In early February 2020, Prof. Dr. Hartmut Müller accompanied a group from Mainz University of Applied Sciences on a two-week field trip to Africa. The group included Prof. Dr. Claudia Hensel, who organized the trip; President Prof. Dr. Gerhard Muth; Erich Weiler; Carmel McMahon, a colleague from the University of Limerick in Ireland; and a group of students. They visited partner universities in Uganda and Rwanda with the goal of submitting joint applications to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to promote student exchange between African and German students.
Another focus was on expanding cooperation between Mainz University of Applied Sciences and Kyambogo University in Kampala, the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)—both in Uganda—and INES Ruhengeri in Rwanda, including in the field of engineering. During meetings with the respective university administrations, Hartmut Müller therefore discussed research at Mainz University of Applied Sciences in general and at i3mainz in particular, the opportunities offered by geodesy and geoinformatics, as well as the degree programs. Erich Weiler, representing the university, presented a project in international civil engineering at Mainz University of Applied Sciences.
During their time there, the students participated in extensive workshops with students from the host universities, experienced student life in Uganda and Rwanda, and forged connections with their fellow students.
The visits to the universities were complemented by excursions to places such as Queen Elizabeth National Park and Virunga National Park, as well as a visit to the Genocide Memorial. The memorial and educational facility in Gisozi, near the capital Kigali, commemorates the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. On the day of their return flight, the group visited the Westerwelle Foundation, which supports young entrepreneurs in Africa, and the Digital Center of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).
From the perspective of geodesy and geoinformatics at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, this trip has identified two main opportunities for successful knowledge transfer.
The Rwandan government is pursuing the goal outlined inthe “Smart City Rwanda Master Plan” of transforming the country from an agrarian to a knowledge-based economy, against the backdrop of increased use of digital technologies in all areas of society. This leads to the conclusion that large-scale educational programs will be necessary to build foundational and digital competencies. The long-established, fully digitized workflows in geodesy and geoinformatics provide excellent starting points for this.
At several universities, university administrators lamented that many of their graduates face unemployment after successfully completing their studies. This has led to considerations of revising existing curricula based on the University of Applied Sciences model. The many years of experience of Mainz University of Applied Sciences—which has been in existence for 50 years now—could be very helpful in this regard.
