1. 150 new MoUs between the hub and spoke universities and local industries have been signed, suggesting a very good platform for students’ internships and enhanced employability.

2. 27 secondments of academic staff from the hub and spoke universities into local industries and 9 secondments of staff from industry into university have been undertaken. These secondments have strengthened the linkage of the academic contents to the industry practices.

3. Three international knowledge-sharing workshops gathering participants from INES-Ruhengeri (Rwanda), University of Ibadan (Nigeria), Catholic University of Cameroon (Cameroon), University of Botswana (Botswana), and University of Aberdeen (UK) have been organised, with the UK experts as facilitators. These workshops were a platform for participants to discuss ways to improve the quality of civil engineering education within the consortium for the project.

4. A good amount of equipment for the civil engineering laboratories have been purchased for the hub and spoke universities. Thanks to this equipment, the teaching of civil engineering within the consortium for the project is now more practical than theoretical.

5. The undergraduate curricula of the departments of civil engineering of the partner universities have been revised and the industrial relevance has been incorporated.

6. Before the start of this project, INES-Ruhengeri had an undergraduate programme only. Thanks to this project, a Masters programme of the department of civil engineering of INES-Ruhengeri has been fully developed. This will reduce the exodus of the best African students to developed countries. Due to the scarcity of postgraduate study opportunities in most of sub-Saharan Africa, many excellent African students end up finding ways of migrating to developed countries, where they can find study opportunities. Unfortunately, many of those students do not come back to Africa, to contribute to the development of their countries, at the end of their studies. The established Masters programme is expected to reduce the exodus of those talented students, whose retention in Africa is a value added to the continental economic growth process.

7. An international research conference has been organised.The conference was a platform for researchers across the African continent and beyond to present cutting-edge research findings in the area of civil engineering and to develop new partnerships for sustainable development. For example, as a result of the conference, an MoU between University of Ibadan and INES-Ruhengeri was countersigned on 30 December 2021 to continue the partnership in teaching and research beyond the SAICE-Africa project, particularly the partnership at the postgraduate level where there are more significant gaps at INES-Ruhengeri. The academic staff of University of Ibadan will be involved in the implementation of the Masters programme in civil engineering of INES-Ruhengeri, which has been developed as a result of this project. The conference was also an opportunity for postgraduate students to present their work to an international audience, as part of their postgraduate training. The conference was organised in a blended/hybrid mode and was attended by 150 participants, including 70 physical participants and 80 virtual participants.

8. Throughout the implementation of this project, huge gaps between academic contents and industry practices have been noted, suggesting a need for further investment in this area.