Webinar series: Preparing for graduate study abroad for African students
Each year, J-PAL Africa runs a three-part webinar series providing information on pursuing graduate study abroad. The first webinar provides guidance on how to prepare for a graduate program in Economics abroad while the second and third webinars provide information on how to put together a competitive application for a Masters or PhD program in Economics, Public Policy or related fields in North America and Europe.
For those interested in applying to graduate programs in economics or a related field in 2026, we encourage you to join our upcoming webinar “Putting Together a Successful PhD Application to North American, UK and European Universities”.
The webinar featuring North American universities is on the 16th of September, 4-5:30 pm GMT+2, and the UK & European universities session will be later in October.
Please apply here, by 10 September to join the first session.
Webinar 1: How to prepare for graduate study abroad
This first instalment in the series targets Africans who would like information on pathways to acquire the skills and experience that sets one up for graduate study abroad and strengthens one's application. This year our webinar featured Dr. Arinze Nwokolo, J-PAL invited researcher and Assistant Professor at the Lagos School of Business; Dr. Alexandra Tapsoba, Economist and Researcher at University Joseph Ki-Zerbo in Burkina Faso; and Dr. Nkechi Owoo, J-PAL invited researcher and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana. The webinar took place on the 12th of February 2025. You can view the recording here.
Webinar 2: Putting together a successful application, North America edition
The second instalment of the Pre-PhD webinar series targets prospective African students who are preparing to apply to PhD programs in North America. The upcoming webinar features a panel of admissions faculty from a number of schools including McGill University, Princeton University, Tufts University, University of Minnesota, University of Houston, Northwestern University, and Cornell University. At the end of the webinar, participants will have a chance to ask questions directly of admissions faculty in breakout groups. Apply here, by 10 September 2025 to join the session.
Webinar 3: Putting together a successful application, Europe and UK edition
The third and final instalment of the Pre-PhD webinar series targets prospective African students who are preparing to apply to Masters or PhD programs in Europe. The webinar features a panel of admissions faculty from University of Louvain, NOVA School of Business and Economics, CERDI at the University Clermont Auvergne, University of Potsdam, Oxford University, UNU-MERIT United Nations University, and ETH Zurich. At the end of the webinar, participants will have a chance to ask questions directly of admissions faculty in breakout groups. The 2026 edition will take place in mid to late October. To attend the session please apply here.
Resources
Below we provide links to a number of written resources that may be helpful in the application process. They were last updated in February 2024 and may not be comprehensive, but we hope they will serve as a useful starting point in your PhD application journey.