With a diverse body of students comprised of approximately 50% women, over 40% needs-based scholars (bottom two to three financial deciles), from over 25 African countries, Ashesi has many different students. Recently, Ashesi welcomed a few refugees, and students with disabilities, or internally displaced students. To contribute and support students' degree completion success, Ashesi University offers several scaffolding programs and initiatives. Programs offered may be curricular or extracurricular, required, or optional, and they are too many to name. A few include the Ashesi Success course, the MCF Scholars Summer Leadership Program, Host Families Program, Mentoring, Academic Advising, Tutoring, International Freshman Mid-Semester Seminar, Career Services, Counselling, and Life Coaches.
Ashesi Success is a required non-graded course for first-year students designed by the Office of Community and Student Affairs' counselors and the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences to help students effectively transition to a community of independent learners. Students learn time management practices, ways to voice their values, growth mindset philosophies, the science of learning, and other academic empowering skills. Learn More
For the MCF Scholars, specifically, there are programs like the Arizona State University 3 + 1 + 1 Master's program, the Ghana Scholars Convening, and the MCF Scholars Summer Leadership Program. At the start of the Ashesi degree program, MCF Scholars undergo personal development and leadership skill-building in a Summer Leadership Program to assist with the transition to Ashesi. The program includes cohort-building exercises, awareness of acceptable social norms, and life skills such as swimming. In their second year, we orient MCF Scholars on the possibility of finishing both their first degree and a master's in an accelerated 5-year program. As part of the ASU 3+1+1 program, eligible only to MCF Scholars, students who plan to apply may opt to complete most of their undergraduate courses by the third year. If selected, they complete their fourth year with Ashesi in Arizona while concurrently beginning the accelerated master's degree. The program gives a graduate school opportunity to those who otherwise may not have had a chance to earn a master's after their first degree. It does so in the shortest possible time to enable graduands to give back to family and community promptly. The program motivates most MCF scholars to persist in their undergraduate work. Learn More
Additionally, MCF Scholars also participate in the annual Ghana Scholars Convening, where other MCF scholars in Ghana meet to focus on entrepreneurship possibilities and networking now and in the future. Learn More
Most international programming has components specific to the MasterCard Foundation (MCF) Scholars, as more than 90% of the international students are MasterCard Foundation (MCF) Scholars. An example is International Freshman Mid-Semester Seminar, which is mandatory for all international freshmen. We determine whether they are adjusting appropriately to their new academic and social environment, the Ashesi Experience. The seminar engages students in many forms to give them the platform to share what is working (and what is not) and explore how they can re-strategize to ensure that they succeed academically and socially.
Female mentoring occurs at many levels at Ashesi. In the engineering department, Dr. Elena Rosca leads a Women in Tech group for women in science to have guidance on the challenges they face in the non-female-dominated space. Career Services at Ashesi also matches students who choose to be mentees with mentors, with special care and attention to female student needs.
Again, there are several initiatives and programs designed to cultivate student success at Ashesi. The sample of programs detailed for mitigating the needs of female, students in the lower financial deciles, and pan-African students are vital because they contribute to Ashesi student success.