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This paper was inspired by lessons and experiences arising from the implementation of an on-going academic mobility project supported by the Intra-ACP European Commission Program. Twelve universities (11 in Africa and the University of Gent in Belgium, Europe) in a consortium brokered by the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Africa (RUFORUM) conceived and successfully put a proposal in response to the 2013 Intra-ACP Academic Mobility Call. The project “Mobility for Engineering and Technology Graduates in Africa (METEGA)” is on-going and entails academic mobility of 72 beneficiaries (44 at Masters level, 20 at Doctoral level, and 8 at the staff and faculty level) in sixteen countries of the five sub-regions in Africa. Africa is lagging behind in terms of numbers of graduate students in engineering fields. The METEGA project is one of the 15 partnerships on academic mobility supported by the EU Intra-ACP Academic Mobility Scheme; and constitutes significant a contribution towards increasing the number of graduate students in Africa. The project has provided opportunity to leverage resources among participating universities. The participating universities offered three and nine quality Doctoral and Masters training programs. This project represents a significant effort towards internationalization of higher education in the sciences and has served as an opportunity for graduates and faculty to gain skills, relevant experience as well as learn from the implementation process. This paper presents lessons and experiences of the METEGA project, including institutional and operational issues that can be used to inform future academic mobility arrangements in Africa and elsewhere in the world.

Cross border education has become part of the options for higher education in countries with inadequate education opportunities. This is based on the fact that education is one of the pillar for economic development and improved living standards. Thus, many nationals from different African countries are taking higher education seriously and are seeking every available opportunity to pursue it. Consequently, this translates to an ever increasing demand for higher education in the continent. Cross border higher education has potential to meet this growing demand and provide more opportunities that can be leveraged to meet the engineering threshold for Africa and provide home grown technological solutions. This paper was motivated by the Mobility for Engineering and Technology Graduates (METEGA) in Africa and similar projects that have seen students move to other countries in the continent for graduate training. The paper presents a review of cross border higher education with a focus on graduate level training in engineering and technology.