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Actis, a leading private equity investor, has announced that it has launched a Pan African private higher education network called Honoris United Universities, according to a statement on Tuesday.

The London-based fund manager said Honoris United Universities brings together leading tertiary education institutions in North and Southern Africa to offer high-quality education to over 100 degree courses either on site in campuses or online.

 “We have developed extensive domain knowledge in the education sector by backing the trend for emerging market consumers to secure their own and their children’s future quality of life by investing in their education,” said Hichem Omezzine, Co-Lead Global Education Sector at Actis. “This has given us the credibility and experience to identify and to work with world class institutions to support their growth ambitions.”

Actis began Honoris United Universities with “beacon” markets in Francophone Africa. In December 2014, it made an investment in Université Centrale Group, the leading post-secondary education group in Tunisia. In 2016, the platform expanded to Morocco, creating a Northern Africa Hub through its investment in Université Mundiapolis.

With the official launch of Honoris United Universities as a Pan-African platform, Actis said it is announcing a further commitment to Francophone Africa through an investment, subject to regulatory approvals, in EMSI, Ecole Marocaine des Sciences de l’Ingénieur – the largest private institution in Morocco and the leading private engineering school.

The fund manager said it is also announcing the expansion of Honoris United Universities to South Africa, which will anchor the platform in Southern Africa. Honoris has entered into an investment agreement with Management College of Southern Africa, better known as “MANCOSA”, and the REGENT Business School, subject to regulatory approvals.

Together, MANCOSA and REGENT are South Africa’s leading private distance learning institutions, focused on providing accredited, accessible and affordable education. The investments will take Honoris’ total partnering institutions, including multi-disciplinary universities, to seven across Africa.

Honoris United Universities as a whole will offer more than 100 degrees in fields including Health Sciences, Engineering, IT, Business, Law, Architecture, Arts and Design, Media, Education and Political Science. Delivery is focused on student success and accessibility and includes a blend of on-campus, learning centers and distance learning. The platform will have a community of 27,000 students on 48 campuses, learning centers and on-line, in 9 countries and 30 cities across Africa.

“I am proud to introduce Honoris United Universities, a unique platform providing international quality education,” said Luis Lopez, the newly appointed CEO of Honoris United Universities. “It is rooted in the vision of the founders of the member institutions. Aware of the vital need for their communities to develop human capital, they have each worked for decades to build relevant and demanding academic models with the dual objectives of developing the employability and the life skills of their graduates.”