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RUFORUM Triennial Thought Pieces: ISSUE 16 – Prof. Hulela Keba

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Envisioning the Future of Africa and needed Actions

Background

In the recent past the continent of Africa has been playing catching up game in driving its social-economic development agenda. Well-read scholars such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to mention but the few, made attempts in one way or the other in contributing to this development agenda of the continent of Africa to be at par if not equivalent to the developed continents globally. Scientists and scholars as mentioned by Newsham (2008) have also emerged on the African continent, and studies have been conducted during the process of the aforementioned developments.

On the contrary despite the encouraging efforts made as strategies the continent of Africa has not achieved much to date due to the tragedies of poverty, warfare and diseases (Show, 2015). Several other factors including natural disasters continue to hinder the design and implementation of sound economic plans in Africa to bring prosperity to the continent. According to Show (2015), planning for such development requires the consideration of an inclusive political system, visionary leadership, open markets, investment in human and economic capital, good regional integration, and good relationships with foreign powers. Kabba as far back as 1997 envisaged some developments and changes taking place on the global scene, which were foreseen to have far-reaching ramifications for the continent and its development partners. Until today, strategies are still being sought and envisioned for the future of Africa and actions needed. Strengthening Higher Agricultural Education, Science, Technology and Innovation has the potential to catalyse the needed development in Africa.

Africa is a continent with very diverse cultural settings coupled with the different colonial background legacies which have been accepted across Africa. However, the strategy of the Africa Union that encourages a modern agriculture for increased productivity and production together with development partners, calls for increased role of higher education to become throttlehold for today. Higher education in agriculture if planned, implemented, and well executed will help propel development in the continent. Specifically, among other factors to consider about higher education are that it (i) should be demand-driven (Deegan & Martin, 2019), (ii) transformative and innovative education (Holley, 2009; Yee, Raijmakers, and Ichikawa, (2019), (iii) skill-matching education (Chris Ryan and Mathias Sinning, 2009; International Labour Organization, 2015), (iv) career-ready education, demand- ready education, and (v) gender-balanced synergies in leadership of higher education. These are elaborated below.

The demand-driven education

Deegan & Martin (nd) argue that it matters how education systems merge with work learning to develop the human skills that matter in development plans. Deegan & Martin (nd) further stated that the world of work is changing as both the technology and the demographics of our populations are changing. As a result, jobs and work environments have also changed requiring a more flexible, dynamic, and equitable system of preparation. Traditional routes to employment have functioned much like these roads, which are also changing. Conventional credentials, like the university degrees, and vocational training qualifications have offered defined entrances and exits for individuals looking for jobs that lead to careers. A map of this system may look less like a highway that runs from one city to the other and more like the iconic web of circles and intersections of any network that exist in a community. Africa is connected through university technology networks where education offered matters at these higher institutions in the network. The education offered at these networks should be demand-driven. The demand-driven higher education, which refers to the education required by the students than education required by the institution (supply driven education) is one that is required and envisioned for the continent. As indicated by Kirschner and Valkce (2005), the evolution of the demand-driven education comes at a time when it is coupled with technology and related systems need to be strengthened for Africa to enhance its development.

Transformative and innovative education

Transformative and innovative education matters a lot in the development of Africa. The two concepts which are ‘transformative and innovative’ education are crucial in Africa’s economic development. According to Koh, Chapmman and Larry (2020), it is an important initiative in education that would create an equal learning opportunity for many learners to develop Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) literacy, and global competencies.

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Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

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The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.

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Mature Age Scheme Exam Results for 2025/2026

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The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released full results for the Mature Age Entry Scheme Examinations for the Academic Year 2025/2026 held on Saturday 14th December, 2024.

The Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the examination and have been recommended by the Pre-Entry & Mature Age Committee to the University’s Admissions Board for Consideration.

The Aptitude Exam  Results for 2025/2026 Academic Year released in February 2025 can be found here.

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Call for Application: 2025 SNRM session 4 Summer School

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Participants in focused group discussions. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus East Africa Research Network (LEARN) in collaboration with the Urban Action Lab at Makerere University a workshop to deliberate strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change in urban centres in the East African Region, Theme: “Resilient Urban Futures: Adapting Livelihoods to Climate Change”, 4th-5th September 2024, School of Public Health Auditorium, Kampala Uganda.

