Plans to run an International Master on Sustainable Development and the Environment have reached the top gear as the DAAD-TONI international workshop has designed for it the curriculum and other modalities.
The workshop on the Harmonisation of International Master on Sustainable Development and the Environment held at the First Technical University, Ibadan, and it has decided the name of the course, codes, contents and grading system.
The workshop, which was supported by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)., otherwise called the DAAD-TONI project, is an international partnership between First Technical University (Tech-U), Nigeria; Goethe University (GU), Germany; and University of Kara (UK), Togo,. The project began in 2023 with the aim of promoting Higher Education and Research on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Togo and Nigeria. To achieve this, a workshop was held from the 11th – 14th of March 2024 at the First Technical University (Tech-U), Nigeria, to harmonize the curriculum drafted by both Tech-U and UK.
Among other resolutions, the workshop decided that the course would called International Master on Sustainable Development and the Environment while the degree will be M Sc. for Tech-U and Professional Master for UK, Togo.
The organisers noted in the report of the workshop:
“The codes for each course should be decided by each University within its own educational regulatory system. However, the course title and course content will remain uniform for both Universities and will be used as identities when matters regarding equivalent arises.
“Each university should decide on the weights to add to each course and the total credits per semester and for the entire programme. And then an equivalent will be decided by each university and the concerned governing bodies if a graduate would want to proceed further for a PhD.
“The grading system is unified for both Universities. The overall score is 100% and it is broken down into: 60% for Examination, 20% for Home Work/Test/Assignment, and 20% for Seminar, Presentation, Term Paper.
“Certification: The name of the degree will read M Sc. for Tech-U and Professional Master for UK, Togo.”
Below is the full report:
REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP ON THE HARMONISATION OF INTERNATIONAL MASTER ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT HELD ON 11TH – 14TH OF MARCH 2024 AT THE FIRST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, IBADAN, NIGERIA.
Introduction
Arrival and Welcome 10thMarch 2024
Participants for the workshop arrived Ibadan on the 10th of March and a welcome ice breaker get-together was held at the University of Ibadan Staff club by 6:00pm. During this welcome, the Nigeria Project Lead, Prof. Ayobami. T. Salami, welcomed everyone to Nigeria and to Ibadan. Participants from the First Technical University (Tech-U), Goethe University (GU), Germany, and University of Kara (UK), Togo was present. Also present was an independent consultant from the University of Lagos who was saddled with the responsibility of moderating the workshop. Everyone introduced themselves and gave a brief background about their areas of expertise and specialization. There was a brief discussion about the DAAD-TONI project and the previous meeting held in Togo last year (2023). And after the exchange of pleasantries, the ice breaker event ended with everyone retiring to their accommodation.
The First Day, 11th day of March 2024
The first day began with a courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor (VC) of Tech-U, Prof. A. Ajayi, which was facilitated by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. I. Tella. Also, other principal officers of Tech-U were present to receive the participants. The VC welcomed everyone to the University and a formal introduction of everyone was made. The VC expressed his gladness that Tech-U was hosting this project and particularly thanked the pioneering VC of Tech-U, Prof. A.T. Salami, for bringing the DAAD-TONI project to the University.
3.1 Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony began immediately after the courtesy call with a Welcome Address by the Nigeria Project Lead, Prof. A.T. Salami, who gave a brief background on what the DAAD-TONI project is all about, the need for the project, its place in capacity building, internship, and the exchange between Togo and Nigeria, all of which are within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
Afterwards, Prof. J. Runge from Gothe University, Germany, who is the DAAD-TONI Project Leader, stated that he was happy about the North/South, South/South partnership/friendship, and the exchange between universities while encouraging the learning of French in Nigeria and English in Togo. In addition, he noted that there was the need for more funding to support the DAAD-TONI project to take care of other needs coming up but which are not previously covered and especially when the Master’s program takes off.
Prof. Kankpenandja from UK, Togo thanked the project leaders (Prof. Runge and Prof. Salami) on behalf of the President of the University of Kara and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. And then the Vice Chancellor of Tech-U took the Opening Remarks. He started by appreciating Prof. A.T. Salami for bringing the Project to Tech-U and went ahead to encourage members of staff of the University to key into this opportunity especially when the Master’s Program takes off fully.
The opening ceremony came to a close and all the attendees proceeded to take group photographs outside. A press interview was held afterwards where key partners were interviewed. At about 11:20 a.m., the tea break commenced and ended shortly.
