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nairobi newsletter
Regional Office for Africa - III | 2011
In this issue
President of the East
African Community launches joint East African Quality Assurance Handbook
Award of scholarships
by the German Ambas-sador and the Assistant Minister for Higher Education
Forum of Academic Vice
Rectors and Directors of Quality Assurance Dis-cuss on Guidelines for the Upcoming Three Years
The art of writing scien-
tific proposals – trained by DAAD
DAAD PhD Scholarship
holders attend the first preparatory German language course at Goethe-Institut Nairobi.
The Kenya DIES-REAL-
Alumni Network organises training for Constituent Colleges
Professor Margret
Wintermantel elected new DAAD President
A new head for DAAD
Ref. 413 Sub-Saharan Africa
Farewell to Dr. Tilo
Weber
Editorial
DAAD
Regional Office for Africa
P.O.Box 14050-00800
Nairobi, Kenya
nairobi.daad.de
Director:
Christoph Hansert
Editor:
Bonface K. Nyagah and
Anja Bengelstorff
Contact:
+254 733 929 929
President of the East African Community launches joint
East African Quality Assurance Handbook
On March 30th, 2011, Pierra Nkurunziza, the President of Burundi and Chairman of the
Heads of State of the East African Community (EAC), launched the Handbook on Quality
Assurance which was developed jointly by IUCEA, DAAD and the German Rectors‘
Conference (HRK) in the Burundian capital Bujumbura during the Annual General
Meeting of the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA).
The president of the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies was present when
IUCEA, DAAD and HRK dedicated a part of the event to quality assurance at East African
universities. Since 2006, the partners cooperate within the framework of a DIES project to
establish a Regional Quality Assurance System in universities in East Africa. An outcome of this
collaboration is the Handbook on self-evaluation of study programmes which was developed by
a team of African and European experts. The success of the „‟Roadmap to Quality‟‟ is
impressive: Since the start of the project 50 programmes in East African universities have been
evaluated within the framework of the DIES project. More information under:
http://www.daad.de/entwicklung/hochschulmanagement/massnahmen/projekte/08048.en.html
2
nairobi newsletter - III | 2011
First Scholarships of Joint Kenyan Government - DAAD Scholarship Programme handed over
by the German Ambassador,
the Assistant Minister of Higher Education, the CEO of NCST and DAAD Representatives from Bonn and Nairobi
On April 1st the DAAD Regional Office for Africa together
with DAAD Lecturers and DAAD Alumni held the first
national Scholarship Holder Meeting in Kenya, partly
attended by Her Excellency, the Ambassador of Ger-
many to Kenya, Mrs. Hellwig-Boette, the Assistant Minis-
ter for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr.
Kilemi Mweria, the CEO of the National Council for Sci-
ence and Technology, Prof. Shaukat Abdulrazak, and
the Director for Development Cooperation and Alumni
Programmes of DAAD Bonn, Dr. Anette Pieper de Avila.
Part of the full-day event was a training session for 3rd
year In-country PhD Scholars on how to come up with a
good scientific poster. 2nd
year Master students were
instructed on how to use E-libraries and E-resources.
The new scholarship holders, who in the meantime left
for Germany, received an intercultural introduction to
Germany.
In the afternoon, the Symposium “SMOKE: Science
Meets Art” took place with interesting talks on the topic
and the pre-opening of the SMOKE ART Exhibition on
the roof of the Laico Regency Hotel.
In the evening, the first scholarships of the new Kenya-
German postgraduate training programme as well as
DAAD scholarships 2011 to Germany were awarded in a
ceremonial act, accompanied by music from the Ka-
yamba roots band and followed by an open-air recep-
tion.
The art of writing scientific proposals –
trained by DAAD
Writing a scholarship award winning PhD proposal
seems to become more and more of a challenge. To
prepare potential DAAD scholarship applicants who want
to pursue a PhD degree at a university in Germany, the
DAAD Office Nairobi just completed the third PhD Pro-
posal Writing Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. With the dedi-
cated commitment of our Kenya Alumni and the gener-
ous technical support of ICIPE, we were able to train
about 60 participants, who secured a place in the first
part of the workshop which took place on April, 28.
On this first out of two training days, the young scholars
were introduced to the logic of proposal writing, the gen-
eral structure and requirements of this document whose
quality is a crucial criteria for the scholarship award deci-
sion. For the second part of the day, the scientists split
up into six working groups according to their scientific
field where they were trained on a more individual basis
on the specific proposal writing required in their disci-
pline.
