UDS to partner foreign universities

Some foreign universities have expressed interest to partner the University for Development Studies (UDS) to promote effective teaching and learning for their mutual benefit.

The institutions include the Kentucky State University of the United States of America (USA); the University for Applied Sciences, Germany; Cambridge University, United Kingdom; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.

The agreement with the Kentucky University involves an exchange programme between the University's School of Social Work/Criminal Justice and the UDS.

It will offer opportunities for the students to learn about and experience new and diverse environments within which they can study while expanding their professional and personal perspectives based on various academic majors and focus of study.

According to the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the UDS, Professor David Millar, authorities of both universities were collaborating to fashion modalities for the commencement of the programme.

He said the partnership with the University for Applied Sciences would include the training and establishment of e-learning systems, support for lecturers in doctoral programmes and the facilitation of admissions and grants, as well as setting up of student exchange initiatives between the two institutions of higher learning.

Professor Millar indicated that the first phase of the programme that will begin this year is expected to end in 2012 after which co-coordinators of the project and representatives from the two universities would meet to review and discuss the future of the collaboration.

The Cambridge University and the MIT programmes involve a three-way collaborative partnership with the UDS under which a proposed Master's degree in Development Practice (Infrastructural Delivery) would be established.

The two-year course aims at training students with science and engineering backgrounds as specialists in sustainable development with multi-cultural and disciplinary competencies.

The programme will be delivered through novel multi-university collaborations among the three universities in partnership with universities in the Global South.

The first of such alliances will commence in Africa with the UDS and will subsequently be expanded to include universities in Latin America and South-East Asia.

This new degree will build on the existing complementary Master's programmes of the three institutions while at the same time offering new directions.

In May last year, the UDS entered into a partnership with the Galilee College of Israel in such academic areas, including training in applied sciences.