Advancing Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains through Strengthening Transdisciplinary Skills and Cooperation in East African Doctoral Education
Co-funded by the
Erasmus+ Programme
of the European Union
Advancing Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains through Strengthening Transdisciplinary Skills and Cooperation in East African Doctoral Education
Co-funded by the
Erasmus+ Programme
of the European Union
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)is a sector university under the Ministry of enterprise, energy and communications. The SLU mission is to develop knowledge and expertise that contributes to quality of life and sustainable growth, based on a longterm utilisation of biological natural resources. SLU activities are characterised by a strong link between education and research of high international standards and close collaboration with industry and sectors concerned. Areas of activity are within agriculture and forestry sectors, food industry, veterinary medicine, natural resources and the environment, as well as within rural development and landscape architecture. SLU´s strategy identifies six profile areas. Innovative use of genetic resources and biotechnology. Improving animal health and welfare. Novel solutions for combating negative effects of climate change. New production systems for the sustainable management of natural resources. Increasing quality in the food chain. Sustainable development in urban and rural environments.
Webpage: https://www.slu.se/en/
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU) is one of leading educational and research centres for agrarian sector, forestry, environment, economics and management, informatics, rural and regional development in the Czech Republic. It is a public university, established by Act No.111/1998 Coll. on Higher Education Institutions. CZU offers higher education in six faculties: Economics and Management; Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources; Forestry and Wood Sciences; Environmental Sciences; Engineering; Tropical AgriSciences and in one institute – the Institute of Education and Communication. CZU offers bachelor, master and doctoral programmes for almost 20,000 students (incl. international students from 90 countries). Since the year 2000, CZU has been participating in more than 50 international projects, e.g. Leonardo, Tempus, Grundtvig, Comenius, CEEPUS or projects funded by Visegrad Fund. The projects implemented under the abovementioned schemes were also used to develop student and staff mobility and helped the IRO staff to acquire experience with all the related organisational aspects.
Webpage: http://www.czu.cz/
German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture is a centre of expertise for transdisciplinary research for development and transformation in social ecological land-use systems worldwide. It specialises in innovation in agriculture and livestock-based food and farming systems in highly heterogeneous and variable environments. DITSL contributes to promoting food and income security, and sustainable value chain development in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It employs an actor-oriented approach to integrate the perspectives, interests and capacities of different societal actors and to co-create contextual knowledge and options for actions to mitigate or solve complex problems. DITSL does methodological, conceptual and applied research to foster innovation processes. This includes system analysis, knowledge management, knowledge integration and co-creation, gender analysis, multi-stakeholder processes, collaborative learning and action research. DITSL generates decision support for society and policy and supports capacity building through academic, professional and extracurricular education and training programmes.
Webpage: https://www.ditsl.org/en/
The profile of Nuertingen-Geislingen University (NGU), in German "Hochschule fuer Wirtschaft und Umwelt Nürtingen-Geislingen (HfWU)", is based on the principles of sustainability. The university's main research and teaching focus lies on four areas of competence: Business and Economics as well as Landscape Planning and Agriculture. More than 5000 students are enrolled across the 31 Bachelor- and Master programmes (16 bachelor and 15 postgraduate master), four of which are taught in English. The study programmes of Nuertingen-Geislingen University are greatly enhanced by the strong core competence in business, economics and environmental studies prevalent at the university. NGU is proud to run exchange and integrated study programs with around 100 partner universities worldwide. NGU's competence in agricultural research is highlighted through numerous inter- and transdisciplinary research projects of the Institute of Applied Agricultural Research (IAAF). IAAF's main research focus is on sustainable natural resource use and the optimization of production processes and framework conditions for viable farming systems. IAAF encompasses the activities of professors from 10 different disciplines. It is dedicated to applied research and to the cooperation with the private agribusiness sector. NGU is embedded in one of the strongest innovative economic regions of Europe with close ties to global players and successful SMEs. The university`s faculties possess a service-sector bias with services in agribusiness, landscape architecture, environmental design and city planning as well as in business management, applied economics, finance and real estate management.
