The Institute for the Advancement of Developing Economies (IADE) Higher Education Capacity Building (HECB) Program is designed to strategically advance the quality, competitiveness, and visibility of higher education institutions in countries in Africa and other continents with untapped potentials and opportunities. A number of factors limit the advancement of higher institutions in these countries and have widened the gap between these institutions and their counterparts in other parts of the world. Among these factors include poor external funding initiatives which limit faculty research productivity and institutional growth; poor research and research publication output which hurt the visibility of institutions; and lack of high-impact academic, professional, and certificate programs to keep pace with the rapidly advancing world. To combat these limitations, the experts at IADE, who are international scholars with significant experience in higher education systems in North America, designed this innovative capacity building program to strengthen higher education institutions in Africa and other susceptible parts of the world,  offer them a sustainable edge, and enhance their competitiveness and visibility on the global scene.

The IADE HECB Program functions through four program areas that are structured to strategically address important subjects vital to the advancement of higher education institutions. Bearing in mind that the needs of institutions vary, the IADE HECB Program is uniquely designed to enable the customization of the program areas for each participating institution to ensure that desired outcomes are obtained (See IADE HECB Program Areas)