercard Foundation (independent from the Mastercard Corporation) is the second largest private philanthropy in the world after the Gates Foundation and about the same size as the Wellcome Trust. They focus their philanthropy on the African in order to contribute to its social and economic transformation. Their Scholars program represents a billion dollar investment. In the coming decade their focus will be on young people and the future of work in Africa. The HSRC is in the process of developing a research grant in this area, and have been awarded a R4 million planning grant in order to do so.
Dr Andrea Juan, Dr Alude Mahali and Prof Sharlene Swartz of ESD with Dr Helene Gregoire of the Mastercard Foundation in Toronto