Improving AMU’s education, research and outreach processes by enhancing ICT and library and by facilitating community uptake of new knowledge

Details

PROJECT SUMMARY

Project name

Improving AMU s education, research and outreach processes by enhancing ICT and library
and by facilitating community uptake of new knowledge

AMU project code

EXT/VLIR/VPRP/04/2015

Project short-name (acronym) 

IUC Transversal institutional strengthening sub-project one -TISP1

Project phase

II

Partner(s)/ country(ies)

Vrije Universiteit Brussel/Belgium-VLIR-UOS

AMU coordinating office(s)

AMU-IUC Project Support Unit

Project type

Transversal institutional strengthening and Research

Project location

Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

Target communities

AMU s ICT and library
AMU s Community service-outreach Centre
Local community schools
Local community college teachers
Local public libraries

Project coordinator

Associate prof. Behailu Merdekios (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); Professor Roel Merckx (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Project manager

Dr. Fassil Teffera (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Total project budget (in Euro)

332,500

Project start

01-Sep-22

Project end

27-Aug-27

Progress reporting period

Annually

Financial reporting period

Annually

Contact person

Mr. Daniel Tadesse (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); Professor Frederik Questier (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.);

Project Management Office

Office of the Director for Grant and Collaborative Project Management:
Dr. Thomas Torora (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

As a transversal project, TISP1 aims primarily to strengthen the organizational capacity of Arba Minch University and to support the other subprojects. It will reach this goal by a focus on innovation, digitalization and staff training for the domain's education, research, library and outreach. Instead of organizing only project activities, it strives for a sustainable approach whereby existing departments (such as ICT and Library) and newly established departments (such as Educational Innovation & Support Centre, Research Support Centre and Outreach Centre) are stimulated and facilitated to develop and organize new activities and services that can be continued long after the IUC. In collaboration with related existing structures, the (still to be established) AMU Outreach Centre will coordinate, facilitate and support the IUC and AMU outreach activities. It will strive to improve the synergies between different (subproject) outreach activities, possibly concentrated in a few demo sites. Besides transversal activities, TISP1 also has a thematic focus on ICT and Computer Science. The ICT infrastructure will be further improved. New PhD research about Artificial Intelligence will be conducted, interdisciplinary with themes from the other subprojects. The computer science study programmes will be improved and a center of excellence for AI will be established, which will create opportunities to foster regional innovation and collaboration with industry. Digitalization is also a theme that TISP1 will work on in outreach activities with neighboring colleges, schools and public libraries.