Centres of excellence in Africa: top training for the decision-makers of tomorrow

The participants in the DAAD centres of excellence conference in Cape Town
© Eric Miller

The participants in the DAAD centres of excellence conference in Cape Town

The participants in the DAAD centres of excellence conference in Cape Town

© Eric Miller

The Federal Foreign Office and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) support master and doctoral training of the highest calibre with five centres of excellence at important African universities. The centres' academic programmes focus on subjects of major social relevance. Across subject divisions, emphasis is also placed on building a close network of partners for the democratic and economic development of Africa and for cooperation with Germany. African and German researchers and doctoral students met in Cape Town at the end of January 2011. The team from the Tanzanian-German Centre for Postgraduate Studies in Law also attended.

The Tanzanian-German team of TGCL researchers: Professor Ulrike Wanitzek, Professor Palamagamba J. Kabudi, Dr Harald Sippel and Dr Kennedy Gastorn
© Eric Miller

The Tanzanian-German team of TGCL researchers: Professor Ulrike Wanitzek, Professor Palamagamba J. Kabudi, Dr Harald Sippel and Dr Kennedy Gastorn

The Tanzanian-German team of TGCL researchers: Professor Ulrike Wanitzek, Professor Palamagamba J. Kabudi, Dr Harald Sippel and Dr Kennedy Gastorn

© Eric Miller

It’s not every day that African doctoral students from such different fields as medicine, microfinance, logistics and law can sit down together and discuss their work. In Cape Town at the end of January, participants in the network meeting of the DAAD centres of excellence in Africa had just such an opportunity to compare subject matter, learn from one another and engage in networking. “That’s what it’s all about; we want to work together,” says law specialist Anatole Nahayo from the Tanzanian-German Centre for Postgraduate Studies in Law. At the University of the Western Cape participants discussed the subjects of their doctoral theses – ranging from the spread of infectious diseases and the harmonisation of tax laws to questions of international criminal law. Many of the African and German lecturers present agreed that the seminar for doctoral students reflected what is important in the work of the centres of excellence: developing a partnership between Africa and Germany based on equality, promoting the very best academic achievement and helping future leaders network across the divides of subject and country.

TGCL doctoral students Lilian Mingella and Anatole Nahayo
© Eric Miller

TGCL doctoral students Lilian Mingella and Anatole Nahayo

TGCL doctoral students Lilian Mingella and Anatole Nahayo

© Eric Miller

Key development themes

African and German scholars teach and research together at the DAAD centres of excellence in Africa. These centres were established in 2008 with funding from the Federal Foreign Office’s Aktion Africa programme – with the goal of supporting research and training capacities at important African institutions of higher education. “We aim to improve structures and support future decision-makers in Africa,” says Dr Dorothee Weyler, the responsible DAAD project manager. The centres are intended to build a closely knit network of partners for the future of Africa and for cooperation with Germany. Academically, the centres have a clear-cut focus on key themes of societal development. The centre of excellence in Ghana concentrates on development and health research, while the centre in the Democratic Republic of the Congo focuses on microfinance, the centre in Namibia on logistics and the centre in South Africa on development research and criminal justice.

Many years of cooperation

The Tanzanian-German Centre for Postgraduate Studies in Law (TGCL) is run jointly by the departments of law at the universities of Bayreuth and Dar es Salaam. Each year the TGCL trains ten master of law students in an LLM programme and five doctoral students in a three-year PhD programme. “I came to Dar es Salaam for the first time in 1982 and since then have developed close ties with the university through research collaboration,” says Professor Ulrike Wanitzek, project manager at the centre of excellence. Thanks to the initiative of a law professor at the Institute of African Studies and the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Bayreuth, this personal contact eventually developed into something more: the Tanzanians formed a team with their German colleagues to submit an application to the DAAD for the centre of excellence. Together they convinced the selection committee: “Everyone played their part – and we received approval,” says Dr Kennedy Gastorn, a Tanzanian law expert. Gastorn coordinates the TGCL’s work in Dar es Salaam, while his German colleague Dr Harald Sippel performs the same role in Bayreuth.

Professor Ulrike Wanitzek with Professor Chuma Himonga of the University of Cape Town
© Eric Miller

Professor Ulrike Wanitzek with Professor Chuma Himonga of the University of Cape Town

Professor Ulrike Wanitzek with Professor Chuma Himonga of the University of Cape Town

© Eric Miller

A “golden opportunity”

The TGCL primarily emphasises constitutional law, human rights and comparative law, with a main focus on the East African Community (EAC), whose members are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. “In my work I investigate reparations for victims of political conflicts and human rights violations in Rwanda and the need for common statutory rules,” says Tanzanian doctoral student Lilian Mongella. The centre in Tanzania is also open to candidates from all EAC member states: Anatole Nahayo from Burundi sees his training here as a “golden opportunity”. He has specialised in tax law and is investigating how the five countries’ income tax systems could be harmonised. The up-and-coming jurists benefit from cooperation with Germany in a variety of ways: they appreciate lectures by German visiting professors not only in Dar es Salaam, but also in Bayreuth, where they can take part in a summer university and attend seminars on German and European Union (EU) law. “Jurisprudence lives from comparisons,” explains Professor Wanitzek. “Of course, the EU is not suitable as a direct model for the still young EAC, but we can learn from history: How does a regional association of states grow? How has the harmonisation of law progressed in Europe until now?”

Training for societal development

The solid legal training at the TGCL is complemented by a look beyond narrower subject boundaries – for example, through German courses, lectures on human resources management and management studies. Students will be able to put these skills to good use in the future because the foremost goal of the centres of excellence is to provide the very best training for Africa’s future leaders, to provide expertise – and this is what is special about this programme – tailored specifically to the region. “Our programme is excellently suited to allowing lawyers who have already proved themselves professionally to improve their qualifications and enabling them to contribute to their society by passing on their specialist expertise,” says Professor Wanitzek. “Our alumni network aims to contribute to ensuring that graduates are not lost to Africa after they complete their training,” Kennedy Gastorn adds. “We need them in the region and for the region.” This strategy appears to be working: the 20 master students who have graduated from the centre to date are now working in Tanzania in a broad range of fields – for example, in the anti-corruption authority, as lawyers with human rights organisations and in the Law Reform Commission. Just recently, a current doctoral student was appointed as Tanzania’s deputy minis

Interdisciplinary cooperation

Participants in the seminar for doctoral students with DAAD lecturer Iris Vernekohl
© Eric Miller

Participants in the seminar for doctoral students with DAAD lecturer Iris Vernekohl

Participants in the seminar for doctoral students with DAAD lecturer Iris Vernekohl

© Eric Miller

However, the five centres of excellence in Africa do not just work alone. In Cape Town the lecturers also used the multi-day conference to sound out opportunities for cooperation – for a joint PhD summer school, for instance. After all, despite the centres’ different subject orientations, they all face similar challenges. “It is surprising how much we have in common, above all when it comes to themes such as good governance, development and the fight against poverty,” Gastorn says. “We used to see ourselves purely as lawyers or as experts in logistics or microfinance, but it is becoming increasingly important to work in an interdisciplinary way.” Irrespective of whether you are in Accra, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa or Windhoek, “We all have the same goal,” says Gastorn. Professor Wanitzek adds: “And in the process we are jointly breaking new ground in qualifying future leaders in Africa.”

Text: Corinna Arndt, Janet Schayan/Societäts-Medien

Last updated 02.03.2011