The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa is a joint project of seven U.S. based foundations with the primary goal of strengthening the capacity of higher education in Africa.

The focal areas of the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) are:

• Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Higher Education
• Regional Approaches to Postgraduate Training and Research
• Higher Education Research and Analysis
• Developing and Retaining the Next Generation of Academics

In general, the Partnership aims to: engage in joint grantmaking in African higher education; generate and share information about African university and higher education issues; discuss strategies for supporting universities seeking to transform themselves; encourage networking among innovative African university leaders and higher education experts; distill and share lessons learned from grantmaking; and advocate for wider recognition of the importance of universities to African development.

IIE provides support to the PHEA with convenings, consultancies, and the preparation of publications commemorating the ten years of grantmaking. With the closure of the PHEA office at NYU on 31 January 2010, IIE now also supports the consultancies that ensure the smooth functioning of the Partnership’s ongoing joint ICT initiatives.