From Oldenburg to 
Ghana – A master’s degree

The digital revolution has yet to reach large parts of Africa. But profes­sional data processing and transmission is hugely important for the continent’s development. Internet access is not the only problem: in many African countries there is also a shortage of well-trained experts.

That situation is now set to change thanks to the new ICT for Africa study programmes. “With funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is supporting the development of joint degree programmes in applied information and communication technology at German and African higher education institutions, with specialisation options in environmental management, health care management and business informatics,” explains Cay Etzold, Head of Section Eastern and Southern Africa at the DAAD. While there are plenty of ICT courses available today, he says, “the master’s programmes being developed here – jointly, it’s important to emphasise – meet an urgent demand not only in Africa and offer specialisation options that address pressing global issues.”

This autumn saw the launch of the first of these new courses, a master’s programme in Health Information Management at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Kenya Methodist University and the University of the Western Cape. Another project is being coordinated by the University of Oldenburg in the German federal state of Lower Saxony. Together with the University of Ghana, the University of Dar es Salaam and the Universidade Pedagógica in Mozambique, it is developing study programmes offering a combination of informatics, economics and environmental sciences. The third project, a programme in business informatics, is being conducted by Flensburg University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with the Polytechnic of Namibia and the Institut de Technologie et de Management in Cameroon.

The aim of the initiative is not only to help develop technical expertise but also to promote the acquisition of intercultural competence and management skills as well as fostering networking between individual academics and universities. ▪

Clara Görtz