Akombaetwa Nakamwi
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Dear Mercy
I like what you said about ‘the change in AHE begins with me’. There are many approaches to enhancing learning for our students and indeed ourselves, open-mindedness is critical. These presentations and the reading materials have really been insightful and in one way or another have presented that each of us is capable of contributing to the Africa we want.Hello Keita,
My sentiments resonate with yours on collaboration across disciplines, holistic approaches in my opinion would yield more lasting solutions to the challenges we continue to face as a continent. However this approach should begin with the university staff themselves before it can trickle down to the students which them begs the question: how is this critical mass of collaboration-appreciating-academicians being formed and how will its growth be assured?Hi, this is Nakamwi,
Indeed the critical role that change in curriculum structure and implementation in achieving the ‘Africa we want’ cannot be over emphasized. A complete overhaul would require a lot of resources both in infrastructure and staff training and as such cannot be achieved in a short time. I think that the low laying fruits include expansion of the Universities role in community service. Closer collaboration between HEI, industry and community in solving problems as they unfold present an opportunity for students in learn-by-doing. Drawing from Professor Cuevas’ presentation, that sort of approach gives students an opportunity to develop soft skills and enhance collaboration even across various disciplines. For example during a disease outbreak, contributions towards possible lasting solutions would require the input from more than one discipline. Health scientist will study the causative organism, how diseases progresses, therapeutic interventions and patient management while social scientists will focus on human behavior contributing to disease spread, the social and economic impact, policy development and public education thereby providing a holistic approach.
Without making my response too wordy, I believe collaboration across disciplines in universities while actively involving students in understanding national crisis and making recommendations for possible solutions could be an attainable start to changing the content-mastery approach of educating the next generation.
