Exciting possibilities in Dar es Salaam

The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is the largest and oldest university in Tanzania and was established as an independent university in 1970.  Prior to that, UDSM was a part of the University of East Africa together with Makerere University College in Uganda and Nairobi University College in Kenya.

"For the entire strategy period, we have focused especially on collaboration with African countries. All in all, we have over 70 collaboration projects with African countries. Going forward, I hope that this effort will be continued and that we further develop it in regards to content," Rektor Frank Reichert said.

UiA has particularly extensive collaborations with Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa, especially within the main areas of innovation, education, social and sustainable development, health and art and culture. Several African countries do not have the same possibilities regarding equipment, resources and infrastructure, but they have many exciting and relevant research projects where it is possible the develop exciting collaboration relations.

Rector Frank Reichert and Vice Rector Professor Bonaventure S. Rutinwa from the University of Dar es Salaam.

"We also see that the students are very interested in having practical training collaboration and research collaboration with African countries. You learn languages, get to know other cultures, and you see how your own profession in practiced in other countries and under other conditions," Reichert said.

Wide delegation

It was an academically wide delegation from the University of Agder that visited the University of Dar es Salaam: Head of Department Kari Hansen Berg and Associate Professors Else Marit Ruberg Ekra and Johannes Hovland from the Department of Health and Nursing Science. Head of Department Geir Hovland from the Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition. Head of Department Hanne Haaland from the Department of Global Development and Planning.

Sigbjørn Nedland is a well-known culture journalist from NRK, where he has for many years been a host of many different music programmes. He has also worked with East African music for a long time and has visited Tanzania 65 times over a period of 40 years. Nedland is hired by the Department of Popular Music to assist with developing an academic collaboration between the department and unique music environments in Tanzania. Head of Department Erik Gunvaldsen, Professor Bruce Rasmussen and student Tibor Teskeredzic from the Faculty of Fine Arts participated.

"We have had many very exciting meetings, and, not least, we have seen very different environments in and around Dar es Salaam with the university but also with, for example, Bagamoyo College of Arts and the music environment around Stone Town on Zanzibar. We can learn so much from the Africans regarding music, both relating to melody and rhythm," Head of Department Erik Gunvaldsen said.

Nedland is very excited to show a part of the varied and extensive music scene in East Africa, environments he has been working with for many years.

"Culture is important for identity and development in many countries, and it has the potential to create jobs for many people who come from very poor conditions. Collaboration between different musicians, preserving and rediscovering the music that exists in the region and passing on this knowledge are important keywords for how we can develop this further," Nedland said.  

Exciting possibilities for practical training

Head of Department Geir Torstveit has a lot of experience with various collaboration research projects with different African countries, such as Tanzania. Torstveit visited the country all the way back as a student 20 years ago, where several students contributed to improving the infrastructure for sports activities on the University of Dar es Salaam's campus.

"That was a very exciting and inspiring visit. I have already discussed my experiences with the group that is working with international work at the department, and we are positive to establishing a collaboration. We think that it would be possible to take courses in a teacher education programme, as well as our bachelor's programme in sports. It is also possible that we will send master's students from both sports and public health to do field work," Torstveit said.

He also met a good friend from his student days at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. Dr Cyprian Maro studied and worked in Norway for over 10 years and speaks Norwegian fluently. Today, he is affiliated with the Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences at the University of Dar es Salaam.

"I have great confidence in this collaboration because we have a contact who speaks Norwegian, is familiar with Norwegian conditions and understands the expectations that Norwegian students have for a stay abroad. This is of course an advantage. Cyprian will be invited to UiA some time this spring so that more people at UiA can become more familiar with him and his academic environment and discuss further collaboration," Torstveit said.

Torstveit also describes how the campus and infrastructure have developed significantly during the last few years. The campus looks great, with green surroundings just outside of the city.

"While I have to underline that the academic benefits are of course important, studying abroad  is at the same time a journey of personal cultural development. It offers a great foundation, you learn incredibly much, and you get impressions that stays with you for the rest of your life. It is incredibly exciting," Torstveit said.

Interdisciplinary collaboration

When traveling together with representatives from different fields of expertise, you also have the opportunity of having academic discussions with environments you do not normally collaborate with that often.

"I have never talked this much with the people from nursing as I have on this trip. We have a lot more commonalities than what immediately comes to mind, both at home and abroad. The multicultural aspect of workers in the health service sector is a good example. Such trips are in other words a great internal work exercise," Hanne Haaland said.

She had several meetings with the academic environments from development and planning, and they wish to continue working on the exchange possibilities and further research collaboration. Every other year, the Norwegian Association For Development Research organises an international conference, and in 2019, the Head of Institute of Development Studies, Dr. Stephen O. Maluka, will be invited to the conference.

"The meeting we had with Dr Cyprian Maro was also interesting to me. Research on women as sports managers is very relevant for our research group Mobility, Culture and Gender. The research manager Hege Wallevik also knows Tanzania well from earlier work. These are good conditions for this becoming an exciting collaboration," Hanne Haaland said.

Images from the visit