Cooperating countries: Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Austria

Coordinating institution: University of Vienna

Project coordinator: Lucas Zinner

Partner institution: Moi University, Daystar University, United States International University Africa, Makerere University, Kyambogo University, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS)

Project duration: 01.07.2024 - 30.06.2026

For many decades, higher education in Africa, and in particular doctoral education, was regarded by international funding bodies and political actors as an unaffordable luxury, or at least not as a priority. As a result, particularly talented young people left their home countries and continued their higher education abroad, be it Asia (especially India and China) or Australia, Europe or the USA. Ultimately, many did not return due to a lack of career opportunities. This has changed in recent years, and the higher education sector in Africa is characterised by extreme growth figures. However, at the doctoral level in particular, there is still a lack of the necessary research skills and infrastructure, as well as the capacity to establish appropriate doctoral programmes. One of the many weaknesses is certainly the capacity and expertise in doctoral supervision. The DAAD has responded with an online training programme developed and implemented by CREST at Stellenbosch University. Lucas Zinner advised on the development of this programme on the recommendation of the Council for Doctoral Education of the EUA. To date, some 500 mostly young academic colleagues from 35 countries in Africa have been trained as supervisors in these online courses in an intensive training programme lasting six months. As impressive as the numbers are, they are still low compared to the demand. The reasons for this are the limited scalability of online training, but also the fees charged by the University of Stellenbosch, which represented a significant hurdle for many.

To overcome the limiting factors while building on the trainings’ strengths, EAST-SPARK will conduct train-the-trainer workshops with alumni of the training in East Africa to enable them to design and implement own training courses for their colleagues in their local context. The aim is to jointly develop a syllabus, assignments, training materials, etc. for on-site supervisor training, based on the experiences gained at the CREST programme and international best practices, but tailored to local conditions. The trainings will be piloted in the respective universities and refined after an evaluation. With this activity, we will also build a community of practice to professionalize doctoral supervision. All content will be made available on an open access basis to ensure maximum sustainability.