EDULINK Proposal

Working title: Education and Training Network of Excellence for the Improvement of
Agricultural Productivity and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Partners
African partners
1. Potential coordinator: still looking for an institution (preferably in South Africa)
2. Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) (Tanzania) - Dr. Baanda A. Salim
3. Jomo Kenyatta University for Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) (Kenya) - Dr. Urbanus N. Mutwiwa
4. Ahmadu Bello University (Nigeria) - Dr. Henry Igbadun
5. Makerere University (Uganda) (tbc through Dr. Salim)
6. Partner Namibia (tba)
7. Ethiopia (tbe, contact already existent)
8. Ghana (tba through Prof. Behr)

European partners
9. University of Applied Sciences Berlin (Germany) - Prof. Moeller
10. Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences (Germany) - Prof. Behr
11. Agricultural University of Athens (Greece) -Prof. Demetres Briassoulis

Background
Many countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region are still lacking a profound, state of the art education and training in terms of agricultural productivity and food security. All countries are facing challenges like global warming and as a consequence rapidly changing climate, agriculture has to response to the changing environment fast. This is true especially for countries in the Sub-Sahara region, because the climate is already extreme in many parts of this area. Agricultural strategies and efficient farming methods adapted to the changing climate have to be developed and tested in the field.

Project Goal
An education and training network will be established, linking most affected countries one to each other. Centers of the network are located at prominent Universities distributed all over the Sub Sahara region and additional training and management input will be provided by renowned European Universities.

Results/Outcome
The project will establish intensely linked Centers of Excellence in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries together with the EU to supply the next generation of professionals and  technicians in Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering (ABE) with a high level knowledge of agricultural management and increased yield productivity.

• High performing graduates who are highly sought by prospective employers with
commensurate levels of recruitment.
• Provision of innovative solutions to national and local problems such as increasing
agriculture yields, and new design and construction methodologies for infrastructure
rehabilitation.
• Service to the ABE profession and nation to promote their respective disciplines, set
standards, and develop and disseminate best practices

• Serving as models for regional institutions of higher learning.

Elements required to accomplish these outcomes are:

Joint curricula development: the curricula in ABE at the SSA institutions need to be
updated with latest state of the scientific and technical knowledge to reflect current
problems, modern practices, course work, instructional tools and methodologies.

Faculty Development: the skill sets of current members of staff require upgrading to
facilitate instruction of revised curricula.

Infrastructure Development: The availability of modern facilities is paramount to a quality education for ABE.

Student Services: Access issues are important to the ABE programme. The Project will devise means and ways of attracting female students to the ABE programme

Outreach Programs & Linkages: Outreach activities are essential to enable the
universities to stay relevant to stakeholders in the respective SSA countries.
Establish an exchange program with specialized courses between European Universities and SSA Universities.

Duration of the EDULINK action
3 years with an option for additional 3 years