Context:
Natural resources in Africa are being depleted at an alarming rate due to several factors, including unsustainable human activities, climate change, and population growth. A primary condition of sustainable development is to ensure that the pressures do not exceed the environmental limits, and that demand for the resources does not exceed levels that can be sustainably provided by nature. Therefore, there is a pressing need for transformative, systems-thinking approaches and tools that can tackle the diverse challenges facing these systems. In Africa, this need is compounded by a lack of data and monitoring, which significantly hinders sustainable decision-making.

Investing in young scientists who are committed to take lead in sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources is very important. Capacity building of young scientists will enhance their knowledge and skill on sustainable natural resources and their involvement for implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Africa. To this effect, SNRM summer schools have been implemented in three sessions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 with support from Volkswagen Foundation; to build a critical mass of skilled and competent young natural resource scientists in Africa through training, capacity building and mentorship. Session 4 (2025) will target competent young scientists (MSc and PhD students) in Africa and Germany to further develop their knowledge and skills in systems thinking, advanced data collection and analysis, and application of emerging digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), and embracing transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, we include an ideation workshop where students can work on real problems to come up with solutions for sustainable transformations in natural resource use.

Organizers: Leibniz Universität – Hannover (Germany), University of Antananarivo, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana (Ghana), University of Parakou (Benin), The Technical University of Kenya, with financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).

Venue and dates: Nairobi, Kenya, 16-28 November 2025

Target: MSc and PhD students, early in the program of less than 35 years of age from any university/research institution in either sub-Saharan Africa or Germany with an interest in natural resources management.

Participants and Scholarships: The course is fully funded and open to 20 MSc and PhD students from Africa, and 5 from Germany. Funding will cover the costs of air ticket, accommodation, meals, visa, and transportation. However, participants will cover the cost of their travel health insurance.

Topics

SNRM Summer School Session 4: Transformative pathways in biodiversity management and conservation.
This summer school is designed to deliver four modules over a two-week period. The modules are designed to enable the students to acquire new ways of designing data collection protocols and analysis for transformative sustainable natural resources management.

Module 4.1: Data collection I
Skills in data collection for a transformative and sustainable management of natural resources (water, wildlife, forest, land, livestock, crops) monitoring and data collection techniques; remote monitoring tools, earth observation system data, e.g. satellite data sources, LIDAR, and UAV aerial images. Collect and analyse In-situ data on biotic and abiotic parameters, map and analyse data using R or Google Earth Engine, field data collection and retrieving data from online databases.

Module 4.2 Data management and processing
Introduction to tools and methods of managing large and diverse data sets of natural resources such as time series, spatial, directional, and multivariate data. Practicals will include data storage, organization and conversion into various formats using databases such as PostgreSQL and statistical programming software such as R and Python; scripts.

Module 4.3 Ecological monitoring, modelling and management
This module aims to teach participants how to anticipate and validate trends that can be observed in various ecosystems. Lectures include ecological monitoring and its design; population monitoring studies; metrics in population monitoring; methods for monitoring and assessing marine ecosystems; human ecology to socio-ecological systems; climate change impact of ecosystems; suitability assessments; overview of the principles underlying wildlife monitoring and prediction systems for climate change adaptation. Practicals will include field data collection (individual and group); ecological data analysis using R or PAST; modelling and experiencing the behaviour of complex systems using Vensim.

Module 4.4 Natural habitat restoration ideation lab
This module is designed to spur students’ innovation and creativity, and to help students comprehensively identify interdependencies across the 17 SDG goals. Participants will be trained on ideation processes for solutions and intervention for transformative natural resource management. They will work collaboratively in small groups on case studies and develop pathways of transformative sustainable natural resource management. Examples of projects include forest (mangrove) ecosystem and habitat restoration, improved technologies for agricultural production, nature-based solutions for improving water quality, and reversing land degradation.

Language: The course will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to be fluent in writing and speaking the English language.

How to apply

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from https://snrmafrica.com/ and submit the following documents in English through the system.

  • a curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
  • a letter of motivation (maximum 1 page)
  • a confirmation of university enrolment
  • a reference letter from the academic supervisor
  • project summary of MSc/ PhD project (1 page including objectives, methodology
    and key findings or expected outcomes).

Important dates
Application deadline: 30th June 2025.
Announcement of accepted applicants: 15th August 2025.
Confirmation of attendance by selected participants: 12th Sept 2025.
Summer school held: 16 – 28 Nov 2025.

Further information is available from

The secretariat info@snrmafrica.com
Dr Lydia Olaka lydiaolaka@tukenya.ac.ke
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stuetzel stuetzel@gem.uni-hannover.de

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