Ausbildungspakt mit Afrika (AmA) / Training Pact with Africa - 'HSWT International School'.

African agriculture faces numerous challenges

• an increasing demand for food due to a rapidly growing world population with limited space of arable and pasture land,
• scarcity of resources,
• low productivity in smallholder agriculture,
• post-harvest spoilage of food during storage and transport and
  
• the global inequalities in terms of distribution of food produced around the world.[1]
  https://www.giz.de/de/weltweit/32209.html

With this in mind, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT) has set itself the goal of assisting with the development of the knowledge society in Africa, working together with the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German "Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit" (GIZ) GmbH on the project „Green Innovation Centres in the Agriculture and Food Industry“ (GIAE) and the special initiative „ONEWORLD - No Hunger“. The „Training Pact with Africa“ (AmA) is funded as part of the GIC. The countries participating in the GIC-Project[2] are shown in Figure 1.

"HSWT International School" is responsible for the content and organisation of the "Training Pact with Africa". The training pact is based on the five pillars shown in Figure 4. The illustration shows three key measures that are being implemented. There is particular emphasis on the exchange of experiences and ideas between the partner universities and institutions, as well as networking among the partners themselves.

The first pillar is formed of partnerships. These are used to build on the relations between HSWT and African partners and the work in common areas of interest by organising staff exchanges between the universities and establishing long-term collaboration through training and education. These university partnerships form the basis for running the postgraduate training course, the International Masters of Agricultural Management (IMA) and Farm Management (MFM) and the alumni network. The cooperation with partner universities focuses in particular on the modernising educational concepts.

The goal of the partnerships is also to build networks and to establish long-term contacts with and between alumni. A number of African partner universities were identified during a series of trips in 2019, 2020 and 2022: Arsi University, Bahir Dar University, and Hawassa Hawassa University - all in Ethiopia - as well as Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) and Maseno University, and South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU), all of which are in Kenya.

The second pillar includes training in the form of exposure and lecturer courses. Exposure courses for specialists and managers last for one to two weeks. The focus here is on the exchange between specialists from the partner countries, the experience gained in Germany and transferring knowledge to the partner countries. The certificate for this course is issued in collaboration with GIZ.

The lecturer exchange and training programme focuses on modern learning methods and exchanging ideas and concepts. The aim is to convey modern methods of practical education. Until 2023, each year one course is offered for 12 participants in Germany, and the individual bilateral online support will continue until the end of the project in 2024. Target groups are teaching staff in the partner universities, primarily younger and/or female staff. HSWT issues a certificate to course participants.

The third pillar relates to the Master's degree programme „International Master in Agricultural Management“ (IMA, german speaking) and the Master degree programme "Farm Management" (MFM, english speaking) which was introduced in 2021. HSWT has been offering the IMA MAster programme for 20 years, primarily in cooperation with Eastern European partner universities. The network is now being expanded to Africa as part of the Training Pact with Africa.

From 2022 to 2024, the intention is to have each year 15 participants from African partner universities taking part in the practical semester of the degree programme, with 10 of those students then proceeding to take the Master’s degree course. Students successfully completing the entire course will be awarded a Master’s degree from HSWT.

There are also plans to introduce the International Master’s in Agricultural Management at the universities and universities of applied sciences in Africa. The IMA has been publicly commended on several occasions and in 2008 was awarded the quality label for international Master’s degree programmes by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in conjunction with the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany). HSWT International School digital is a multi-disciplinary initiative. Providing teaching materials to prepare for courses in advance and for follow-up afterwards via a learning platform within the context of blended learning is an essential part of the intensive support provided to course participants.

HSWT International School digital is a multi-disciplinary initiative. Providing teaching materials to prepare for courses in advance and for follow-up afterwards via a learning platform within the context of blended learning is an essential part of the intensive support provided to course participants.

Target groups are participants from all pillars. Adapting digital teaching materials to the specific circumstances of the partners requires close cooperation with the teachers at the partner universities. From mid-2022, a monthly accompanying online training on the topic of e-learning and didactics will be designed and implemented. The aim is to develop a joint strategy for the creation and exchange of digital teaching materials by the end of the project based on the three pilot projects "Production Economics", "Entrepreneurship in Food Value Chains" and "Storytelling".

The fourth pillar covers international, English-speaking bachelor’s degree programmes in the field of life sciences and green technologies. The first module packages for the Agriculture degree programme at the Triesdorf campus were launched in a pilot phase during the summer semester of 2019 and adapted and continued in 2020. In 2021, the three-months Bachelor summer school started. From 2022 to 2024, 10 scholarships will be awarded to outstanding students of the partner universities.

The fifth pillar focuses on the area of continuing education. One of the subareas is the

postgraduate training course ‘Food Chains in Agriculture’. The five-month course is held each year from 2018 to 2024, with 25 African participants joining each year. The programme is aimed at Master’s graduates from African countries. The aim is to understand agricultural value-added chains in all their complexity. Students also learn how to combine this knowledge with their own experiences in designing and managing chain models. The ideas generated here are intended to then be transposed to the participants’ home countries. The fact that there is a special focus on the practical orientation in this course is reflected in the numerous visits to agricultural businesses, institutions and companies.

Once they have returned to their home countries, the intention is for course graduates to work with German and international institutions for development cooperation to find possible applications for the project proposals. Support will be provided for the best participants in the practical implementation of their project work in the form of prize money from the BayWa Foundation, for example.

Cooperation between HSWT and the "green colleges" will be replaced by a strenghthened coooperation with the partner universities in the field of university didactics and e-learning modules. Two to three teachers from each of the seven partner universities are to participate in a summer school in the blended learning format in 2023. After an online phase starting in autumn 2022, a one-week training course is to take place on site in Germany in 2023.

As part of the Rectors' Conference 2023, a symposium on the topic of "Modern Applied Teaching in Agribusiness" is to be hosted at the HSWT. The aim of this symposium is to exchange experiences in teaching with a high level of application and to support the formation of a network.

In summary, the "Training Pact with Africa" provides new perspectives, both for students and for African agriculture. And, last but not least, this unique knowledge exchange promotes international economic cooperation between the countries involved..[3]