While there are regular calls for African universities to improve their teaching, finding ways to do this within the resources available in already stretched institutions, and at the scale required, have proven elusive. In this session we discuss the work of an international partnership, Transforming Employability for Social Change in East Africa (TESCEA), that aimed to reshape habits of teaching and learning in four institutions of higher education. Prof. Flora Fabian, Dr Albert Luswata, and Jon Harle will discuss how they and colleagues sought to enable teaching for critical thinking and problem-solving, ensure degree programmes were relevant to social and economic needs by engaging employers and local communities, and that learning environments enabled both young women and men to learn effectively. Building on a collaboratively authored contribution to the recent Higher Education for Good collection, the speakers will offer reflections on the change observed, the ways in which this was achieved, and the challenges they encountered.