Jimma University of Ethiopia and Ghent University of Belgium Collaboration: Interview with Pr. Dr. Luc Duchateau
Ethio-Belgian university collaboration: Interview with Pr. Dr. Duchateau of Ghent University
Pr. Dr. Luc Duchateau (Ghent University, Belgium) is the Coordinator of the Institutional University Collaboration (IUC) with Jimma University.
The IUC partnership with Jimma University (JU) commenced on 1 July 2007 and is now in its second five year phase after a successful midterm evaluation.
JU was established in 1997 and is located some 335 km from Addis Abeba. It is a national pioneer in terms of Community Based Education and hosts some 35.000 students, benefiting from ambitious government support for its expansion in terms of infrastructure and its role in the Southern part of Ethiopia.
The IUC Partner Program with JU is constituted of 5 thematic and 3 transversal projects. The thematic projects concern issues related to the livelihood of the local rural and urban communities, such as child health and nutrition, zoonotic and animal diseases, environmental health and ecology, infectious diseases and soil fertility. These projects are supported by a project on ICT (e.g. e-learning) and automatization of the library, one on socio-economics and statistical modelling and one on research coordination.
More than 30 Ethiopian scholars, who are staff of Jimma University, are currently implementing their PhD research in a sandwich form, partly in Flemish universities, partly at Jimma University, within the framework of the different projects in a multidisciplinary approach. Supported by their Flemish and Ethiopian (co-)promoters and in collaboration with Master students from both countries, they are tackling urgent societal issues such as e.g. malaria, severely malnourished children, coffee production, biodiversity threats, soil erosion, water purification, pesticide health risk, amongst others.
Source: Ethiopian Embassy in Brussels
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