3
nairobi newsletter - III | 2011
In the weeks up to the second part of the workshop on
June 9, participants had the opportunity to improve their
proposals and send them to their respective trainers for
feedback. About half of the original number of trainees
were invited again to conduct mock interviews, very simi-
lar to the interviews DAAD conducts for PhD scholarship
applications. Each participant acted at some point as
both interviewee and interviewer.
The organizing team consisting of DAAD Alumni and
Nairobi Programme Officer Anja Bengelstorff were im-
pressed by the willingness of participants to share their
knowledge, experiences and recommendations with their
fellow upcoming researchers. It is encouraging to ob-
serve that they obviously consider themselves as part of
a scientific community which can only grow with mutual
support. Besides this impressive attitude expressed by
our future DAAD scholars, we are confidently looking
forward to a great number of promising scholarship ap-
plications in 2011.
Forum of Academic Vice Rectors and Direc-tors of Quality Assurance Discuss on Guidelines for the Upcoming Three Years
The first phase of the quality assurance initiative in
East Africa has been concluded. In May 140 partici-
pants from more than 50 universities and national
regulatory bodies in East Africa discussed the con-
sequences resulting from 50 programme evaluations
conducted at East African universities in the context
of the DIES-Quality Assurance Project in East Africa
from 2007-2010.
The conference was opened by a welcome address of
the DAAD alumnus and Deputy Minister of the Kenyan
Higher Education Ministry, Professor Harry Kaane.
The overall aim of the joint DIES initiative by Inter-
University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), DAAD und
HRK has been to support the East African partner to set
up a regional quality assurance system and particularly
to modernise and increase the relevance of university
curricula.
It was concluded that during the upcoming project
phase special emphasis shall be placed on the inclu-
sion of non-university stakeholders, such as profes-
sional associations and alumni. Successful change
management projects and best practice examples in
quality assurance shall be regularly regularly dis-
cussed in national forums as well as in the alumni por-
tal Germany. Trained QA experts from East Africa will
play a major role for future trainings on site.
In a subsequent workshop the participants were in-
formed on the possibilities how to benefit from the
DAAD programmes, as well as from the European
Union EDULINK programme to support the realization
of action plans which resulted from the evaluations
within the DIES initiative.
The East African-German initiative on quality assur-
ance is part of the DAAD DIES programme. The pro-
gramme “Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education
Strategies" (DIES) supports universities in developing
countries to evolve strategies which enables them to
improve the quality and relevance of their training of-
fers. The DIES programme is coordinated jointly with
the German Rectors‟ Conference (HRK).
4
nairobi newsletter - III | 2011
DAAD PhD Scholarship holders attend the first preparatory German language course at Goethe-Institut Nairobi.
By Irene Bibi
From April 4th to May 31st, 2011 eleven DAAD schol-
ars from various universities in Kenya attended an in-
troductory and intensive German language course at
Goethe-Institut, the German Cultural Centre in Nairobi.
Barely two hours into the course, the scholars had al-
ready learned how to introduce themselves in German.
This enthusiasm for the German language and culture
characterized the 2-month course that saw the scholars
reach level A2.1 and pass the international level A1
“Start Deutsch 1” exam. To guide them through this
exciting journey of discovering the German language
and culture were our long-serving, very dedicated and
experienced teachers Judy Thirimu und Lilian Omedi.
Once a week, the DAAD office availed additional infor-
mation on day-to-day life in Germany.
The morning session was devoted to learning of new
structures, the afternoon for internalizing these struc-
tures through interactive media such as language
games, films, online exercises, vocabulary cards etc.
This proved that German can also be learnt in a fun
way. Therefore, it came as no surprise that all scholar-
ship holders passed the exam. With this confidence
they departed for Germany shortly after the exam.
Culture shock? No way!
As one scholar said during the farewell function: “I
have not only learnt German but have also changed
as a person. I have learnt to understand myself and
others better. Thank you DAAD, thank you Goethe-
Institut, and very special thanks to my teachers for
making this possible!”
Irene Bibi is Head of Language Courses and Exami-
nations of the Goethe-Institut Nairobi
5
nairobi newsletter - III | 2011
The Kenya DIES-REAL-Alumni Network
organises training for Leaders of
Constituent Colleges
in cooperation with DAAD Nairobi,
CHE and NCST
By Hamadi Iddi Boga
The Kenyan Chapter of the DIES-REAL Alumni net-
work partnered with the University of Kassel, Univer-
sity of Duisburg-Essen, the DAAD, the Commission
for Higher Education (CHE) and the National Council
for Science and Technology (NCST) to conduct a
three day management workshop from 19th to 21
st
May 2011 at the Kenyatta University Conference Cen-
tre.
