ZEF embarks on cooperation in higher education with the Pan African University
December 08, 2014.
ZEF is now an official cooperation partner of the Pan African University in higher education. In a joint effort with the United Nations University in Bonn and the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, ZEF is to set up scientific and institutional capacities of the Institute of Water and Energy Sciences at the Abou Bekr Alkaid University in Tlemcen, Algeria.
The two-year project will be supported financially by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). From a total budget line of around 1 million euros ZEF will be allocated 330,000 euros.
“ZEF has decade-long experience in setting up academic capacities and educating young researchers in Africa”, says ZEF-director and principal investigator Christian Borgemeister. “There will certainly be synergies, for example with our ZEF doctoral studies program, but, most of all, with the <link http: www.wascal.org external-link-new-window external link in new>WASCAL (West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use) program in West Africa. WASCAL is running graduate schools on climate and land use at universities in 10 West African countries”, Borgemeister explains.
The<link http: pauwes.univ-tlemcen.dz about pan-african-university-pau external-link-new-window external link in new> Pan African University is a network which was founded by the African Union in 2012. The overall aim was to strengthen and expand higher education, science and innovation potentials on the African continent. For this purpose, five institutes at five different locations in Africa were established, each of them with an own thematic focus and an international twinning partner (“lead thematic partner”). The main strategy is to educate graduates and doctoral students and invest in applied sciences. Germany is the lead thematic partner of the institute in Tlemcen, whose acronym is <link http: pauwes.univ-tlemcen.dz external-link-new-window external link in new>PAUWES (Pan African University, Institute of Water and Energy Sciences - including Climate Change).