**3.2 Differences and synergies of STEM and HEAC**

Both STEM and HEAC are core practical approaches to learning with a focus on students retaining more information and understanding concepts in science subjects. Whereas STEM draws its population from students who enroll for the first 4 years of lower secondary school education leading to UCE, HEAC on the other hand targets students who narrowly missed on the university entry mark for various science programmes; and it is an intensive programme. As NCHE [11] points out, the programme also targets students from other countries whose secondary school qualifications are not considered equivalent to UACE but permit admission into Higher Education

**Figure 1.** *Linkages and differences between STEM and HEAC.*

in those countries. Additionally, it prepares students to equally compete with the direct entry students once admitted on higher education study courses. The differences notwithstanding, in our study, STEM and HEAC promote science, technology, innovation and well-being as presented in **Figure 1**.
