MIT Empowering the Teachers Fellowship 2025/2026 for African Academics (Fully-funded to Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT, Boston, USA)

The Empowering the Teachers (ETT) program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) invites young, brilliant and upcoming African academics, who recently completed their doctoral degree, to spend an intensive and inclusive semester at MIT in a bid to understudy the mode (& dynamics) of curricula development and content delivery at MIT.

Application Deadline: 26th May 2024

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be taken at (country): Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA

About the MIT Empowering the Teachers Fellowship: MIT-Empowering the Teachers (MIT-ETT) is a teaching-focused fellowship, offered by MIT-AFRICA together with its corporate partner NNPC/Total E& P Nigeria Ltd.

The MIT-Empowering the Teachers (MIT-ETT) program at MIT strives to foster innovation in science and engineering education in tertiary academic institutions in Africa through an intense engagement with faculty members from African universities.

The aim is to facilitate in African institutions improved teaching content development that is geared towards (1) students-centered content delivery (2) problem solving and (3) creativity. This amongst other things will result in the development new courses and the modification of existing curricula to ones that are geared towards critical thinking, open ended problem solving and hands-on design but also promote innovation and creativity. While at MIT, these African academics developed new course content for their home universities which are consistent with the objectives of developing these skills in their students.

During their semester at MIT, Fellows do the following:

• observe instruction in their own disciplines & subjects
• interact with MIT faculty teaching in their own disciplines & subjects
• develop courses based on problem-solving approach inspired by equivalent course at MIT
• discuss & explore curricular enrichment & reform through both formal and informal interaction with the MIT community

The ultimate goal is to reform their current curricular using new materials, approaches and methods that exemplify the best of MIT’s practices: problem-solving, student-centered, innovation and bringing knowledge to bear on the world’s greatest challenges.

Type: Fellowship, Training

Eligibility: MIT-ETT welcomes applications from all qualified faculty who are:

•  Interested in developing new curriculum and teaching methods and consider themselves to be change-agents;
• A faculty member holding a PhD and teach in a department corresponding to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering or Petroleum Engineering at a university in Nigeria;
• Lecturer One rank. Applications will be thoroughly vetted.

Value of MIT Empowering the Teachers Fellowship: MIT-Empowering the Teachers will cover the travel, living and instructional materials expenses of the participants. The home universities of the successful applicants will commit to provide paid leaves of absence during the period of the MIT program.

The faculty selected to participate in the MIT-ETT program will spend a full semester at MIT observing classes similar to ones they themselves currently teach. They will work on new curricular materials and teaching approaches for adoption in their own classes. During their stay at MIT, they will participate regularly in at least two MIT subjects (including lectures, recitations and tutorials) that correspond to courses the faculty members teach at their home universities. They will attend twice-weekly MIT-Empowering the Teachers Seminar meetings, one which will focus on curriculum review and development led by Professor Akinwande.

Duration of Fellowship: 6 months

How to Apply for MIT Empowering the Teachers Fellowship: To apply, please visit the Links below

MIT-ETT 2025 Application

• Applications will be thoroughly vetted following which an MIT committee will establish a list of top candidates.
• Candidates in Nigeria will be interviewed in Lagos by MIT faculty and representatives of NNPC Limited and Total Energies.
• Selected candidates will be notified of the interview date and time in July 2024.
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for the selection interview
• TotalEnergies reserves the right to modify, alter, reverse or change this schedule and/ or the Selection Test process notice.
• For questions and clarifications, please send email to: ett.support@mit.edu

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details