Information covered by the press interview can be found on the following websites:
Tech-U Ibadan Hosts International Workshop On Sustainable… (pmparrotng.com)
As International Workshop Begins At Tech-U, Salami, Other Experts Seek Harmonised Curriculum On Environmental Management | Oyoinsight
Experts converge on Tech-U for capacity building workshop – Tribune Online (tribuneonlineng.com)
Three Tech-U students to undergo internship in Germany (punchng.com)
Punch, a frontline national newspaper in Nigeria, reported that ‘Prof. A. T. Salami, the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Tech-U stressed that the project, being a tripartite partnership, aimed at synergising knowledge and experiences to address specific SDGs. He acknowledged the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; German Academic Exchange Service, as well as Togo and Nigeria SDG partnerships 2023-2026 for the support provided for the project and for choosing to hold the 2024 DAAD-TONI project at Tech-U’. He also stated that ‘three students of the First Technical, University, Ibadan, will undergo a two-month internship at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, later this year’. More information can be seen on the four links listed above.
3.2 Second Session: On resumption of the next session, Prof. Salami introduced the moderator for the workshop, Dr. Esther Makinde, from the University of Lagos. The Moderator commenced by welcoming everyone to the session and called on Prof. Runge to talk about the existing collaborations of Germany with Africa. He stated that the Gothe University had been in collaboration with Africa, working on a number of projects and distributed a publication by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Africa Studies, another on Perspectives on Africa and the logo/stickers on the DAAD-TONI Project.
Afterwards, Prof. Kankpenandja Laldja from UK made his presentation and subsequently, Prof. Iyiola Teller from Tech-U also made his Presentation. Both Professors presented their proposed curriculum for the International Master’s Program.
3.3 Harmonisation
Gray areas on both Curriculum were raised by the moderator for discussion. After several deliberations (and then proceeding for Lunch Break in-between) and on arriving at a consensus for Day 1, the following was agreed upon by the three Universities – Tech-U, GU and UK:
The name of the Program; *
The number of Semester will be four (4); and
iii. The kind of courses (one by one) that should be in each semester. Course placement for all four semesters were completed.
The first day ended at about 4:50pm with an appreciation speech from the Nigeria Project Lead, Prof. A. T. Salami.
* This was revisited on the last day and the name adjusted to accommodate the interest of Togo and Nigeria collectively.*
The Second Day, 12th March 2024
The second day began at about 9:10 a.m. with a brief welcome speech by Prof. Salami and then followed by a recap of the previous day by the moderator. Afterwards, she stated the agenda for the day: Course Code, Credit Hours, Grading and Course Content.
Discussion commenced immediately on Course Code, Credit Hours, Grading and Course Content. Tea break and Lunch break were observed at the stipulated times amid the discussion. And after an extensive explanation of how the educational system of each country works and other deliberations, the following was decided:
The codes for each course should be decided by each University within its own educational regulatory system. However, the course title and course content will remain uniform for both Universities and will be used as identities when matters regarding equivalent arises.
Each university should decide on the weights to add to each course and the total credits per semester and for the entire programme. And then an equivalent will be decided by each university and the concerned governing bodies if a graduate would want to proceed further for a PhD.
iii. The grading system is unified for both Universities. The overall score is 100% and it is broken down into: 60% for Examination, 20% for Home Work/Test/Assignment, and 20% for Seminar, Presentation, Term Paper.
Certification: The name of the degree will read M Sc. for Tech-U and Professional Masterfor UK, Togo
There will be only two classifications of courses in this programme and they are CORE and OPTIONAL. Core means that the course MUST be taken while Optional means that the course is obligatory/may be taken depending on the student’s specialized interest.
Course contents were established for each course that are agreeable to the peculiarities of each country and at the same time, meeting the agenda of the United Nations’s SDGs. All four semesters will have course contents including proposed seminar/presentation/research themes for the fourth semester. The workshop ended by about 4 p.m.
5.The Third Day, 13th March 2024
The third day was for field work. Field work began by 8:30 a.m. with a tour to the University of Ibadan (UI) Botanical Garden. The tour guide gave a brief history of the garden, the various sections of the garden and its landmass. He also showed the tourists some of the exotic and foreign species that exist in the garden, stated their originating countries and the number of years they have been in the botanical garden in UI.
