PRIF cooperates with the University of Juba in South Sudan

Five-year project aims to strengthen science and research in the young African state

The University of Juba, founded in the 1970s is the main institution of higher education in South Sudan. During the war it was largely outsourced to exile in Khartoum. Since independence in 2011, the university is now back at its original location in Juba and as the main institution of higher education strengthens research and science in the young African country. The region Rhine-Main supports the University of Juba through international cooperation agreements with a total of four cooperating institutions.

In March 2012, a delegation led by Prof. Friedemann Schrenck (Senckenberg Nature Research Society ) in the guidance of expert Aleksi Ylönen, visiting fellow at PRIF, visited South Sudan in order to examine the possibilities of cooperation with the University of Juba on site. About one year later, on 21 May, the project culminated in a memorandum to be signed. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Juba, Prof. Aggrey L. Abate, proudly signed the contract with the partner institutions of the Goethe University Frankfurt, the Senckenberg Nature Research Society and Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, the Hesse State Museum and PRIF.

The collaboration is planned for five years and offers support in teaching, designing joint projects, studies planning and curriculum development as well as a summer school for doctoral students at the University of Juba in summer 2014.

 

Photo: Prof. Aggrey L. Abate (University of Juba), Prof. Harald Müller (HSFK/PRIF)