Webpage: https://www.hfwu.com/
Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is a vibrant network of 147 universities from 38 African countries. RUFORUM was established in 2004 with a vision to be “a vibrant agricultural sector linked to African universities that produce high-performing graduates and high-quality research, responsive to the demands of Africa’s farmers for innovations, and able to generate sustainable livelihoods and national economic development”. RUFORUM is thus an African owned and led higher education and development organisation based on collaboration, coordination, and joint learning. Its key strategic thrust is to strengthen the capacities of Universities to foster innovations responsive to the demands of smallholder farmers and value chains through the training of high-quality researchers, the output of impact-oriented research, and the maintenance of collaborative working relations among researchers, farmers, market actors, national agricultural research and advocacy institutions, and governments. In July, 2014, RUFORUM signed a cooperation agreement with the African Union to support the implementation of the new African Union for Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa, 2024 (STISA 2024).
Webpage: http://www.ruforum.org/
Uganda Christian University (UCU) is an authentic Christian institution established by the Church of Uganda in 1997 in response to a call for quality university education with a Christian perspective. UCU replaced the historic Bishop Tucker Theological College which trained clergy and educators during its 84-year history from 1913-1997. In 2004, UCU became the first private university to be chartered or accredited by the government of Uganda. Located in Mukono district, about an hour and a half's drive from the capital city of Kampala, UCU is one of Uganda's leading teaching and research universities. A leading Online Distance Learning (ODeL) institution in Uganda today, UCU established a Learning Management System, known as the UCU eLearning platform in 2014, to prepare for an Information and Technology-driven academic landscape. Assessed and approved by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), the UCU eLearning platform's capacity to host students connecting from all over the continent and beyond has since increased. Our students are able to attend classes online, access reading materials, attempt assignments and also submit coursework/examinations. Likewise, lecturers are able to teach in real time, pre-record lectures, upload course materials (video, audio and text) and also administer examinations effectively.
Webpage: https://ucu.ac.ug/
Established in 1922 as a humble technical school, Makerere University is one of the oldest and most prestigious Universities in Africa. In January of that year, the school, which was later renamed Uganda Technical College, opened its doors to 14 day students who began studying Carpentry, Building and Mechanics.The College soon began offering various other courses in Medical Care, Agriculture , Veterinary Sciences and Teacher Training. It expanded over the years to become a Center for Higher Education in East Africa in 1935. In 1937, the College started developing into an institution of higher education, offering post-school certificate courses. MAK is the oldest public university in Uganda and was established in 1922 (https://www.mak.ac.ug/about makerere/facts-and-figures). MAK is structured with clear systems for teaching and research, community engagement, and finance and administration. Makerere University is consistently ranked among the leading institutions in Africa and the university’s vision is to be the “leading institution for academic excellence and innovations in Africa”, providing innovative teaching, learning, research and services responsive to national and global needs. Agricultural (crop
Webpage: https://www.mak.ac.ug/
Pwani University (PU), Kenya, formerly the Kilifi Institute of Agriculture, was established on 23 August, 2007. The school of Agricultural Sciences and Agribusiness, is one of the smallest public agricultural universities with 17 programmes (13 Bachelor, 3 Master and 3 doctoral programmes). Pwani University reflects the tremendous growth in the number of Kenyan HEIs in the last decade and the need for continuous training of faculty to serve as lectures/instructors in these institutions. PU has also expanded gradually over the years and anticipates to reach a student population of approximately 19,000 as well become a lead research institution in Coastal and Dryland Agriculture (PU Strategic Plan 2014-2024). As the university strives to achieve its strategic vision by 2024, the institution acknowledges the fact that a number of the existing academic staff require further training. There is a need for more specialized staff in some disciplines, as well as the existence of under-developed e-learning modules. The total of 73 involved doctoral students in the study represents 86.9% of the doctoral students in the university. The results of desktop reviews, structured questionnaires and personal interviews included issues related to PhD supervision at Pwani University particularly regarding doctoral students' experiences on how they are supervised. Doctoral students reported that they were poorly guided as this was shown by their low involvement in scientific communities and participation in international conferences, seminars and workshops. The students also reported that supervisors took more time to give feedback and when they do so, it is only on spelling but little on subject matter. Critics also targeted the lack of enough expertise and poor guidance in experimental design, data analysis and thesis writing. Based on these issues, the students had low confidence regarding their timely completion of their study and quality of their final thesis as this was exhibited by low completion rates. From the results, it is evident that the quality of doctoral supervision is still not up to standard at Pwani University
Webpage: https://pu.ac.ke/
University of Nairobi (UoN) is the oldest and largest public University in Kenya established in 1970. University of Nairobi ranks no. 9 in the 2022 and 2021 African Universities Web Ranking (https://www.4icu.org/topuniversities-africa/). The Faculty of Agriculture encompasses five departments (Agricultural Economics, Food Science, Nutrition and Technology, Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology, Veterinary anatomy and Physiology) and the Wangari Maathai Institute. All together offer 21 PhD programmes. The Department of Land Resource and Agricultural Technology, which is the contact point to this proposal, aims to generate knowledge and technology that promotes sustainable use and management of pastoral ecosystems and enhance pastoral system resilience against climate variability and change. The department has forged strong national, regional, and international partnerships and networks in research and capacity building. Due to this network the Centre for Sustainable Dryland Ecosystems and Societies (CSDES, www.csdes.uonbi.ac.ke) was created, whose goal is to transform higher education and create relevant action research that builds human and institutional capacity for sustaining and improving the ecosystems and human livelihoods in the drylands.