The target group consisted of Principals, Deputy Prin-
cipals, Deans and Chairpersons of departments of the
new constituent colleges and campuses. The 27 Par-
ticipants from 14 constituent colleges and campuses
were taken through higher education management
with emphasis on strategic management and related
case studies, developing personal action plans (PAP),
organisational development, conflict management,
academic quality assurance and change manage-
ment.
Each participant developed a personal action plan
which will be implemented during the three stages of
the course. Stage II and III will be held in October
2011 and April 2012 respectively and we include re-
ports from the PAPs.
Other topics to be discussed in phase II and III include
e-information resources/databases, e-management
tools, soft skills, leadership, fundraising and financial
management. Participants of the course described it
as very useful for their role as managers and for the
newly established colleges.
Dr Mwenda Mukuthuria of Chuka University College
had this to say: “A lot of appreciations to all our in-
structors for their well delivered package during the
DAAD training. It is exciting to sit in an office when
one has shared great experience with great instruc-
tors and wonderful professors with a wealth of ex-
perience. The entire exercise was illuminating and a
lot of thanks to the organisers.”
The DIES program has trained many managers from
Universities in Eastern Africa, however this partner-
ship was developed with the idea of using the alumni
of this program to train more managers. The experi-
ment.appears to be succeeding beyond expecta-
tions.
Prof. Boga is the DIES-Real training coordinator for
Kenya and is currently the Principal, JKUAT Taita
Taveta Campus
6
nairobi newsletter - III | 2011
Upcoming scholarship application deadlines: Postgraduate Courses for Professionals with Relevance to Developing Countries: July 31
DAAD offers scholarships for selected mas-
ters degrees at particular German universities
within the programme "Postgraduate courses
for professionals with relevance to developing
countries". The age limit for most of the
courses is 36 (some 32), the applicant needs
a B a c h e l o r s d e g r e e w i t h a t
least second upper, one year work experi-
ence in the field of the course (at the time of
application) and has to be employed. We re-
quest a letter from the employer granting a
study leave. The application deadline is
July 31 at our office in Nairobi or the respec-
tive German mission in all other countries.
The applications are for next year's intake.
The courses are in the fields of Economic
Sciences/ Business Administration/Political
Economics, Development Co-operation, Engi-
neering and related sciences, mathematics,
regional planning, agricultural and forest sci-
ences, environmental sciences, public health,
media and education.
Further information:
http://nairobi.daad.de/fsr_postgraduate.php
Public Policy and Good Governance
(Master courses): July 31
The programme is targeted at very well quali-
fied graduates with a first university degree
(Bachelor or equivalent), who in the future
want to actively contribute to the social and
economic development of their home coun-
tries. The scholarships are offered to both
young graduates without professional experi-
ence and to mid-career professionals. The
scholarships are for specific Master courses
at a German institution of higher education.
The applications are for next year‟s intake.
By July 31, application documents by Ken-
yans need to be submitted to the DAAD Re-
gional Office for Africa; for all other countries,
applications need to be submitted to the Ger-
man missions in the respective countries.
Further information: http://nairobi.daad.de/
public_policy_good_gov.php
PhD scholarships to Germany:
September 30
fully DAAD funded, DAAD/ NCST funded
DAAD offers full grant PhD scholarships (3
years in Germany, degree from German uni-
versity) as well as PhD scholarships in the
Sandwich scheme. The Master's degree must
have been completed less than 6 years ago.
For the Sandwich scheme, the applicant can
go to Germany for up to 2 years, but has to
return to graduate from a home university.
For the Sandwich scholarship, a registration
at a local university and a tuition waiver/ con-
firmation of payment of fees are required.
THE SCHOLARSHIPS IN GERMANY ARE
OPEN TO ALL FIELDS OF STUDY!
By September 30, application documents by
Kenyans need to be submitted to the DAAD
Regional Office for Africa; for all other coun-
tries, applications need to be submitted to the
German missions in the respective countries.
Further information:
http://nairobi.daad.de/fsr_doctorial.php
You can folow us on
http://www.facebook.com/
DAADNairobi
7
nairobi newsletter - III | 2011
Professor Margret Wintermantel elected new DAAD President
DAAD General Assembly elects new Executive Committee and new Board of Trustees for the 2012-2015 term of office Bonn, 21.6.2011
The President of the German Rectors‟ Conference
(“Hochschulrektorenkonferenz” – HRK), Professor Dr.
