the alc
advantage
WHERE ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERS ARE DEVELOPED
At ALC, students benefit from an individualized, mission-driven method that’s just as effective and impactful as traditional ones. You can interview experts. Conduct field studies. Shadow professionals. Watch TED talks. And so much more, based on your individual goals.
At traditional universities, students pursue studies and gain knowledge in one subject area. At ALC, we understand the importance of specialization—but we create more than specialists. We create graduates who will ultimately attract, organize, and lead specialists to work together to solve problems that are too big for one person.
ALC students become team builders and systems thinkers with a breadth of cross-disciplinary knowledge and innovative problem-solving skills. Graduates of ALC programs do things in the world; they solve problems in a variety of domains; and they continuously learn. They develop deep, pragmatic skills for taking meaningful action and cultivate the values and character needed to rally individuals, communities, nations, and global societies to a more equitable, peaceful, and prosperous world.
Today’s future leaders and entrepreneurs need more than just the “stamp of approval” that a bachelor’s or a master’s degree provides. At ALC, students get a well-rounded education including academics, leadership development, and so much more.
THE ALC DIFFERENCE
ALC differs from traditional universities in th efollowing ways:
PREPARATION FOR AN
UNCERTAIN WORLD
African Leadership College provides higher education for a higher purpose. We believe that young people hold the potential to become the ethical, entrepreneurial leaders our continent and planet need. Our role is to unlock that potential through a one-of-a-kind learning experience that gives students the foundation for a lifetime of leading positive change.
ALIGNMENT WITH
PASSION
Traditional institutions of higher education rarely engage students in deep self-inquiry and self-discovery. At ALC, students have recurring opportunities to assess themselves and receive feedback from others. They have the opportunity to learn more about who they are, their strengths and weaknesses, and their passions and interests. They gain significant exposure to the greatest challenges in our world and the passionate leaders and mentors who are working on them. This repeated exposure allows students to become inspired by what is possible and learn which problems they are uniquely passionate about solving.
FOUNDATIONAL KNOWLEDGE &
POST-UNIVERSITY PREPAREDNESS
Many of today’s colleges and universities are structured as “knowledge enterprises” rather than “skills enterprises.” As such, many do not focus on equipping students with the actual skills that employers seek. Recent studies indicate that 90% of employers believe that traditional university graduates are unprepared for the workplace. ALU students are prepared with the skills that are attractive to a wide range of potential employers. They are prepared to become innovators and entrepreneurs and to apply their unique perspectives and abilities to government, corporate, NGO, and nonprofit sectors.
MISSIONS
NOT MAJORS
At traditional higher educational institutions, students declare a major in a single academic discipline. Not so at ALC: rather, students declare a “mission” related to problems they want to solve. Instead of dedicating themselves to memorizing a specific body of facts and figures, ALC students dedicate themselves to solving real problems in the real world and acquire the skills and methods they need to solve them. They drive their own personalized educational journeys under the guidance of mentors and curate their learning experiences around the problems they want to solve.
INSTITUTIONAL
RATIONALE
The goal of traditional colleges and universities is to transfer knowledge to the next generation. ALC exists to create leaders: catalysts for change who will navigate a rapidly-evolving world. ALC graduates understand complex systems and are not boxed in by traditional disciplinary lines. ALC exists to develop leaders. Education is simply the means through which these leaders are developed—it is not the end in and of itself.