nairobi newsletter

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DAAD Regional Office for Africa - August 2014

Join the Science Tour to research facilities in Germany!

Under the theme "Modelling

the Future – Understanding

Global Challenges through

Computer-Based Modelling

and Simulation" DAAD or-

ganises a tour of cutting-edge

research facilities which spe-

cialise in the field of modelling

future scenarios.

Foreign researchers and ad-

ministrators from universities

and research institutes are

invited to join. The tour will

present cutting-edge research

activities in the field of com-

puter-based modelling and

simulation at facilities in north-

ern Germany.

Travel dates: 30 November to

6 December 2014

PhD holders from relevant

fields can apply by 20 Sep-

tember 2014.

More info here

Open Day at Goethe-Institut Nairobi held

Our annual Open Day in

June at the Goethe-Institut

Nairobi attracted again many

visitors who went home with

plenty of information. If you

missed it, you can still find all

DAAD offers on our website.

Editorial

DAAD

Regional Office for Africa

P.O.Box 14050-00800

Nairobi, Kenya

Director:

Jutta Quade (Ag.)

Editor:

Anja Bengelstorff

Contact:

+254 733 929 929

info@daadafrica.org

http://nairobi.daad.de

How to equip a leader

and celebrate 40 years of DAAD in Eastern Africa

Leaders talking, leaders listening: Former DAAD Regional Office Director Christoph Hansert (centre) in

discussion with DAAD President Prof. Margret Wintermantel (right), IUCEA Executive Secretary Prof.

Mayunga Nkunya (next to director), Tanzanian Minister Prof. Asha-Rose Mtengeti-Migiro and Dr. Richard

Sezibera, Secretary General of the East African Community.

From 28th to 30 of May, the DAAD Regional Office for Africa celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a

regional Alumni Conference titled „How to equip a leader.“ Among our almost 200 guests and Alumni were

regional and German leaders from all fields. Enjoy our pictorial from three eventful days.

Leaders of influence: Roland Lindenthal (BMZ), Dr. Belio Kipsang (PS

MoEST Kenya), German Ambassador to Kenya, Andreas Peschke,

Kenyan Cabinet Secretary MoEST Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi (left to right) Launched: A publication documenting the work of DAAD in

the region over the last 40 years, hightlighting its impact.

Page 2

Newsletter August 2014

When leaders meet: DAAD and its guests from the East Africa region and Germany.

Participants during one of the presentations on various

aspects of leadership.

DAAD Lecturer for German Studies at the University of

Nairobi, Dr. Shaban Mayanja, in discussion with DAAD

Alumna Dr. Elizabeth Sentongo from Makerere University,

Uganda.

Women leaders follow the proceedings. German MPs Dr. Karamba Diaby (left) and Michaela

Engelmeier-Heite.

Page 3

Newsletter August 2014

DAAD’s new Africa Strategy

DAAD believes that a German initiative for cooperation with Africa should also (and in particular) involve a broad educa-

tional partnership. This strategy paper, based on DAAD’s strategic areas of activity, focuses in particular on improving

tertiary-level teaching and research as well as further institutional development. Five key areas have been established:

1. Qualifying university lecturers – through scholarships in Germany and at well-performing universities in Sub-Saharan

Africa.

2. Building capacities for graduate education and research at African universities

3. Strengthening universities as effective actors in promoting societal development: especially through degree pro-

grammes that are relevant to the cur-rent and future labour markets, applied research and consultancy, knowledge trans-

fer to industry, promoting entrepreneurial commitment among graduates, social and legal expertise and developing a cul-

ture of dialogue in civil society

4. Facilitating access for German universities to Africa and disseminating knowledge about Germany in Africa – building

on the existing interest in cooperation and opening up additional opportunities through appropriate funding programmes

5. Strengthening synergies and co-operations – reinforcing the ties between German and African players, especially with

Africa’s regional university associations (AAU, CAMES, IUCEA and SARUA).

