LJMU receives British Council Going Global Partnerships Award 2025

LJMU has received a Going Global Partnerships Award 2025 from the British Council, recognising unique and inspirational international partnerships that demonstrate a significant impact on education and contribution to sustainable development.

Since 2021, Going Global Partnerships has supported over 900 higher and further education institutional partnerships between the UK and more than 60 countries around the world. Of these, 105 projects applied for the inaugural award and only five were successful, including that of LJMU, which was the only award under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 - Quality Education.

The university was selected for the award for its three-year partnership (2021 to 2024) with the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED) and Teenpreneurs Educational Foundation (TEF), both based in Nigeria, aimed at embedding innovation and entrepreneurial skills in the academic curricula of medical and allied universities in Africa.

The idea was born out of the growing challenge of unemployment and unemployability among African youth, and it aimed to empower participants to be job creators themselves rather than merely jobseekers.

The University Co-creation and Innovation Hub (U-CoHUB) was the resultant project, backed with £150,000 competitive funding from the British Council under the Innovation for African Universities (IAU) Scheme, designed to equip students in Nigeria with skills, mentorship, leadership, global opportunities, and technical support to become problem solvers, change agents and drivers of social business.

U-COHUB was selected as one of the top five remarkable projects that deserved this global recognition. We were highly impressed by the accomplishments of your joint project. This award recognises and celebrates the partnership between your institutions and the outcomes you have jointly achieved positively impacting the lives of those involved.  

The British Council

More than 1,300 medical science students were trained, while co-creation sessions were also held with academic staff. Two additional universities in Nigeria were involved in some of the training activities.

One of the innovative start-ups to emerge from the project is MEDWAKA, a medical emergency and healthcare management solution that enables individuals with medical emergencies across Nigeria to report their emergencies and receive immediate responses.  

It is hoped that the framework developed in Nigeria could be expanded to support and empower university undergraduate students across Africa.

The award was presented to Professor Amos Fatokun, Principal Investigator and Project Lead at LJMU, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange) Professor Keith George from LJMU, and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe from the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Nigeria, at the Going Global 2025 conference in London, attended by international policymakers, education leaders and sector stakeholders. The project leads for the partners (not present at the ceremony) were Dr Iheanacho Metuonu (UNIMED) and Mr Soji Megbowon (TEF).

Going Global Partnerships  

Going Global Partnerships gives universities, colleges and others across the higher and further education and research sectors opportunities to build mutually beneficial international connections and work together towards stronger, equitable, inclusive, and more internationally connected higher education, science and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).  

Through international partnerships, system collaborations and opportunities to connect and share, we enable stronger transnational education, more collaborative research, higher quality delivery, enhanced learner outcomes and stronger, internationalised, equitable and inclusive systems and institutions.