AI Research Foundations for Higher Education

Empowering Universities to Lead Africa's AI Future

A Train-the-Trainer programme, funded by Google.org, that equips university lecturers across Africa to teach a localised version of Google DeepMind's AI Research Foundations curriculum.

Explore the workshops About the programme

with support from Google.org

30Universities

4Countries

8Courses

2026–2028Programme period

About the programme

Empowering Universities to Lead Africa's AI Future

AI Research Foundations for Higher Education helps universities build lasting, in-house AI teaching capacity. Funded by Google.org and built on a curriculum from Google DeepMind, the programme trains lecturers at 30 universities across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa to deliver eight hands-on AI courses, adapted for their own students and context.

30 universities across Nigeria (🇳🇬), Ghana (🇬🇭), Kenya (🇰🇪), and South Africa (🇿🇦). The highlighted countries host this round.

Our vision

African universities leading the future of AI

A future where universities across Africa have the expertise, curriculum, and confidence to educate the next generation of AI researchers, innovators, and leaders.

Our mission

Train university lecturers to teach an advanced, hands-on AI curriculum with confidence, so that thousands of students across Africa can build and apply modern AI.

Our approach

We use a Train-the-Trainer model. Instead of teaching students directly, we upskill the lecturers who already teach them. Each university nominates its AI Champions, who carry the skills back to their own classrooms.

Train

We train lecturers with in-depth AI knowledge and teaching skills.

Equip

We give them world-class resources, tools, and ongoing support.

Empower

Lecturers deliver engaging, practical AI learning at their universities.

Impact

Thousands of students gain the skills to build and innovate with AI.

Why this matters

Built around what students and lecturers ask for

What students ask for

Students want to work on real, modern AI: language models, neural networks, and transformers, with the maths and code behind them. They want skills that lead to research and jobs, taught by people who understand their context.

What lecturers ask for

Lecturers want to teach AI with confidence, using ready-made, high-quality materials they can adapt. They want hands-on experience, a community of peers, and the freedom to localise examples for their own students.

Our reach

30 universities across four countries

🇳🇬 10 Nigeria

🇿🇦 10 South Africa

🇰🇪 6 Kenya

🇬🇭 4 Ghana

The team

Meet the team

A team of AI experts, facilitators, and project leads from AIMS South Africa, University College London (UCL), and Google DeepMind, supporting you throughout the programme.