Ashesi believes that to meet its mission of transforming and modernizing the economies of African nations it must better educate, broaden, and retain our middle classes. We need cohorts that include both talented students from families of relative privilege, as well as women, minorities, and the poor. We need students from economically successful families to eschew entitlement and narrow self-interest, and for their peers from marginalized communities to develop courage and confidence. When young Africans from diverse backgrounds work together and form lifelong bonds, nations benefit. “Together at Ashesi,” said one graduate, the daughter of a seamstress who worked in a roadside stall, “we develop a radar to notice problems, and a restless desire to solve them.” Consequently, Ashesi targets 45%-50% fee paying students, 17%-22% partial scholarship students and 33% in the 20th percentile who receive full comprehensive scholarships. The students in the bottom 20th percentile have to be bright students.
Philanthropic Donors such as Tullow Oil, Jim Ovia Foundation and some individuals, Ashesi University, and partners like the MasterCard Foundation, contribute to the scholarships. and a range of other needs of the full and partial scholarship students. Students in the bottom two financial deciles (making up a targeted 33% of the student body) are “students whose talent and promise exceed their financial resources to complete their education”and who consequently receive the comprehensive scholarship. In 2022, Ashesi surpassed this target of 33% and enrolled 37% because of the generosity of its donors post-COVID. Below is an estimated representation of the proportion of total student population and bottom 20th Decile Scholars targeted as Ashesi grows.
Ashesi’s mission to educate a new generation of diverse students i.e., students from various socio-economic backgrounds, women and other marginalized groups across the continent resonates with the donors and foundations, who make it possible for Ashesi to recruit students in the 20th decile from low-income communities across Africa (low and lower-middle income countries, LMIC). The following table represents a cross-section of LMIC 20th Decile students enrolled at Ashesi in 2022 receiving full comprehensive scholarships or a range of partial scholarships:
