NC State Coordinates East Africa Higher Education Summit

April 5, 2019 Staff 2-min. read

As part of the Global Engagement Institute, NC State University and Makerere University co-organized the East African Higher Education Summit on Building Communities for Resilience, which took place March 11-13 in Kampala, Uganda.

Sixteen NC State faculty and staff members traveled to Uganda during spring break for the inaugural Global Engagement Institute trip. During the summit, participants developed strategies to strengthen higher education in the East Africa region by building upon the active partnership between Makerere University and NC State.

Representatives from Gulu University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, and Mount Kenya University also attended and contributed to the discussions and plans for future collaboration.

The summit provided a platform for the East African universities to have a dialogue on the transformation of higher education to support research and economic development, capacity building through partnerships, and regional implementation mechanisms.

Addressing important global challenges, such as food security, public health, and climate change within the context of community engagement provided a framework for interactions among scientists, researchers, academics and students during the three-day summit. Dr. Steve Lommel and Dr. Craig Yencho gave presentations about NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as well as major ongoing projects. Participants also met with faculty at Makerere University to discuss their research and proposals for new projects.

In addition to the presentations, administrators from Gulu University, Mount Kenya University, and Mbarara University of Science and Technology signed a commitment to further deepen the strategic partnership between the universities by pursuing excellence in research and increased staff and student mobility.

Now back at NC State, the Global Engagement Institute will continue to guide its participants as they collaborate on international projects with partners in the region. The projects – ranging from STEM teacher training in Rwanda to building connections with partners in the Sub-Saharan Africa fashion industry – encompass the interdisciplinarity goals of the program.

The Global Engagement Institute provides professional development, support, guidance, and consultation for faculty and staff interested in developing research, scholarship or academic programs with an international focus. The Office of Global Engagement will facilitate another Global Engagement Institute trip focused on a different world region next spring.