The Impactful, Inclusive, Integrated Higher Education in Eastern Africa (3is) Project has officially concluded after two years of transformative collaboration, leaving a lasting legacy across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Launched in December 2023 and supported by Erasmus+, the initiative brought together eleven consortium partners from Eastern Africa and Europe with a shared commitment to strengthening higher education through inclusion, innovation, and internationalization.

Over its 24-month journey, 3is became more than a capacity-building project. It evolved into a regional movement rooted in equity and resilience, ensuring that even the most remote and underrepresented institutions could contribute to shaping the future of higher education. The project’s activities were tailored to the needs of each focal region, generating impactful results that will continue to influence universities, policy frameworks, and communities long after the project’s end.

In Kenya, 3is piloted micro-credentials in remote regions, expanding learning opportunities for individuals with fewer resources and limited access to conventional higher education pathways. Kenyan universities also strengthened their internationalization strategies, enhancing global engagement and visibility. In Ethiopia, the project advanced the Inclusion theme, embedding disability inclusion, gender equity, and socio-economic access into institutional frameworks. It also introduced blended learning models and AI-assisted teaching, supporting more flexible and modern pedagogical approaches. In Somalia, 3is fostered academic exchange initiatives, including the Puntland–Girona collaboration, which bridged centre–periphery divides and demonstrated the role of universities as agents of peacebuilding and social transformation.

The project’s innovative combination of top-down policy support and bottom-up community co-creation attracted international attention. In 2025, 3is received the Global Education Awards for outstanding contributions to transformative pedagogy and inclusive education, a recognition that underscores its success in showing how equitable and innovative approaches can flourish even in fragile contexts.

From cross-continental exchanges to the embedding of equity frameworks in daily institutional practice, 3is has demonstrated that collaboration can spark change far beyond the classroom. Across the region, universities now carry forward strengthened internationalization strategies, inclusive education frameworks, and community-based curricula. Cross-border networks seeded through the project will continue to strengthen regional cooperation and harmonization, while communities benefit from deeper links between higher education and local development.

As the project concludes, its partners across Eastern Africa and Europe look to the future with optimism. Although 3is has formally ended, the foundations it has built—more resilient institutions, empowered educators, and inclusive practices—ensure that its vision will continue to shape higher education in the region for years to come.