Webpage: https://www.uonbi.ac.ke/
Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST). The ministry has a mission is to provide, promote and coordinate lifelong education, training and research for Kenya's sustainable development.
Webpage: https://www.education.go.ke/
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) is composed of semi-autonomous institutes established under the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Act of 2013 to establish suitable legal and institutional framework for coordination of agricultural research in Kenya. Currently, sixteen research institutes have been established under the Act, the functions of the research institutes under KALRO shall be to: - Advise on, and develop appropriate systems to promote balanced, diversified, and sustained agricultural development and to optimise agricultural production through adaptive and investigative research; and - Facilitate the use of improved production technology, and establish adequate feedback systems from agricultural producers in order to achieve and maintain national self-sufficiency and export capacities in agricultural products. The Institutes shall conduct research in their respective value chains and disseminate appropriate information and technologies to intended users. Although the key mandate of each institute will be restricted, the various research centres under the administration of each Institute may manage research projects covering multiple value chains and commodities.
Webpage: https://www.kalro.org/
National Council of Higher Education Uganda (NCHE) is mandated to regulate and guide the establishment and management of higher education institutions as well as regulating the quality of higher education, equating qualifications and advising the Government on higher education matters. NCHE disseminates information on accreditation and quality assurance as well as research and innovation in higher education and provides a series of publications and plans on its web platform. ‘Quality assurance and accreditation’ are one of the directorates, besides ‘ICT, research and innovation’ and ‘Finance, Planning and Administration’.
Webpage: https://unche.or.ug/
The National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) is an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) with the mandate to coordinate and oversee all aspects of public funded agricultural research in Uganda. NARO comprises a Governing Council, a Secretariat and 16 Public Agricultural Research Institutes (PARIs) spread across the country. NARO is mandated to undertake research in all aspects of agriculture including crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry, agro-machinery, natural resources and socio-economics.
Webpage: https://naro.go.ug/
European Alliance in Agricultural Knowledge for Development (AGRINATURA) is the association of the major HEI in Europe dealing with Agricultural Research and Higher Education for the developing countries; currently encompassing 34 universities and research organisations from 16 European countries. AGRINATURA is the main gateway between Europe and the rest of the world for cooperation in agriculture and natural resources management for development.It supports ADVALUE with this experience especially in knowledge sharing and exchange. Direct contact with CZU and SLU and RUFORUM can be used to exchange, advise and provide input. In Advancing Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains and Transdisciplinary Skills – ADVALUE project, AGRINATURA will facilitate the exchange of good practices and lessons learned by European universities. It will also valorize its long-standing experience in raising awareness among its members and within a network of partners on Agricultural research for development, building joint collaborative projects and dissemination of results. Further the dissemination within the network of Universities (AGRINATURA), Young Professionals for Agriculture and Research Development (YPARD), Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS) and Association For European Life Science Universities (ICA) will be done. AGRINATURA will facilitate links and partnership agreements between the most appropriate of its members (beyond the member Universities directly involved in the project) and its international partners, to respond precisely to their needs. Promote communication, support to advocacy and creation of awareness in Europe and among European universities.
Webpage: https://agrinatura-eu.eu/
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