Georgia State University’s Center for Business and Industrial Marketing last week issued a feasibility study supporting the development of an American university in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The proposed school would provide an American-style business education to students throughout West Africa.
The marketing center, part of Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business, was commissioned by a government agency in Cote d’Ivoire to complete the report, according to Kofi Dadzie, a marketing professor at the university and native of Ghana.
He told GlobalFax that the study authors – mostly university professors from the United States and parts of West Africa – conducted focus groups of students and parents in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Nigeria to gauge support for the initiative.
Findings included positive responses to the teaching style at most U.S. universities, which emphasizes interaction and discussion on the part of students with professors, said Dr. Dadzie.
He added that a focus on technology as an educational tool in U.S. schools was also favorably received by African study participants.
The U.S. federal work study program, which provides undergraduate and graduate students jobs to earn money for educational expenses, was a less familiar concept to most study participants since it is not the norm for African students to have even part-time jobs during university, Dr. Dadzie said.
Based on the study results, government representatives from Cote d’Ivoire are to approach the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to apply for funding, he added.
For more information, contact Dr. Dadzie at (404) 651-4193 or email him at kdadzie@gsu.edu