At King’s we believe in the power of education and its role in service to society. This is a belief shared with the Nigerian philanthropist and lawyer Aare Afe Babalola who, for many years, has been tireless in his efforts to break down the barriers for young Africans and increase their access to high-quality education. Thanks to Aare Afe, many more young people in Africa today and for generations to come will have access to opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to them.

His transformative donation has helped us create the Afe Babalola Centre for Transnational Education at King’s College London which will:

> Offer life-changing blended and online programmes to help talented young Africans contribute to their communities and the world.

> Provide a valuable opportunity to strengthen and grow our work with leading university partners in Africa and deliver bespoke, transformative education within the region.

> Fund student scholarships to encourage more young people to seek a rewarding education.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Aare Afe for his generosity towards generations of students to come – and to congratulate him on his 60th anniversary since being called to the Bar. This outstanding achievement is testament to Aare Afe’s dedication to excellence and service and his story is a powerful example of the life-changing opportunities that are afforded by higher education.

Professor Shitij Kapur
Vice-Chancellor & President of King’s College London

"My success story started when I was given the chance to remotely enrol at Wolsey Hall Oxford to complete A-Level education through the Senior Cambridge School Certificate examination. Here, the door of possibility was truly opened to me. I was soon able to apply for distance learning degrees at London universities. I seized the opportunity and graduated with a BSc in Economics, followed by a LLB in Law. Then I was called to the Bar in England in 1963.

I greatly benefitted from the transformative power of remote learning. By partnering with King’s College London, I am able to reach even more Africans like me, breaking down the barriers and increasing their access to high quality education.

My contribution is a way of reciprocating what I benefitted from on the unique and praiseworthy External Degree Programme in the 1960s. Without that opportunity I certainly would have ended up an unsung farmer or, at best, the secretary of the local Motor Union.

Education is the unquestionable panacea to ignorance, poverty, extremism, religious bigotry, and tribalism, among other vices. King’s shares my belief in the power of education for the under-privileged. Our aim is to not only break down barriers for African youth, but to encourage in them leadership attributes, creative skills, and an entrepreneurial mindset to go forth and build strong systems for generations to come. It’s all about fighting against the status quo as a joined-up team – where, together, we can make the impossible, possible."

Aare Afe Babalola
Founder of Afe Babalola & Co (Emmanuel Chambers) and Pro-Chancellor of Afe Babalola University