CPP Academic Activities

The Collaborative PhD Programme is a four-year post-MA doctoral programme by coursework, examination and thesis. The programme has four components:

1. Teaching of Core Courses Component

In the first year of studies, CPP students are offered courses in three core fields (Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Quantitative Methods) at the CPP host-degree awarding universities (host-DAUs). 

2. CPP – Joint Facility for Electives

Upon successfully completing core courses at the host-DAUs, all students are jointly enrolled in their second year of studies for intensive teaching of elective courses by an internationally competitively sourced team of experts for a period of 16 weeks (July to October), at a common facility administered by the AERC – the Joint Facility for Electives (JFE). Each course is divided into two semesters of eight weeks each taught by two different lecturers per subject. Each semester is a complete course with a final examination held at the end of the session. Students select two fields of specializations from among the following approved ten elective courses in addition to a mandatory Research Methods and Computer Applications course:

Approved CPP Core and Elective Courses

Microeconomics	Financial Economics
Macroeconomics	Health Economics
Quantitative Methods	International Economics
Agricultural Economics	Labour Economics
Development Economics	Monetary Economics
Econometrics	Public Sector Economics
Environmental Economics	Research Methods and Computer Applications

The CPP JFE is delivered virtually through live or synchronous lectures via the Zoom platform and AERC’s Learning Management System (LMS), complemented by the AERC eLibrary and MyLoft where textbooks, reference journal articles and lecture materials/notes are easily accessible, and lecture recordings are made available for asynchronous access to lessons by students. The implementation of a virtual rather than a residential CPP JFE has not only broadened reach but also enhanced inclusivity to additional students and network universities other than the traditional CPP DAUs, given that the modality exerts a relatively lower demand on financial and other resources, including physical space and related infrastructural requirements, which are no longer a critical factor.

3. Comprehensive Examinations 

Upon successfully completing coursework, CPP students are required to sit and pass comprehensive examinations in four fields, namely, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and two elective fields they selected during the JFE. These examinations are set by teams of experts in the relevant fields under the supervision of the Secretariat and administered at each of the degree-awarding universities of the participating PhD students, with the final examination results being discussed and approved by the PhD Academic Board.  

4. PhD Thesis

In third and fourth year of studies, students prepare PhD thesis for defense at their respective degree-awarding university. To further strengthen quality and ensure better integration of research and training, CPP students are competitively invited to present during their third and fourth year of study their proposals and best chapters/papers of their thesis with potential for publication in high-end journals or refereed journals at the AERC’s flagship Biannual Research workshops held annually in May/June and December. This way, the CPP students benefit from the peer review mechanism and from the large pool of international resource people, but more importantly, it is an opportunity to shape them into research and policy analysts. 

AERC awards PhD thesis research grants to the students upon successfully presenting and receiving positive reviews of their proposals from thematic group resource persons at the biannual research workshop. 

The fourth and final year of the Collaborative PhD Programme is devoted to final thesis write-up and defense at the degree-awarding university, in accordance with established respective degree-awarding universities rules and procedures.

For purposes of implementing the programme, the continent is subdivided into four regions, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Anglophone West Africa, and Francophone Africa, each having two universities categorized as either a host or a non-host CPP degree awarding university.

Host Degree-Awarding Universities

Each of the four regions have a host degree-awarding university assigned the responsibility of teaching courses in core fields in the first year of studies to students admitted in the regional host and non-host DAUs.

• University of Cape Town, South Africa
• University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• University of Ibadan, Nigeria
• University of Yaoundé II, Cameroon
• Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire

Non-Host Degree-Awarding Universities

Each of the four Non-host DAUs admit students based on agreed criteria and send them to the regional host-DAUs to take core courses.

Students from all the 8 CPP DAUs are jointly taught elective courses at the Joint Facility for Electives (JFE) in their second year of study before finally proceeding to write their PhD thesis and graduate at their respective degree-awarding universities.

