The AKTP (Africa Knowledge Transfer Partnerships) are partnerships between private sector organisations and higher education institutions in Sub Saharan Africa and the UK. They leverage research, scientific knowledge and skills through innovation.

Aim of the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
The programme is designed to help businesses improve their productivity and competitiveness using the scientific knowledge, technology and skills available from the higher education Institutions through collaborative projects between the institutions and the private sector.

• to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and the spread of technical and business skills, through innovative projects undertaken by high calibre, recently qualified graduates with the joint supervision of  the company and university.
• provide company-based training for graduates in order to enhance their business and specialist skills within the context of the project.
• increase the extent of interactions by businesses with the universities and their awareness of the contribution of higher education Institutions can make to business development and growth.

Who is involved?
AKTP is a British Council programme built on a very successful UK model. AKTP is currently being piloted in Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya.

Project Implementation Structure
The partnership is initiated by a company’s need to address a problem of strategic importance. This may be a need for improvement of product quality, new product innovations, or a need to improve a production process.

The company employs a recent graduate (“associate”) who works in the company to implement the project transferring knowledge from the higher education institution to the company.

			Uganda
			Ghana
			Kenya
			Nigeria

What are the benefits?
The Africa Knowledge Transfer benefits all the partners:

Opportunity for the private sector to use the knowledge base of the participating country and the UK higher education sector for their development needs and growth.

			Opportunity to bridge the gap between academia and the world of work.
			Opportunity to be trained as a future business leader.
			Enhanced management and technical skills acquired in a commercial setting.

			Informing and developing future higher education (science and technology) curricula by strengthening its relevance to the private and public sector.
			Opportunity for joint research into development of  products and services with companies and higher education institutions of participating countries and the UK.

• download the university proposal form or the company proposal form and submit it to us (please find your country’s details below). Please note that you need to post your applications to us
• the British Council will select the best proposals with the support of the appropriate higher education institutions. All information provided will be treated in confidence
• signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the partners: company, university and British Council
• recruitment of the Project Associate
• project starts.

Would you like to read more about AKTP? Simply click here to download your own brochure.
If you would like to Take a look at the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships website to see how Africa fits into the world-wide project.