Keynote by Yaovi M. G. Hounmanou February, 2018 Brussels, Belgium

15/03/2018 1

Mobility: A driver for internationalisation

Background (1)

• MSc under the INTRA-ACP project “Enhancing the Community of Practice in One Health for Infectious Diseases of Humans and Animals through Postgraduate Training” ENHANCING: 372963-TZ

• Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania for 24 months from November 2013 to October 2015.

Background (2)

• Came across the opportunity in 2013 through my BSc Supervisor

• Went through application process with very poor English and limited access to Internet

• Had hectic Passport application process with time constraints

Impact on Personal Life (1)

• Had my first time flight thanks to the INTRA-ACP mobility on 17 November 2013

• At SUA, I developed English proficiency during a short time, despite no preparation courses

Impact on Personal Life (2)

• Graduated with “A” and discerned the “CONVOCATION PRIZE” as the Best MSc at the then Faculty of Vet Medicine

• Developed a broader network via academic acquaintances

• Ability to survive in multicultural environment

Impact on Professional and Academic life (1)

• Participated in a number of international conferences

• Authored and co-authored over 20 papers to date (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pwNGJd8AAAAJ)

• Visited many countries for academic reasons

Denmark Netherlands Sweden Australia United Arab Emirates Qatar Now Belgium Soon in Canada and USA…

Tanzania Ethiopia Kenya Uganda Rwanda Ghana Ivory Coast Mauritius Cameroon Gabon

Impact on Professional and Academic life (2)

• Now pursuing a PhD at University of Copenhagen

• Was able to secure 4 intl PhD funding in a raw in 2016

• One of the main paper translators (French-English) for researchers at University of Abomey-Calavi

• Participated in TWAS Research Grant that we won and now have our lab operating at UAC (Benin)

Impact on Professional and Academic life (3)

• Applyed for further research grants in collaboration with SUA

• Involved in training of Laboratory technicians on advanced cholera diagnosis in Morogoro Regional Hospital

• Moving forward with research on cholera control in the African great lakes region

Impact on host institutions

• Involved Universities enrolled higher number of postgraduate students

– More cash into their accounts

• Had some of their staffs trained in other institutions

• Expanded their visibility abroad through calls for scholarship and foreign students trained

• Capitalized more papers via student’s research work

Recommendations/Suggestions (1)

• Universities should define research areas and themes that student should work on when they join the mobility

• Universities involved in the mobility should engage in collaborations for cutting edge research and sustainable outputs in the project

Recommendations/Suggestions (2)

• Associate theory and sufficient dose of practical sessions during training

• Offer language preparation courses to non-speakers

• Allow and encourage students to conduct research

between host institutions

Recommendations/Suggestions (3)

• Engage in extra curricula training

– adding to their curricula a package on Entrepreneurship and Personal Development trainings

• Harmonize curricula to allow students take courses in other partner institutions and transfer credits

Recommendations/Suggestions (4)

• Make sure students from Target group 2 get equal chances of selection as target group 1

• Synchronize University admission and Scholarship offer during selection

• Facilitate paperwork for foreign students so they can get their certificates soon after graduation and go home

Recommendations/Suggestions (5)

• Consider offering opportunities to students to attend conferences in their respective fields

• Make sure they get the required research funds

• Extra luggage should be factored in return tickets to enable students go home with accumulated books

Conclusions

• The influence of Intra-ACP goes beyond me because it impacts the lives of a number of young people back home who now look up to me and want to do great because I have become somehow, an example and a role model to them.

• More has been done, improvement is still required

Acknowledgement • To the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

• Prof Karimuribo

• Prof Kambarage

• Prof Addo

• Prof Dougnon

• Dr Victorien Dougnon

• Dr Kichuki

• My supervisors

– Prof Anders Dalsgaard

– Prof Robinson Mdegela

• My colleague Intra-ACP beneficiaries

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION