nairobi newsletter

Regional Office for Africa - 2 | 2012

Call for applications

In-Country/In-Region

scholarships

for a Master or PhD at an

accredited Kenyan university/

a scientific network

Deadline: 20 June 2012

For teaching staff members

of public and private

universities in Kenya

Further info:

http://nairobi.daad.de/

funding_for_studying_kenya_

a.php

New scholars

DAAD will send 35 Kenyan

scholars to Germany for Master

and PhD studies:

Master: Leo Mutisya, Steve

Wakhu, Seth Amuom, Cyrus

Maweu; Jane Wangui, Thomas

Athoo, Suzanne Mboya, Linus

Korir, Kennedy Osano, Linda

Isuyi, Ronald Ketter, Michelle

Akute, Victor Otieno, Linnet

Ndiema, Wako Gabado

PhD: Evelyne Kihiu, Ida

Makena, Juliah Akwhale, Paul

Kuria Kamweru, Livingstone

Ochilo, Christine Awiti, Duncan

Ndegwa, Jacinter Atieno, Zip-

porah Musyimi, Patricia Korir,

Juliet Kariuki, James Kuria

Kimotho, David Ambogo, Lucy

Mburu Waruguru, James

Ogone, Julius Toeri, Kevin

Mganga, Eric Bosire, Celestine

Makobe, John Mbaka

Editorial

DAAD

Regional Office for Africa

P.O.Box 14050-00800

Nairobi, Kenya

Director:

Christoph Hansert

Editor:

Anja Bengelstorff

Contact:

+254 733 929 929

info@daadafrica.org

http://nairobi.daad.de

The event in Nairobi on 15 March attracted more than one

hundred highly interested and dedicated current DAAD

scholars and alumni. Some of Kenya’s most outstanding

public intellectuals in the fields of the judiciary, science,

and arts shared their ideas on change in society –

CHANGE being the motto of DAAD activities worldwide in

2012.

George Kegoro, Executive Director of the Kenya Chapter

of the International Commission of Jurists, reminded the

listeners of the trajectory of Kenya on its way to a fully in-

clusive democracy and rule of law. Still, with regard to the

2007 elections, he warned that citizens need to be alert

and willing to stand up for their rights at any time. Also, he

stressed that in order to create a more just society with

opportunities in life for everyone, it is vital to fight corrup-

tion and remind decision makers of their responsibility for

the well-being of the people.

The importance of science to change society was high-

lighted by Prof. Hamadi Boga, Humboldt Foundation Am-

bassador and Principal of Taita Taveta University College.

Referring to the scientific method,

Prof. Hamadi held that challeng-

ing orthodoxy through scientific

discovery is the key to progress

in general. Giving examples from

his own field of research, microbi-

ology, he demonstrated how

seemingly small discoveries – as

the formulation of the germ theory

of disease by German scholar

Robert Koch in 1890 – contain

within themselves the potential to

change the world.

Finally, Kenya’s most famous

cartoonist Gado (Daily Nation,

XYZ Show) commented on how

art can make a difference in soci-

ety. Showing some of his most

provocative cartoons, he got the

audience in fits while at the same

time earning high esteem for his

daring and unswerving work in

the public interest. Yet Gado also

gave an account of how press

freedom and civil rights have pro-

gressed over the last 20 years,

when his career as a political car-

toonist was still in its infancy.

Although observing society from

very different angles, the three

speakers concurred that carefully

considered but purposeful individ-

ual action is necessary to change

society for the better.

Why CHANGE Matters – And How It Can Be Achieved

DAAD Holds Symposium on What Makes a Difference in Society

Daily Nation cartoonist Gado with DAAD Regional Director Christoph Hansert

page 2

newsletter 2 I 2012

Training for Regional DAAD Scholars

….on PhD Poster Presentations

This year, in addition to scholars from Kenya, we invited future

trainers from Tanzania and Uganda, to lay the foundations for fur-

ther DAAD trainings on PhD poster presentation in the region. In

total fourteen PhD students and four trainers were trained by two

Kenyan Alumni, one expert and the DAAD lecturer.

During a pilot event last year, poster preparation was squeezed

into five hours time. This year we allowed participants and trainers

two and a half days for the journey from research project to a win-

ning poster presentation.

During the first day, we focused on the conceptualization of the

poster, using pen and paper. Complex research methods and find-

ings needed to bet put in words and graphics, as simple and short

as possible to grasp the attention of a potential reader passing by.

On the second day, participants and trainers were handed an open

source software bundle – both to have a common toolbox and to

promote free software. With good concepts and these simple and

free-to-use tools, participants created quite impressing posters dur-

ing nine hours only working on their laptops. The resulting poster in

A1 format could have been presented at any conference. For the

most successful participants DAAD provided even copies in A0

size.

Spreading the content to two and a half days was very helpful and

helped achieving professional posters, ready for conference use.

Given the success, trainers are already looking forward to having

more workshops in the neighbouring countries.

The jury concluded that the best posters were, in order of ranking,

presented by Addis Teshome, Nicodemus Musembi, and Negera

Abdisa.

...on e-resources

The research rigor expected for the completion of

a Masters can be daunting to a scholar. DAAD

therefore organized an exciting two-and-a- half day

workshop drawing facilitators from Uganda, Tanza-

nia and Kenya, seeking to expose the participants

to the various quality e-resources available to them

through their institutions as well as to train the

scholars in literature review and referencing using

software and emerging Web 2.0 technologies.

The 21 DAAD-sponsored Master scholars were

shown the use of Zotero, a free and open citation

software. They were exposed to the various

sources of scholarly e-resources from scientific

databases and how to access them through the

Research For Life programmes as well as those

available within their universities. They were further

shown how to use open data repositories, open

journals and other grey literature sources. By the

end of the training, the DAAD scholars had a

skeletal bibliography. “This training is so timely”,

chimed Jackson Mdoe from Kenya. “I now know

that I will complete my studies on time.”

Georg Verweyen / Ruth Gibendi

page 3

newsletter 2 I 2012

DAAD and BMZ

encourage “University-

Enterprise

Cooperations with

Developing Countries“

This recently launched initia-

tive, funded by the German

Federal Ministry for Eco-

nomic Cooperation and

Development (BMZ), seeks

to increase the application of

practical knowledge and

skills within university degree

courses. Institutions of higher

education both in Germany

and an African partner coun-

try are invited to cooperate

with private enterprises,

associations, and other

business actors. It is open to

all academic fields.

In order to become part of

the initiative, German institu-

tions of higher education can

apply in collaboration with a

business partner and an

affiliated university from a

developing country.

Application deadline: May 15, 2012

More information can be

obtained under:

http://www.daad.de/

praxispartnerschaften

Potential PhD Scholarship Applicants Improve Their Proposal Writing Skills

To bolster graduate students’ skills in proposal

writing, DAAD continues to offer workshops for

promising young researchers who intend to apply

for a DAAD scholarship to undertake PhD studies

in Germany.

On March 8, more than 60 graduate studies from

various fields of study gathered at Nairobi’s ICIPE

campus to enhance their proposal writing capabili-

ties. DAAD’s Programme Officer Anja Bengelstorff,

who was in charge of the event, had invited some

of Nairobi’s most distinguished scholars in the

natural and geo sciences, economics, humanities,

social sciences and physics/engineering. In group

sessions, participants were given the opportunity to

present their Ph.D. proposal drafts and discuss

their strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, they

learned about the core components which every

strong research proposal should contain. Under the

supervision of their trainers, they understood how a

vague idea eventually develops into a “mature” and

feasible research project.

Another part of the workshop was dedicated to

electronic literature access, review, and reference

management. Dr. Pamela Marinda, a consultant

with ITOCA and a holder of a doctorate from Ger-

many, equipped the participants with useful knowl-

edge and skills in the use of online literature re-

sources and academic computer tools. Lastly, Anja

Bengelstorff and Georg Verweyen, DAAD lecturer

at Kenyatta University, explained how to apply for

a DAAD scholarship and how to find a Ph.D. su-

pervisor in Germany.

The second part of the workshop will take place on

June 7 for participants to improve their proposals

with their trainers. Altogether, the participants con-

curred that the workshop helped them to refine

their research goals, the methodology needed to

attain them, and the practical steps necessary to

embark on an international research career as a

DAAD scholar.

With the generous support of DAAD Nairobi

Office, the Ugandan Universities Quality As-

surance Forum (UUQAF) successfully held its

first ever quality assurance training on the 1st

and 2nd

of March 2012. This training, hosted

by the International University of East Africa,

was aimed at building the capacity of QA co-

ordinators in universities in Uganda.

A total of 50 participants drawn from 22 uni-

versities and one tertiary institution were

trained on, for example, the concept of quality

in higher education, the NCHE Quality Assur-

ance framework for Ugandan universities,

Quality Assurance practices in the East Afri-

can region, experiences in establishing and

managing Quality Assurance Units from some

East African universities, and developing in-

stitutional quality assurance policies.

The training was facilitated by regional, na-

tional and one German expert in quality as-

surance in higher education. DAAD was ably

represented by Ina Grieb, one of the key Ger-

man experts in the East African Quality As-

surance Initiative since 2006.

The participants were overjoyed by the input

of the facilitators, most of whom have been

trained under the IUCEA-DAAD Quality As-

surance Initiative. “We are grateful to UUQAF

and its partners for this training in quality as-

surance and please provide more opportuni-

ties for such trainings to enhance our capacity

in doing the work of quality assurance in our

institutions”, said a participant. UUQAF is

equally grateful to its partners for their sup-

port and to the participants for their active

involvement in the training.

Michael Mawa

Quality Assurance Multiplication Workshop in Uganda

DAAD Open Day

on May 5, 2012

9 am — 5 pm

Goethe-Institut Nairobi

an excellent opportunity for

professionals and researchers

to find out more about Master’s

and Ph.D. scholarships to

Germany funded by DAAD

General presentations every

hour (starting at 10 a.m.),

individual consultations

throughout

Maendeleo House,

Monrovia Street

www.goethe.de/kenia

page 4

newsletter 2 I 2012

New DAAD Lecturer in Uganda

My name is Dr. Mirjam Gille and during the next two years or so, I will represent DAAD in Uganda’s capital Kampala. I arrived here on March 1

st; I was welcomed very warmly and settled well

during the first weeks of my stay.

My fields of activity are lecturing German as a Foreign Language at Makerere University in Kampala at the Department for Euro-pean and Oriental Languages. I also provide students with ad-vice on DAAD scholarship offers for Uganda.

In Germany I lived in the beautiful Ruhr area, which is in the mid-western part of Germany. I studied German as a Foreign Lan-guage, German Studies, and Social Pedagogy. I worked as a teacher and lectured at the Technical University of Dortmund.

This is the first time for me to visit a country south of the Sahara and I’m really looking forward to learn a lot about the people, the culture, the country, and everything else in the “Pearl of Africa”.

New “Kulturweit” Volunteer at DAAD’s Regional Office for Africa

At the end of February, the team of DAAD’s Nairobi outpost bid farewell to the previous German “Kulturweit” volunteer, Isabell Schneider. Lately, her duties have been taken over by her successor Daniel Hagen, who arrived in Nairobi re-cently. Before coming to Kenya, Daniel received his B.A. degree in social sciences from Bonn University.

As this is his first visit to an African country, Daniel says he is excited to indulge in its culture, get in touch with its peo-ple, and meet scholars and alumni of DAAD in East Africa. Subsequent to his return to Germany, he intends to pursue

Master’s studies in the field of social determinants of health.

While his first permanent stay abroad was in Germany’s neighbouring country Denmark, he expects his service in Nairobi to be a life-changing experience of a completely different kind. When asked about his motivation to go to Kenya and join the DAAD staff in its Regional Office for Africa, he replies, “Having been an exchange student myself, I know that studying abroad is an invaluable experi-ence for almost everyone who is lucky to have the opportunity to do so. Also, I have come to appreciate scholarly exchange and cultural diversity, both of which is promoted by DAAD and its scholars all over the world. As for why I opted to go to Africa, fellow students and friends coming from a number of Afri-can countries have stirred my interest in the region. The most cordial welcome by the local DAAD staff and the Kenyan friends I have made so far reinforces that decision.”

Daniel will be assisting DAAD’s Regional Office for Africa until early August.

DAAD represented at ADEA Meeting in Burkina Faso

The Executive Secretary of the Inter-University Council of East Africa, Prof. Mayunga Nkunya and the coordinating ex-

pert on behalf of DAAD’s Nairobi office of the IUCEA/DAAD QA Initiative in East Africa, Prof Mike Kuria of Daystar Uni-

versity, made a well-received presentation during the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)

Triennale Meeting held from the 12th to 17

th of February 2012 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The paper, titled Joint

Capacity Development for Regional Quality Assurance: The IUCEA-DAAD-HRK East African Quality Assurance Initia-

tive was co-authored between them and the Africa DAAD Regional Director, Christoph Hansert. The paper was well re-

ceived and generated discussions touching on the quality of higher education across Africa. Many of the respondents to

the paper said they were impressed by the progress made in East Africa towards building a regional quality assurance

framework and especially the publication of the handbook A Road Map to Quality: Handbook for Quality Assurance in

Higher Education.

Mike Kuria

page 5

newsletter 2 I 2012

DIES International Deans’ Course (IDC)

concludes with final workshop at Addis

Ababa University

In mid-February, the final workshop of the International Deans’ Course (IDC)

brought together 30 higher education managers from ten African countries.

The distinguished group of vice-deans and deans had already met nine

months ago when the first training on faculty management took place in Ger-

many. Subsequently, the final seminar of the IDC on "Strategic and Practical

Issues in Higher Education Management” was carried out in Ethiopia and

hosted by Addis Ababa University (AAU). Dr. Admasu Tsegaye, President of

the AAU, and German Ambassador Lieselore Cyrus welcomed the IDC par-

ticipants at the official opening ceremony.

The five-day seminar included various sessions on topics such as research

management, entrepreneurship, public relations, human resource manage-

ment, and internationalisation. However, it was mainly the participants them-

selves who took centre stage. They presented the results of the reform pro-

jects implemented during the course of the programme at their respective

home universities. Moreover, participants discussed how to move forward and

continue networking upon completion of the course. To this end, DAAD’s

alumni programmes were presented, especially with regard to the activities of

DIES alumni networks such as the regional network in Eastern Africa (REAL).

In his keynote speech Prof. Peter Mayer, Academic Coordinator of the IDC at

the University of Applied Science in Osnabrück, gave a comprehensive over-

view on trends and perspectives in the European Higher Education Area. He

also commented on how the Bologna Process is perceived beyond Europe.

Furthermore, Dr. Michael Brinkmeier, member of the

parliament of the German federal state North Rhine-

Westphalia, took the chance to attend the opening

and shared his views on the Bologna reform process.

The International Deans’ Course (IDC) is carried out

under the umbrella of the programme "Dialogue on

Innovative Higher Education Strategies" (DIES),

which has been coordinated jointly by DAAD and the

German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) since 2001. Ger-

man partners are the University of Applied Sciences

Osnabrück and the Centre for Higher Education

(CHE). African expertise is provided by trainers from

Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia.

“LIKE” US ON FACEBOOK!

Want to be kept updated on DAAD’s activities in Africa?

Visit our Facebook presence

DAAD Regional Office for Africa

and “like” it in order to keep in touch with us.

It offers useful information on upcoming events, scholarship

opportunities, and degree courses at German institutions of

higher education.

The fastest way to access is via the following shortcut:

https://www.facebook.com/DAADNairobi.

Please note that you are not required to have an own Face-

book account to see the page content.

IDC trainers together with Dr. Michael Brinkmeier, MP in

North Rhine-Westphalia (third from right), and Marc Wilde,

Head of Section for DIES at the DAAD headquarter

in Bonn (fourth from right)