The imprint of education: a longitudinal cohort study of African Alumni of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program: research report

This report presents findings from a longitudinal cohort study (LCS) of African Alumni of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program conducted over five years. The study entitled The Imprint of Education (TIE) was conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in a learning partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. Comprising five components, referred to as “learning activities”, the study tracked three cohorts of beneficiaries from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program across between five and seven sites. A cohort of secondary school Alumni of the Scholars Program from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda were recruited based on their country of study. In addition, two tertiary graduate cohorts were recruited – one to participate in a quantitative study, the other in a qualitative study. The first group (quantitative sample) comprised Alumni who had pursued their tertiary education in Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, as well as graduates in the Diaspora (those who had studied at institutions outside the African continent). The members of this cohort were selected on the basis of the location of institutions where they had studied. The second group (qualitative sample) included tertiary graduates from Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, the Diaspora and Uganda, as well as Kenya. The members of this cohort were recruited based on their place of residence in 2019 at the time the study commenced.