NELSON MANDELA VARSITY TO HOST DIGITAL EDUCATION CENTRE

 

The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) will host a digital education centre through a Swiss support. 

The facility will serve as a centre of excellence and hub for  training of scientists from various African countries on digitalization skills.

"We are in a digital era. We are constructing a studio for the purpose", said Prof. Anthony Mshandete, the deputy vice chancellor. 

He was speaking during the visit to the Arusha-based pan African university by the Swiss Ambassador to Tanzania Didier Chassot. 

The Centre of Competence in Digital Education (C-Code) is one of the pursuits to make NM-AIST excel in science, engineering, technology and innovation. 

Prof. Mshandete said the digital education centre would work closer to the industry as the Arusha-based university envisions. 

Ambassador Chassot said digitization was an integral part of Switzerland's international cooperation strategy for developing countries like Tanzania.

New technologies, he pointed out, have the power to accelerate sustainable development and poverty reduction "creating opportunities for all". 

He said the Nelson Mandela university would work closely with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in the initiative.

EPLF, a public research university, will also support NM-AIST in the implementation of a five year research project on biofuel production. 

The European country has injected 720,000 Swiss francs for the project, of which two thirds will be injected directly into NM-AIST coffers.

The project kickstarts early this year and will focus on biofuel production technologies  from the plant and agricultural wastes. 

The university will undertake capacity building for researchers who will drive it through mapping of potential areas for implementation starting with Arusha. 

"Switzerland has granted 720,000 Swiss francs  of which 458,940 francs will be injected directly into NM-AIST", said Dr. Thomas Kivevele, a senior lecturer and one of its coordinators.

He disclosed this when briefing the visiting Swiss envoy Amb. Chassot on the projects supported by his country at the university. 

Environmental concerns, notably greenhouse gas emissions, from the world's heavily used fossil fuels are among the challenges to be addressed.

"This initiative will facilitate the use of underutilized African plant seeds for the production of biodiesel", he explained. 

It would not only use agricultural wastes for producing low cost energy but increase the value of bio-based fuels.