• University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• University of Nairobi, Kenya
• University of Benin, Nigeria
• University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin

Non-CPP Universities

Other universities on the continent not in the CPP network are referred to as non-CPP DAUs. Other Non-CPP universities offering a doctoral programme with a coursework component are eligible to request AERC’s approval to allow their students to participate virtually in the CPP JFE. The students, must however, abide to all the rules and regulations governing the CPP JFE participation: enrolling for a minimum of two elective courses and a mandatory Research and Computer Applications course; regular class attendance, sitting all JFE examinations as well as the comprehensive examinations.

PhD students from non-CPP universities are also eligible to apply for PhD thesis research grants.

It should also be noted that all universities (including the non-CPP universities) have other avenues of participating in CPP activities like:

• The participatory teaching of core courses at the host universities.
• The participatory teaching of the elective courses at the JFE.
• The training of staff development candidates on the programme under AERC and other sponsorship.
• The participatory supervision of PhD theses, through PhD workshops and sourcing of supervisors from even the non-DAUs.

 

All announcements for the Collaborative PhD Programme scholarships are posted in January each year on this website.

Qualifications and Requirements

To qualify, candidates must

1. Have applied and been admitted to any one of the CPP degree-awarding universities.
2. Have attained at Bachelor’s Degree level at least a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) or equivalent in Economics or related field from an accredited university.
3. Have a Masters Degree (with coursework and thesis component) in Economics, Agricultural Economics or related fields from a recognized University. The coursework should have covered microeconomics, macroeconomics and quantitative methods.
4. Female and applicants from post-conflict and fragile states are encouraged to apply.
5. Possession of at least 1 relevant publication in a refereed journal will be an added advantage.
6. Evidence of engagement in economic management, research and/or training in the public sector will be an added advantage.

Applications for admission should be sent directly to the degree-awarding universities whose website links and addresses are provided below. It is recommended that candidates apply for admission early enough to meet the scholarship application deadline.

Contacts of CPP Admitting Universities

Upon receipt of an admission letter from the specific university, candidates applying for AERC scholarship should submit the following to the Director of Training, African Economic Research Consortium, visit https://training.aercafrica.org/admissionnew 

1. Application for scholarship
2. A copy of the admission letter
3. Curriculum vitae
4. Certified copies of academic certificates and transcripts

The CPP scholarship application deadline is indicated within the announcement and is not later than 31st August.

Candidates should note that all admitting universities submit a list of all admitted candidates to AERC. Where candidates have applied for admission and they have not received their admission letters by the date of the deadline for PhD fellowship application, AERC will use the list from the universities to inform those admitted into CPP to submit copies of their curriculum vitae, certified copies of their academic certificates and transcripts.

Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP)

PhD Thesis Research Grants

The AERC offers the following two types of PhD thesis research grants:

1. PhD Thesis Research Grants for AERC Sponsored CPP Students

The AERC CPP sponsored students, upon successfully completing their coursework, develop PhD thesis research proposals under assigned supervisors at their respective degree-awarding universities. CPP students are invited in their third year of studies, through their respective heads of departments/schools, to submit to the AERC their PhD proposals for presentation in the concurrent thematic groups at the biannual research workshop held annually in May/June and November/December. 

Invitation to present a PhD proposal at the biannual research workshops is not automatic but rather competitive subject to certain quality thresholds based on an independent review of the proposals by thematic resource persons.

PhD proposals that are successfully presented at the biannual research workshop and positively evaluated by thematic groups resource persons are awarded a PhD thesis research grant.

