Social responsibility activities in the School
January 2012
Dr Joseph Mutale
The challenges facing the education sector in Africa, and Zambia in particular, are many and varied. They span all aspects of education from pre-school, primary and secondary school through to vocational as well as higher education.
Delivery of quality education at all these levels is hampered by lack of both financial and human resources, especially in the face a rapidly growing population. The consequence has been a gradual deterioration in the standards of education, which must be stemmed.
The EPA project which was funded by the British Government was aimed at bringing together institutions of higher education in Africa and the UK to work on ways to address some of these issues. Under this programme, the University of Manchester, (through the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering) and the University of Zambia (through the School of Engineering) embarked on a project to redevelop the final year projects module at the University of Zambia to bring it to modern standards using the University of Manchester as a template.
The project was for an 18 month period and it came to end in April 2011. Due to the success and enthusiasm of everyone involved in the EPA project, it has been possible to continue and widen the scope of the project with funding being provided by local industry ensuring long term sustainability of the initiative.
As part of the long term agenda for collaboration, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the University of Zambia and University of Manchester. This MoU will provide the framework under which the University of Manchester, as one of its outreach and social responsibility activities, will work with the University of Zambia, initially through the school of engineering, to review and improve the quality assurance systems and processes in engineering education as well as provide advice on curriculum review including reequipping of the teaching laboratories.
The required funding for these programmes will be provided by local industry in Zambia. The ultimate objective is to secure international accreditation of the engineering degree programmes at the University of Zambia.