Established DAAD programmes and new models of cooperation should be used to achieve these objectives. The quanti-

tative and qualitative expansion of the programme portfolio to implement this strategy will be achieved, on the one hand,

by re-allocating expenditure and, on the other hand, by acquiring new German, African and international donor funds.

(Shortened Summary)

Former Regional Director Christoph Hansert during the field excursion to the Uwezo

initiative in Kiambu County.

Conference participants are being explained what researchers are involved with at

the African research institute ICIPE in Nairobi.

The closing panel with representatives of all East African member states, chaired by

incoming Regional Director, Dr. Helmut Blumbach (from October 2014).

The people behind a successful conference: The team of the DAAD Regional Office

for Africa, supported by former and current interns and „Miss D“ Sigrid Dossow from

DAAD Head Office in Germany.

Page 4

Newsletter August 2014

Call for Applications: PhD in Social

Sciences in Germany

The Otto-Friedrich-

Universität Bamberg Gradu-

ate School of Social Sci-

ences invites applications for

a doctoral programme.

Candidates must hold a

Master's degree and an

excellent command of Eng-

lish. If you are interested,

submit your application

until 31. October

More info here

Post Doc opportunities with

Marie Curie Programme

In this programme, postdoc-

toral fellows from all over the

world can, together with a

German host institution,

apply for funding.

Deadline: September 11

More info here

The DAAD partner

organisation KOWI has set

up a platform where German

host institutions have

published their offers for

Marie Curie fellows.

Make use of this unique

opportunity!

The East African Higher Education Quality

Assurance Network (EAQAN) in collaboration

with the Inter-University Council for East Af-

rica, DAAD and the German Rectors Confer-

ence (HRK), facilitated a forum on Creating a

Quality Assurance Culture in the East Afri-

can Higher Education Area: Practices,

Challenges and Prospects” in Arusha, Tan-

zania from 5th- 9

th May 2014, bringing to-

gether more than 100 quality assurance prac-

titioners and other scholars. They discussed

quality assurance issues and practices based

on preselected scholarly peer reviewed pa-

pers some of which will contribute to the first

East African Journal on Quality Assurance in

Higher Education.

This year’s forum combined Quality Assur-

ance training, conference, General Assembly

and high level Academic Dialogue with Dep-

uty Vice Chancellors and Academic Regis-

trars from Higher Education Institutions in

East Africa. Regional and international ex-

perts, supported by the Aga Khan University

and HRK, offered presentations and trainings

on how to promote active learning, expected

learning outcomes, regional qualifications

framework, regional and international QA

trends and online and distance learning.

Prof. Marie Jose Lemaitre, the former presi-

dent of the international network for quality

assurance, emphasised in her key note ad-

dress that quality assurance in higher educa-

tion was indispensable. She underscored the

need to establish the culture of internal and

external assessment in these institutions for

continued improvement.

The 3rd

General Assembly of EAQAN elected

the second Executive Committee of the net-

work. Founding president Prof. Michael Mawa

handed over instruments of office to Dr. Tash-

min Khamis who was unanimously elected

the new president for 2014 - 2016. She is the

director of Aga Khan Network of Quality As-

surance at the Aga Khan University, Kenya.

Michael Mawa

A pre-selection, organized by the DAAD Regional office for

Africa in collaboration with Kenyan universities, the Commis-

sion for University Education (CUE), the Kenya DAAD Schol-

ars Association and the DAAD lecturers took place on 11th

July. We received 360 applications The results of the final se-

lection will be released by end of August 2014.

Kenya: DAAD In-Country Scholarship selection conducted

Tanzania: 4TH East African Quality Assurance Network Forum held

Best wishes for the successor: Prof. Michael Mawa hands over

the leadership of EAQAN to Dr. Tashmin Khamis of Aga Khan

University, Kenya.

...and in Earth System Sciences in

Germany

The Max Planck Society

Research School on Earth

System Modelling invites

applications for a PhD

programme.

