MOU between UNIVEN and the Nelson Mandela African Institution for Science and Technology bears fruits.
The University of Venda (UNIVEN) has an existing Memorandum of Understanding with the Nelson Mandela African Institution for Science and Technology (NM-AIST), Tanzania. EXAKT4YOU is a project funded by Baden-Wurttemberg Foundation. The following are partners on the project: Duale Hochschule Baden-Wurttemberg (DHBW) Heidenheim and UNIVEN, NMAIST, Arusha and the Institute for Finance Management (IFM), Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Prof Sabine Moebs, the project coordinator from DHBW, Germany was present during the workshop. The exchange of students and faculty took place predominantly in innovative formats of short duration BarCamp and Hackathon. The workshop was held at NM-AIST Arusha, Tanzania from 6 – 10 August 2018.
L-R: Wiseman Ndlovu, Promise Nyalungu, Dr Segun Obadire and Mulalo Masisi at Arusha, Tanzania
Students from different study programmes applied for participation in the workshop. Applications were forwarded to the coordinating institution in Germany who made the final selection of two students and a staff from UNIVEN. The participants received a scholarship covering flight, visa fees, accommodation from the organisers while other travel expenses were contributed by the University. The following students were selected for the workshop: Mr Wiseman Ndlovu, PhD candidate from the Institute for Rural Development, Mr Promise Nyagunlu, undergraduate student from the Department of Development Studies and Mr Mulalo Masisi, Website Content Officer, from the Communications and Marketing Department.
The Hackathon Challenge winners
The students worked in international and interdisciplinary teams for a period of one week. Subsequently they presented their results which were either an applicable solution or a workable prototype and depending on the subject, results were either newly-developed software, a device or a machine, a multi-media course or a training concept, etc. The one-week staff and student Innovation Workshops between the countries included digitalisation in the area of Health insurance, AgriHub for SmartAgriculture, etc. One of the ideas by UNIVEN team on High performance computing for public transportation systems in South Africa and Tanzania won the first position in the hackathon challenge.
Some of the participants at the Hackathon workshop
The Steering Committee meeting (SCM) agreed that the next workshop will be held at the University of Venda, Thohoyandou in the first semester 2019. The Acting Director International Relations, Dr Segun Obadire paid courtesy call to the office of the NM-AIST Vice-Chancellor, Prof Emmanuel Luoga and also met with the Director Admissions and International Affairs, Dr Michael Haule, Prof Huldah Swai, Director African Centre for Research, Agricultural Advancement, Teaching Excellence and Sustainability (CREATES). The coordinator of the Exakt4You project at NM-AIST, Dr Gina Machuve, Lecture Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and many others were all very interested in further collaboration with UNIVEN.
Issued by:
Department of Communications & Marketing
University of Venda
Tel: (015) 962 8525
Date: 17 August 2018
