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Filed under: News Tagged: Happy Hoildays, RUFORUM@, Season's Greetings 0

It could very well be that the first half of the 21st century will be remembered as the period when Africa came into its own. These five decades could be a period of steady economic growth and one is which the rapid increase of the working age population actually pays the long promised demographic dividend.  Whether this dream is realized will of course depend on a multitude of political, social, economic and... Read More 0

The World Bank in its Investment Sourcebook on Agricultural Innovation Systems spells out the critical role of agricultural education and training as a creator of capacity and supplier of the human resources that populate key segments of the agricultural innovation system (AIS) and enable it to function more effectively1. Apart from the provision of technical knowledge, which is the traditional focus of higher education, what can institutions of higher learning offer key... Read More 0

As part of activities in the achievement of its core mandate, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) facilitates coordinates and implements skills enhancement workshops for University faculty, students and other stakeholders in higher education. During the 13th RUFORUM Annual General Meeting that happened from 26-27 October 2017 in Lilongwe, Malawi, RUFORUM and its member universities took the opportunity to train 35 University Faculty from across Africa, to develop... Read More 0

Management of Africa’s spiraling population growth is crucial to addressing hunger and adequate food production for the continent, but also the potential to end food shortages globally. That was the warning sounded by Ugandan Professor Adipala Ekwamu during his keynote address on the second day of the 3rd International Conference on Global Food Security, taking place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre. The professor, executive director the of the Regional Universities... Read More 0

RUFORUM – is happy to launch this new publication series, Bringing Science to Communities: Voices from the Field. This popular science communication product is intended to showcase the on-the-ground impact of research and scientific work of RUFORUM – sponsored graduates and their mentors and others they interact with. African universities are increasingly embracing experiential learning as a key strategy for addressing gaps in higher education and training. Experiential learning addresses the challenge... Read More 0

Starting my Journey with RUFORUM When the RUFORUM job adverts were placed in 2008, the opportunity to serve an African led organisation motivated me to apply and work at the RUFORUM Secretariat. I was very nervous. This largely was due to my inexperience in the field of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT). I recall vividly when asked by the panel why I should be given an opportunity to work with RUFORUM, I... Read More 0

Africa has been described by Mckinsey, as ‘Lions on the move’ to describe the growth in the consumer sector in many of its countries and its tremendous potential. Much has been achieved, as indicated by the remarkable economic growth indexes, albeit from a low starting point. The Continent however, continues to lag behind in several development indices, including rampant hunger and poverty in several parts of the continent. There is need to... Read More 0

Recent developments have brought higher education and especially university education back to the fore. The realization that no county can develop without investment in higher education has increased focus on the expectations against a backdrop of historical funding and quality challenges. The resurgence of focus for higher education has manifested in the change in the funding and continued engagement between the higher education sector and other national development initiatives. Several key thrusts... Read More 0

The RUFORUM ‘Vision 2030’ outlines a proposed agenda for how African universities within the network intend to position themselves to improve agricultural higher education, science, technology and innovation in Africa by the year 2030. The ambition of the agenda is to harness the discovery, engagement and learning of vibrant transformative universities to catalyse sustainable inclusive agricultural development to feed and create prosperity for Africa. Under this, the strategy has made six commitments... Read More 0

I write this article as a young African woman with a passion for her continent and a hunger for innovation. As I attended one of the pre-events of the 13th RUFORUM Annual General Meeting in Lilongwe, Malawi, I happened to sit in one of the side events in which the Provost for EARTH University, Dr Daniel Sherrard shared the vision of EARTH University with Deans and Principals of African universities. I have... Read More 0

RUFORUM’s 13th Annual General Meeting had a number of side events and a record breaking 386 participants. The main theme was RUFORUM Vision 2030, an agenda to align RUFORUM activities to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Africa Agenda2063- the ‘Africa We Want’ RUFORUM’s Vision 2030 strategy aims to create vibrant transformative universities catalysing sustainable inclusive agricultural development to feed and create prosperity for Africa. This vision excites me because it... Read More 0

I had the opportunity to visit the Bunda campus of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) during the thirteenth Annual General Meeting of RUFORUM in Malawi. LUANAR is five years old but its history traces back to 1966 when Bunda college was a constituent of the University of Malawi. LUANAR’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. George Kanyama-Phiri welcomed the guests on behalf of the university. He stated that the total student... Read More 0

 PROGRAM OFFICER – COMMUNICATION, PUBLICITY AND MARKETING  (Ref: RUF/HR/JOB/03/17) The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is a consortium of 85 universities operating in 35 African countries in Africa. RUFORUM’s mission is to strengthen the capacities of universities to foster innovations responsive to demands of small-holder farmers and value chains through the training of high quality researchers, the output of impact oriented research and the maintenance of collaborative working... Read More 0

College of Medicine: Deadline dates Vary The College of Medicine (CoM) was established in 1991 as a constituent college of the University of Malawi with a mission “to be an academic centre of excellence in the training of doctors and other health professionals in clinical service and medical research, responsive to the health needs of Malawi and its neighbours within the Southern African region”. Through postgraduate training, CoM expects to develop and... Read More 0

Deadline Extension: 31 March 2018  The Mastercard Foundation has partnered with the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a network of 83 universities in 35 African countries. The partnership focuses on ‘Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and development’. The aim of partnership is to transform African agricultural universities and their graduates to better respond to developmental challenges through enhanced application of science, technology, business... Read More 0

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) trained thirty three (33) faculty from twenty two (22) universities in thirteen (13[1]) countries in Africa and Europe in transformative training and research programmes development and projects management. The training with the objective of enhancing university faculty skills to develop and manage university and community transforming programmes and projects was conducted at Bingu International Conference Centre, Lilongwe, Malawi between 21st and 25th... Read More 0

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacities Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) on the 26th October, 2017 signed a Memorandum of Understanding and committed to work together to strengthen  the capacities of RUFORUM member universities to better contribute to food and nutrition security, increase sustainability of agricultural and food systems, reduce rural poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. The... Read More 0

  It is great that RUFORUM was able to host a pre-event for Principals and Deans to receive leadership and management training facilitated by the Partnership for African Social and Government Research (PASGR) during the 13th Annual General Meeting in Malawi. PASGR’s main aim is to increase capacity of academic institutions and researchers to contribute research that informs social policy and governance through collaborative higher education programs. The meeting took the form... Read More 0

The positive economic growth trends observed in most African countries in the 2000’s were in part, attributable to the broad macroeconomic policy reforms of the 1990’s and before. In response to more favorable policies, agricultural sector performance improved appreciably in some African countries (Badiane et al., 2017: unpublished presentation in Gaborone).  During the same period, a number of global and Africa-wide initiatives such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the comprehensive Africa... Read More 0