Margret Wintermantel, is to be the new President of the
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as of 1st
January 2012.
The new Vice-President will be the President of Justus
Liebig University of Gießen, Professor Dr. Joybrato
Mukherjee.
Margret Wintermantel and Joybrato Mukherjee were
elected by a large majority of the representatives of all
235 member higher education institutions and 125
member student bodies of the DAAD at their General
Assembly in Bonn. Since Sabine Kunst stepped down
in February 2011, having been appointed Branden-
burg‟s Minister of Higher Education and Research,
longstanding Vice-President Prof. Dr. Max G. Huber
has carried on with official duties.
With Wintermantel‟s election, a woman will be heading
the largest academic exchange organisation world-wide
for the second time.
Margret Wintermantel studied psychology and publishing
at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz from 1966 to
1970. In 1972, she first did her Dr. rer. nat. in psychology.
Afterwards, she completed her “Habilitation” (German
qualification for a university lecturer) in psychology at the
University of Heidelberg in 1986. Before being elected
HRK President in March 2006, Wintermantel had already
been HRK Vice-President for Research and Junior Scien-
tists and Scholars and, from 2000 to 2006, President of
the University of the Saar. She is also a member of nu-
merous national and international bodies.
Prof. Joybrato Mukherjee studied English language and
literature, biology and education science at RWTH
Aachen from 1992 to 1997. In 2000, he did his doctorate
in English linguistics at the University of Bonn and com-
pleted his “Habilitation” in English philology in 2003. Be-
fore Mukherjee, who was 36 years old at the time, be-
came President of the University of Gießen in December
2009, he had already been Vice Dean of the Department
of Languages, Literature and Culture there from 2004 to
2008 and First Vice-President from 2008 to 2009.
The General Assembly also elected 12 further members
of the Executive Committee, including three student rep-
resentatives, who will start their term on the 1st January
2012, too.
8
nairobi newsletter - III | 2011
A new head for DAAD Section 413 Eastern and Southern Africa
After almost 10 years at the helm of the DAAD Unit
413: Africa Subsahara, Dr. Roland Weiss left the
DAAD at the end of last year. Known to many of our
partners, Dr. Weiss lead the unit through a period of
remarkable achievements in the DAAD‟s co-
operation with African partners. In the wake of the
German Foreign Office‟s “Aktion Afrika”, the DAAD
was able to increase the number of scholarships in
Africa significantly, to expand its network of DAAD
lecturers, to set up African-German centres of ex-
cellence, among them the Centre of Development
Research and Criminal Justice at UWC, and initi-
ated a number of other cooperation activities be-
tween African and German collaborators. Roland
Weiss will continue his commitment to international
Higher Education cooperation as the founding di-
rector of the new International Office of the Univer-
sity of Applied Sciences (FH) Bonn-Rhein-Sieg.
His successor Cay Etzold also has an in-depth pro-
fessional history in higher education and develop-
ment cooperation. From 2001-05, Mr Etzold was di-
rector of the DAAD Regional Office in Nairobi where
he discovered his passion for the continent. In recent
years, he worked in the unit for higher education co-
operation & alumni projects, and until March 2011 for
DAAD as Resident Twinning Adviser in an EU twin-
ning project on the implementation of the Bologna
reforms with the Ministry of Higher Education of the
Republic of Georgia in Eastern Europe. We wish Cay
Etzold all the best in his new professional challenge,
lots of energy and perseverance.
After three and half years, Dr. Tilo Weber and his
family will be leaving Kenya for Germany. Dr. We-
ber has been an active DAAD Lecturer in the de-
partment of Linguistics and languages, college of
Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of
Nairobi. He was the Head of German Studies De-
partment.
He was involved in teaching Bachelors, Masters
and PhD students as well as supporting DAAD in
providing information of studying in Germany during
our open days as well as exhibitions. He was also
involved in DAAD key activities like Proposal Writ-
ing Workshops, preselection for Masters and PhD in
the country and Germany among other DAAD spon-
sored workshops.
We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Weber for his
good service and selfless involvement whenever he
was called upon.
We wish Dr. Weber and his family all the best for
the future. Kwaheri ya Kuonana!!
Farewell to Dr. Tilo Weber
Dr. Weber receives a gift from the DAAD Nairobi
Director Christoph Hansert during a Special
Lunch organized at the DAAD Regionl Office for
his farewell