Deadline: September 15

More info here

Page 5

Newsletter August 2014

REMINDER:

The annual deadline for our

PhD scholarships in Germany

is fast approaching.

Find all application details and

procedures on our website

Make sure that you prepare

your documents in time as the

application must now be

submitted online.

The East African Network of Learning of Ad-

ministration (EANLA) has successfully ex-

panded from Kenya to Uganda.

From 4-6 August 2014, finance administrators

and principal investigators (PIs) from several

Ugandan universities met at the International

University of East Africa (IUEA) to discuss

challenges of international third-party funding

administration. The workshop was organized

by the initiators of the network from Egerton

University, Kenya

and the International

Center for Develop-

ment and Decent

Work (ICDD), Ger-

many as well as part-

ners from IUCEA and

Makerere University.

Drawing on the ex-

perience of the ICDD

in four years of inter-

national finance co-

operation, EANLA

was initiated in 2013 as a network of East

African finance administrators and PIs to pro-

mote good practices of international finance

administration as well as to pinpoint and cope

with the challenges of handling international

third-party funding at East African Universities,

taking into account the cultural differences in

the administrative processes. A main focus is

to create awareness among donors, PIs and

finance administrators of the different perspec-

tives of the various stakeholders, the admini-

stration processes, and the technical chal-

lenges of handling third-party funding.

To achieve these goals, a core working group

of German, Kenyan and Ugandan profession-

als was set up to organize a series of work-

shops to create the EANLA network in Kenya

and Uganda. Presently, 15 Kenyan and 11

Ugandan universities have already become

members and the network is expected to grow

further. At the end of the year, EANLA will

launch a handbook on third-party finance ad-

ministration conveying the shared experiences

and results achieved so far. For the future, the

EANLA Wiki will provide a platform to further

promote the exchange. As one participant in

Uganda put it: “This workshop was overdue

and should have happened yesterday!”

Birgit Felmeden, Simone Buckel, Florian Dörr (ICDD KASSEL)

Call for Applications: Deadline for DAAD

PhD Scholarships in Germany

On September 30!

Uganda: East African Network of Learning of Administration has expanded to Uganda

Learning how to administer third-party funding: DAAD Programme

Officer Margaret Kirai making a point.

Kenya: DAAD DONATES EQUIPMENT TO MMUST

Equipment meant to supplement the setting up of a university-

wide Geographical Information Systems (GIS) laboratory was

officially handed over by DAAD to Masinde Muliro University of

Science and Technology (MMUST) on 10th June.

The equipment consisted of 15 PC computers, one laptop, an A3

size colour printer, Scanner, seven hand-held Trimble GPS re-

ceivers and ArcGIS software. It will enhance research and the

teaching of GIS across five departments in the Kakamega-based

university. With a population of about 400 students taking

courses in GIS per year, it is expected that more than 200 stu-

dents will access and use the lab per semester. MMUST Vice-

Chancellor Prof. Fredrick Otieno implored on staff to implement

the German working culture where professors spend long hours in laboratories beyond normal schedule doing research.

DAAD Representative Anja Bengelstorff gave a presentation to staff and students on scholarship opportunities for PhD students to

Germany and In-Country scholarships. She emphasized on the under-utilization of these scholarships even after the number was

increased as a result of the joint support from the Kenya-Government–DAAD initiative. Using examples, she explained the processes

of finding a potential supervisor in Germany. During the handover, the Vice-Chancellor of the University lauded DAAD on their contin-

ued follow up and support to their alumni. The donation will help equip laboratories and boost research and teaching.

The application for the DAAD equipment grant was submitted by DAAD Alumnus Dr. Alex Khaemba. It involved writing of a convinc-

ing proposal having identified the existing gaps, the need and the impact the equipment could have for the department.

Make an application, and your students will benefit: MMUST staff members celebrating

the new equipment grant, made available through DAAD.