AERC Collaborative PhD Programme: Eligibility & Guide

Updated: September 22, 2026 | Reading time: 9 min | Written by: StudyTribune Team

The AERC Collaborative PhD Programme is one of the most structurally distinctive doctoral scholarships available to African economists — not because it sends scholars abroad, but deliberately because it doesn’t. Funded through the African Economic Research Consortium scholarship and delivered entirely at African universities across the continent, the CPP is built on a specific premise: that strengthening economic research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa requires keeping that capacity on the continent, not exporting it. If you’re an economist from sub-Saharan Africa considering a PhD, understanding how this programme differs from a standard overseas doctoral fellowship matters before you decide which route fits your goals.

What Is the AERC Collaborative PhD Programme?

Established by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), a not-for-profit intergovernmental organisation founded in 1988 with a mandate to strengthen economic policy research and training capacity across sub-Saharan Africa, the Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP) is a four-year, post-Master’s doctoral programme combining coursework, examinations, and thesis research. It’s delivered through a network of partner degree-awarding universities (DAUs) across the continent, with a structured shared curriculum at the core.

The CPP doesn’t fund study at one institution in isolation — it uses a coordinated multi-institutional model specifically designed to build regional connectivity among African economists at the doctoral stage.

Programme Structure: How the Four Years Work

Understanding the CPP’s unusual structure is important before you apply, because it’s genuinely different from a standard single-university PhD.

Year 1 — Core Courses at Your Host University In the first year, students complete core coursework in three foundational fields — Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Quantitative Methods — at their specific host degree-awarding university. Each participating DAU has its own academic calendar, supervisors, and institutional environment; your experience in Year 1 is largely shaped by which partner university you’re admitted to.

Year 2 — Joint Facility for Electives (JFE) After completing core courses, all CPP students from across the network join together at the Joint Facility for Electives — a shared teaching facility administered centrally by AERC. Here, over 16 weeks (typically July to October), students take intensive elective courses taught by an internationally sourced team of expert lecturers. Each course runs across two eight-week semesters, with two different lecturers per subject, and ends with a formal examination. This shared year is what makes the CPP structurally different from most doctoral programs — it connects students across the full network rather than keeping cohorts siloed within individual universities.

Years 3 and 4 — Research and Thesis After completing formal coursework, students return to their host universities to conduct original research and complete their thesis under the supervision of their advisors.

Partner Universities

The CPP is delivered through a network of participating African universities across Anglophone and Francophone sub-Saharan Africa. Confirmed participating countries include Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Senegal, and South Africa, among others. The specific list of partner degree-awarding universities shifts as the network expands — confirm the current list of participating institutions directly on aercafrica.org before applying, since your admission is to a specific university within the network, not to AERC centrally.

Eligibility

• Citizenship of a Francophone or Anglophone sub-Saharan African country — the programme doesn’t fund study abroad, it funds doctoral study within Africa’s own institutions
• At least a Second Class Honours (Upper Division), or equivalent, in Economics, Agricultural Economics, or a related field from an accredited university
• A Master’s degree with both coursework and thesis components in Economics, Agricultural Economics, or a related field, from a recognised university. Critically, the Master’s coursework must have specifically covered Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Quantitative Methods, and Econometrics — a Master’s without these foundations doesn’t satisfy the requirement
• At least one relevant publication in a refereed journal is an added advantage (not a hard requirement, but genuinely competitive)
• Evidence of engagement in economic management, research, or training in the public sector is an added advantage
• Female applicants and applicants from post-conflict and fragile states are specifically encouraged to apply — AERC explicitly names this as a priority

Current Application Status

The most recently confirmed CPP scholarship cycle carried a deadline of April 30, 2026, which has now passed. Based on AERC’s annual pattern, the next cycle is expected to open later in 2026 or early 2027 for the following academic intake. Confirm current status directly on AERC’s official scholarship portal at training.aercafrica.org/admissionnew rather than trusting aggregator sites — given that AERC runs distinct programmes (the CPP, the Internship Programme, and the World Bank Visiting Scholars Programme), it’s easy to confuse which one is currently open.

How the AERC CPP application Process Works (Two-Stage, Not One)

This is the detail most guides oversimplify — the CPP runs a two-stage application, and the order matters:

1. Apply for admission directly to your chosen partner university, following that university’s own application process and deadline. This step happens through the individual university, not through AERC. Get your admission letter first.
2. Once admitted, apply for the AERC scholarship by uploading your documents to the AERC scholarship portal at training.aercafrica.org/admissionnew. The scholarship application includes certified copies of all academic transcripts and certificates, your admission letter, and any additional materials specified in the current call.

Applying to AERC without a university admission letter won’t move you through the process — the sequence is university admission first, scholarship application second.

What AERC Funding Covers

AERC scholarship recipients receive grants to fund their doctoral programme, covering the costs associated with participating in the CPP — including the Year 2 Joint Facility for Electives component. Exact stipend and coverage figures are set per cohort and confirmed in the specific call for applications — check the current announcement rather than relying on figures from an older cycle, since amounts are reviewed periodically.

Other AERC Programmes Worth Knowing (Separate Applications)

AERC-World Bank Visiting Scholars Programme — a separate, currently-active programme (2026/27 cohort deadline: September 6, 2026) for established AERC researchers and faculty to spend four to six months at the World Bank’s Africa Region Chief Economist’s Office. This is for researchers with an active AERC project at an advanced stage, not for prospective PhD applicants — but worth flagging for CPP graduates who move into research careers.

AERC Internship Programme — a separate entry-level programme for recent postgraduates, preparing early-career professionals for roles in research, policy, and capacity-building institutions. Relevant if you’re not yet at doctoral level or want to build the public-sector engagement track record that strengthens a future CPP application.

Why the CPP’s Model Matters Beyond the Funding

Most of this site covers scholarships that send African scholars to Europe, North America, or Asia for advanced study. The CPP’s deliberate counter-model — doctoral training inside African institutions, building regional research networks — has a specific, traceable logic: the economic policy challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa are best understood and researched by economists who remain embedded in those contexts, rather than those whose career trajectories lead away from them.

For applicants, this means the CPP is genuinely most valuable to people planning academic or policy careers rooted in Africa — not to those using a doctoral programme as a pathway to permanent emigration. AERC’s selection and renewal criteria reflect this; reviewers pay attention to whether a candidate’s stated career plans are credibly Africa-oriented, not just stated as a formality.

Strengthening Your AERC CPP Application

• The Master’s coursework match matters. The eligibility requirement isn’t just “a Master’s in a related field” — it specifically requires prior coverage of Micro, Macro, Quantitative Methods, and Econometrics. If your Master’s programme didn’t formally cover all four, address this proactively in your application rather than hoping the reviewer doesn’t notice.
• Publications count. Even one refereed journal article moves you from eligible to genuinely competitive — if you have one at submission stage, ensure it’s clearly listed.
• Public sector engagement is valued. Academic economists with evidence of real policy engagement (research or training in a government ministry, central bank, or similar institution) consistently stand out in AERC’s selection, given the programme’s explicit focus on connecting research to African development policy.
• Your thesis research area matters to the network. The CPP’s purpose is building African economic policy research capacity — proposals clearly relevant to economic policy challenges in sub-Saharan Africa are a stronger fit than theoretically strong but Africa-adjacent topics.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Applying to AERC before securing university admission. The sequence is university first, AERC scholarship second — without an admission letter, your scholarship application can’t be processed.
• Confusing the CPP with AERC’s other active programmes. AERC runs the CPP, the Internship Programme, and the World Bank Visiting Scholars Programme — confirm you’re applying to the right one for your stage.
• Assuming the April deadline repeats exactly. Annual cycles shift — confirm the next cycle’s dates on aercafrica.org before planning.
• Not addressing the Micro/Macro/QM/Econometrics coverage in your Master’s. If your coursework is adjacent rather than exact, proactively explaining how your preparation is equivalent is better than leaving it unaddressed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Reading

This page sits under our Pan-African Leadership & Fellowship Programs hub. Strengthen your application with our guides to writing a recommendation letter for a scholarship and a personal statement for scholarship applications.

The Nigeria hub, Beit Trust Postgraduate Scholarships, Scholarships for African Students, African Union Youth Volunteer Corps (AU-YVC), MEST Africa Challenge