The following constitute the procedure for application and award of PhD thesis research grants:

• PhD thesis research proposal must have been subjected to the internal review processes of the department/school and approved by its Board of Postgraduate Studies or some such internal mechanism. 
• The PhD research proposal will be submitted to AERC together with the approval from the Board of Postgraduate Studies and/or a signed forwarding letter from the head of department/school to that effect.
• The PhD research proposal sent to the AERC will then be subjected to a brief internal review by the AERC Secretariat to check whether it contains the basic research information. 
• The PhD research proposal will thereafter be sent to thematic group chair to assign a Resource Person to review and provide a short report on its quality or suitability and advising what changes (if any) need to be made before it is suitable for presentation at the biannual research workshop. 
• The student with guidance from her/his supervisor(s) will be required to adequately address the written comments received from the AERC Resource Person before she/he can be invited to present her/his PhD proposal at the biannual research workshop. 
• Subject to a positive outcome from stage (v) above, the student accompanied by his/her thesis supervisor will be invited to present his/her PhD proposal at the concurrent session of the biannual research workshop. 
• If the proposal is rejected for presentation, the Secretariat will provide a written report that will detail the reasons for such rejection and which shall also be shared with the specific student through his/her head of department. The rejected proposal will not be eligible for award of PhD thesis research grant.
• Upon presenting PhD research proposals at the concurrent sessions of the biannual research workshops, students accompanied by their supervisors will be invited to the technical sessions to explain how they intend to address the comments received during the proposal presentation. This is a typical step under the Thematic Research.
• The thematic group chairs will present their recommendations on the eligibility of the proposals to be awarded PhD thesis research grants to the Programme Sub-Committee, which will be presented for consideration and final approval by the Programme Committee.  
• The comments and recommendations received during the concurrent and technical sessions will be sent through the heads of departments/schools to the students and their supervisors to address as they proceed to field work stage of dissertation.  
• Letters of award of PhD thesis research grants will be offered to students who have adequately addressed comments received during the concurrent session of the biannual. The awarded grants will no longer be standardized but varied in terms of value or amount to encourage innovativeness and quality enhancements. Special attention will be given to research in frontier and emerging areas.
• Disbursement of PhD thesis research grant will be in three installments subject to achieving stipulated milestones.

2. PhD Thesis Research Grants for Non-AERC Sponsored African Nationals

The AERC also offers semi-annually PhD thesis research grants to non-AERC sponsored African nationals enrolled in a doctoral degree programme in Economics at a recognized university within or outside the African continent, to facilitate thesis research on issues pertinent to economic policy in sub-Saharan Africa.

To be eligible for consideration, applicants must have registered in a doctoral degree programme in Economics at a recognized university, completed all course requirements for the degree and be in the research and/or writing phase of the dissertation. In addition, applicants should not have received any other funding to support the dissertation activities outlined in the PhD proposal/budget. Priority is given to candidates pursuing a career in economic management, research and/or teaching at a public institution in sub-Saharan Africa.

Requests should be supported by the following documentation:

• Evidence of registration in a recognized PhD programme in Economics.
• A copy of approved research proposal, complete with clearly defined objectives, substantial literature review, a well‐outlined analytical framework as well as pertinent research methodology. The limitations and policy relevance of the study should also be addressed.
• A letter of reference from the thesis supervisor.
• A description of the plan of work for the thesis research including details of fieldwork and write-up.
• A detailed budget.
• Evidence of any additional financial support that may be necessary to complete the programme.
• A curriculum vitae.

Processing of Application for PhD Thesis Research Award

Upon the receipt of the proposal and the supporting documentation, it is sent to two external reviewers, who comment on the adequacy of the proposal. If the reviewers suggest corrections to be made and give positive feedback, the comments are sent to the students to incorporate and then resubmit the revised proposal for a final review. Once the proposal is cleared by at least two reviewers, it is presented together with the comments from the external reviewers to the Programme Sub-Committee during the Biannual Research Workshops (held in June and December), who go through the recommendations of the reviewers and make recommendation to the Programme Advisory Committee of AERC to approve for funding. It is after this that research grants can be awarded.

Application Deadlines

The PhD thesis research awards applications have two deadlines per year: January 31 for the June award and July 31 for the December award.

Applications should be submitted to:

The Director of Training

African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)

3rd Floor, MEBANK Towers, Jakaya Kikwete Road

P.O. Box 62882-00200 Nairobi, Kenya

Email: training@aercafrica.org