September 18, 2017, by jicke

Nottingham partnership to transform chemistry and pharmacy HE in Kenya

Academics at The University of Nottingham are to lead a multi-million pound, Government-funded partnership aimed at transforming the way in which chemistry and pharmacy degree courses are delivered in Kenya.

The £4 million Transformation of Pharmacy and Chemistry Degree Provision project will see the Nottingham education experts joining forces with Kenyan academics to engage employers and alumni from the healthcare, chemical and pharmaceutical industries in reshaping the higher education courses.

Tailored programmes

The new programmes will be tailored to match learning outcomes specifically with the needs of the population and address the shortages of specific skills in the pharmacy and chemistry workforces in Kenya.

The initiative is being led at Nottingham by Robert Mokaya, Professor of Materials Chemistry in the School of Chemistry and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement (Africa and Middle-East) and Claire Anderson, Professor of Social Pharmacy in the university’s School of Pharmacy.

Professor Mokaya said: “This is an excellent opportunity for Nottingham to engage with international higher education partners and other stakeholders to transform chemistry and pharmacy degrees in Kenya. Our hope is that this project will act as an exemplar for extension to other degree courses and countries in the region. We are very pleased to have been selected as the success rate was a very low 2% of applications, and look forward to accomplishing this exciting project’”

Professor Anderson added: “I am delighted to be involved in this exciting project that will provide new needs based curricula to address shortages of specific skills in the pharmacy and chemistry workforces in Kenya and lead to increased employability of graduates from the programmes. The project has the potential to lead to institutional wide change in academic practice, not only in Kenya but in other African countries and beyond.”

Innovative partnerships

The funding has been awarded the SPHEIR programme, which is a competitive grant scheme established by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). It is designed to catalyse innovative partnerships in low-income countries to improve the performance, governance and influence of higher education systems and institutions.

SPHEIR partnerships seek to transform the quality, relevance, access and affordability of higher education to achieve sustainable change in higher education systems.

It aims to deliver systemic and sustainable change within higher education systems, enabling them to meet labour market needs and generate the job-ready, entrepreneurial graduates needed to accelerate development, build inclusive societies and promote strong economic growth.

The Transformation of Pharmacy and Chemistry Degree Provision aims to:

  • Create a globally competitive and adaptive chemistry and pharmacy workforce to meet the requirements of a rapidly industrialising Kenyan economy
  • Enhance collaboration between industry and education with an emphasis on chemistry and pharmacy courses
  • Link learning outcomes and wider impact at the individual, institutional, systematic and national levels
  • Develop diagnostic models and benchmarking tools for developing academic capacity in pharmacy and chemistry.

Increasing skills and employability

The initiative will provide private and public sector work placements that will increase skills and employability of graduates; will increase the capability of academic staff; and work towards better outcomes for women and people from underserved communities.

It will develop a new set of institutional policies and practices that will deliver innovation and transform professional education with a view to embedding a new culture that will flourish within Kenyan educations beyond the lifetime of the project.

University leaders will be introduced to a more efficient and effective approach to education delivery, while strong engagement with public and private stakeholders will help to attract future investment, ensuring that the developments are sustainable from within the Kenyan higher education system.

For more information visit http://www.spheir.org.uk/ and follow on social media via #SPHEIR.

Posted in Internationalpartnerships