TOWARDS HUMAN CAPACITY STRENGTHENING AT SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE: A CASE OF THE PANTIL PROGRAMME

By Emmanuel J. Luoga

1.0 Introduction

• The Government of the Kingdom of Norway signed an Agreement with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania to support the implementation PANTIL for SUA in November 2005 • The programme is mainstreamed into the University management system through the Directorate of Research & Postgraduate Studies (DRPGS).

Introduction continued

• The PANTIL Programme has two components. One is on

Research and Farmer Empowerment (RFE

) and the other is on

Institutional Transformation and Capacity Building (ITCB)

. • The ITCB component is designed to improve human and physical capacity of SUA leading to effective and efficient delivery of SUA mission

Table 1. Structure of the PANTIL Programme at Sokoine University of Agriculture, showing two constituent Components Component 1: Research and farmer empowerment

1 Demand-driven research to improve agriculture and natural resources undertaken 2 3 Farmer empowerment activities implemented to enhance continued technology development and uptake Impact assessment of research on target beneficiaries undertaken

Component 2: Institutional transformation and capacity building

1 Physical and human resource capacity of SUA improved to deliver research, extension and entrepreneurial skills effectively and contribute to gender equity 2 3 SUA graduates effectively prepared for the job-market Strategic interventions, (e.g. Income generation, Gender equity, HIV/AIDS prevention, SUA/UMB/NVH/DRD Collaboration) undertaken to improve overall performance of SUA

2.0

•

Human resource capacity building

The University’s capacity in terms of human resources is limiting, especially among women. • There was therefore a need to face the challenge of availing opportunities for human resource development at SUA in a gender sensitive manner.

• • • •

Human resource capacity building Cont..

Postgraduate training, Students exchange programmes, Support of on-job training through the University wide Teaching and Learning Improvement Programme (UTLIP), Short courses/ Workshops for staff.

2.1Postgraduate Training under PANTIL

• The training opportunities for MSc/MA and PhD scholarships available under the PANTIL Programme in years 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 were broadly in two categories: • Training opportunities specifically for SUA staff • Training opportunities for which non-SUA candidates were allowed to apply

• •

Training Cont..

It was therefore decided that these scholarships be allocated in a way that will facilitate SUA to benefit most through: Affirmative action to increase the number and skills of females, particularly in senior positions.

Training for the replacement of ageing academic staff at SUA

Training Cont..

(a) Advertisements

• Training opportunities reserved specifically for SUA staff were advertised locally through Deans/Directors and Heads of Departments (both Administrative and Academic).

• Opportunities for which non-SUA candidates were encouraged to apply were advertised in the News papers

Training Cont..

(b) Response

• Following the advertisement at SUA and in newspapers, a total of 251 and 102 applications were received in 2005/06 and 2006/07 respectively.

(c)

Training Cont..

Selection criteria

• Gender, female applicants were given priority • SUA staff were given priority over non SUA applicants • Good academic background for the programme applied for as reflected by GPA. For Masters applicants, a minimum of GPA of 3.5 was required.

Training: Selection Criteria cont..

• On going students were not considered • Applicants were categorized according to degrees applied for (so as to diversify awards) and in one category best performing student (s) was awarded • Age, not more than 50 years, the younger the better

(d) Awardees of scholarships Category of applicants 1 SUA Staff training 2005/06 Applicants Awardees 2006/07 Applicants Awardees 4 4 4 3 247 30 98 8 2 Training at SUA for which non-SUA candidates also applied TOTAL 251 34(14%) 102 11(11%)

Challenges on Training

i) Few SUA based PhD awardees have been opting for other scholarships outside the country ii) Stiff competition from Non SUA Applicants iii) Very high diversity of areas of specialization as the PANTIL objectives were also broad in scope.

Table 3. Areas of specialization for SUA-PANTIL supported students No 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 15 16 17 18 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Areas of Specialization Entrepreneurship Wildlife Management Econometrics Agribusiness Forestry Agroforestry DSI/Rural Development Extension /Education Agriculture Engineering Animal Science Crop Science Librarianship Veterinary Medicine Food Science Finance Human Resources Management Crop Science Mass Communication Total PhD 2 1 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 18 MSc 4 2 3 4 3 1 1 1 2 3 2 1 27

2.2 Young Professional Exchange programme

• The Programme has been providing an opportunity and facilitated young professionals exchange activities between Tanzanian and Norwegian Institutions.

• SUA staff, Postgraduate students and young professions participating in PANTIL research activities, especially female were targeted.

• The programme provided for 6 young professionals from Tanzania to go to Norway each year.

Exchange programme Cont..

(a) Awards between 2005/2006 and 2008/2009

• A total of 18 young professionals were cumulatively selected for training in Norway in 2007 to cover for the periods of 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08,.

• For the year 2008/2009 the exchange programme involved 9 students. • The overall assessment of the programme by the awardees was very positive, indicating that their stay in Norway added academic/professional value

Exchange Prog. Cont..

• •

(b) Challenges on Young Professional Exchange programme

Requires very intensive planning in terms of logistics, timing, and availability of members of staff to teach specific courses in Norwegian Universities Differences in grading system which makes difficulties in transferring the units from one University to another where applicable

University wide Teaching and Learning Improvement Programme (UTLIP)

• Under PANTIL UTLIP support had focused most on newly recruited staff who are apparently more needy. • For example, SUA has employed about 160 members of staff since 2007. These require exposure to the Principles of Teaching and Learning for effective communication.

UTLIP Cont..

• •

Challenges on UTLIP

Since the inception of the series of courses at SUA, attendance has increased beyond the capacity of facilities and funds.

The senior staff cadre also needs to be exposed to new technologies such as electronic literature search

1.4 Short courses/ Workshops

• • a)

Training of Trainers

The PANTIL programme provides an opportunity to organise short courses on Training of Trainers as part of capacity building to the University. To this effect the ITCB component had supported two Writers’ Workshops in 2008 and 2009 with the aim of providing an opportunity for PANTIL researchers who have publishable research findings

Short courses/ Workshops Cont..

(b) Entrepreneurship

• Selected members of staff attended entrepreneurship courses in 2006 and 2007. • Modules: (i) Enterprising Teaching Learning Methods (ETLM), and (ii) General Enterprising Tendencies (GETS). • The objective of the courses was to orient selected staff in basics of entrepreneurship and equip them with necessary knowledge for course delivery.

Short courses/ Workshops Cont..

•

Challenges on Short Courses

The demand for these courses (in terms of number of participants and duration) is too high and does not tally with the amount of resources allocated for these activities

3.0 Conclusion

• • According to the latest mid term reviewers report, the activities under this component were well executed. We thank the Government of the Kingdom of Norway for their continued support of the programme

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR LISTENING