The next location was the first known used tire recycling plant in Nigeria called Sage Free Recycling Plant. Used vehicle tires are recycled into carpets, interlocking stones, floor tiles, rugs, slippers, bags and so on here. A tour was taken round the entire facility of the plant beginning from the preliminary stage of removing the irons from inside the tires to shredding the tires into particles of varying sizes, grinding and then using them as raw materials to produce various products, baking/compressing the mixed materials to form the desired product. The finished product will then be sliced into various sizes/shapes as required and packaged. The ware house where the finished products were stored was also visited. There were discussion/suggestions on increasing the awareness of this company and its products across Nigeria and abroad, as well as having developing research collaboration and partnership for a more improved output.
The next point of visit was the Old Ibadan Town. Prof. Salami gave a brief history of Ibadan and the City Centre. The Urban planners/lecturers among the participants were very excited that they were able to see the Old Ibadan Town as described in literature especially since they teach it to their students in Togo. Lots of pictures were taken throughout the entire tour.
By about 1:00 p.m., the Boat Cruise Station was the next arrival point. This is a dam that was created for recreational purposes and relaxation in Ibadan. Most of the participants went on a 9 minutes boat cruise and afterward, there was something light to eat and drink.
Participants, thereafter, headed to the market to get some souvenirs for themselves and family. And then they retired to their accommodation to prepare for the dinner which was to take place at an Africa restaurant. Taking off to the dinner location began by 6:00 p.m. Participants had a nice time at the Africa setting restaurant and settled down to have their meals-assorted dishes, drinks and milkshakes. Dinner ended at about 9:00 p.m.
6.The Last Day, 14th March 2024
Participants checked out of their accommodation at about 8:30 – 8:45 a.m. and then proceeded to the First Technical University. The Nigeria Project Lead, Prof. A.T. Salami, welcomed everyone and then the moderator proceeded to give a recap of the second and third day.
Afterwards, the tea break commenced. On return from the tea break, the Project Lead, Prof. Runge, facilitated the next session. The following were discussed:
The Trilateral Memorandum of Understanding between the Goethe University, University of Kara and the First Technical University was discussed and all parties agreed that their legal departments will look at it and that by the end of March or early April the feedback will be communicated.
Publication: There is a need to have publications (research papers, fliers, booklets etc.) on the DAAD-TONI projects. Various options were discussed such as having a paper on the current research work of the intern who visited Tech-U; coming up with other papers including review papers with related topics on the project that will have the name of all stakeholders; and then later on having research papers come out of student’s research work. Tech-U stated that they would identify some topics/research within the next two months.
iii. Third party funding is required in this project to enable the implementation of the International Masters in both Universities. Participants were encouraged to identify funding agencies, write applications and actually apply for funding both locally and internationally.
DAAD-TONI project will need an official email and ID cards for participating countries, staff and students.
Six interns each comprising both students and staff are expected to proceed to Gothe University from UK and Tech-U for a period of one and two months respectively. They will be trained on the English/French Language and on the SDGs during their stay. The female gender inclusion is highly encouraged in the selection process. The list of those going should be known within the next two months, in order to begin the process of letter of invitation and visa application etc.
There will be a larger workshop (Conference) on SDGs next year at the University of Kara, Togo. The agreed date is 8th– 14thMarch, 2025. Research papers are expected to be presented at the conference in both French and English. Language synergy in all paper presentations and communications are highly encouraged. The papers are expected to be published as a DAAD-TONI Book/Open Access Publications.
The Moderator, Dr. Makinde, then took over, and the next discussion was on what the exact name of the International Masters would be. After an extensive deliberation especially by the participants from the University of Togo and to ensure that the interests of both Universities are captured in line with the SDGs and supported by the Project Lead, Prof. Runge, the name:
INTERNATIONAL MASTERS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT was agreed upon.
And the degree to be awarded upon completion of the programme will read M Sc. for Tech-U and Professional Master for UK, Togo.
Closing
The workshop was brought to an end by the closing address of the Nigeria Project Lead, Prof. A. T. Salami. He expressed his deep appreciation to everyone for a successful workshop and the team spirit experienced during the entire workshop. The Workshop on the Harmonisation of the International Master Curriculum ended at about 1:20 p.m. And then the participants proceeded for Lunch and departed to Lagos to return to their various Countries.
First Technical University (Tech-U), Goethe University (GU), Germany, and University of Kara (UK), Togo was present. Also, present was an independent consultant from the University of Lagos who was saddled with the responsibility of moderating the workshop. Everyone introduced themselves and gave a brief background about their areas of expertise and specialization. There was a brief discussion about the DAAD-TONI project and the previous meeting held in Togo last year (2023). And after the exchange of pleasantries, the ice breaker event ended with everyone retiring to their accommodation.
