The FORTECASE project is an exchange project sponsored under the NORPART programme linked to DIKU. Main partners are University of Zambia and NMBU

11 des. 2019 - 11 des. 2023

DIKUUNZA/ACEIDH

  • The Veterinary Faculty of NMBU has a long story of collaboration with vet schools in Southern Africa in studies of infectious diseases in animals and humans and especially on the zoonotic infections transmitted between humans and domestic and wild animals.

    Key partners in these 20 years of collaboration have been the University of Zambia and Makerere University (Uganda). Adding to this, the University of Zimbabwe, University of Bahr el-Ghazal /South Sudan), Sokoine University (Tanzania), Hawassa and Mekelle University (Ethiopia) have participated. European links have been institutions such as Roslin Institute and Robert Koch Institut. In Norway, NMBU has worked in close collaboration with the Veterinary Institute (NVI), National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), University of Tromsø and University of Oslo. 

    Following the establishment of the ACEIDHA  (AFRICA CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF HUMANS AND ANIMALS), we managed to establish FORTECASE -  a DIKU (Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education)-sponsored student/ staff exchange program under the NORPART programme with NMBU/  UNZA as main partners and Makerere as a secondary African partner.

    Norwegian partners include NVI, NIP, the University of Tromsø, and the Roslin Institute. The project will run over five years (2019-2024), including a project extension linked to covid-19 delays.

    The FORTECASE was formally started at an inception meeting at UNZA Oct 23 2019, followed by intensive training of supervisors and PhD students to prepare for the research part

  • This project aims to improve the quality of postgraduate training through shared teaching at the UNZA School of Veterinary Medicine and the Veterinary faculty of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) built on our mutual academic cooperation and student mobility. For UNZA, this is the next stage of excellence in postgraduate training and research in infectious diseases within a One Health paradigm; for NMBU, this project will improve the competence in understanding and managing exotic infections in more and more globalised world.

    The following are the specific project objectives: 1. Strengthen and broaden the existing partnership in postgraduate training and research between UNZA and NMBU. 2. Improve the quality of postgraduate training at UNZA and NMBU by introducing postgraduate courses and data-driven approaches built on archived exotic pathogens and epidemiological information collected through the 25 years of collaboration. 3. Increase postgraduate student learning satisfaction at UNZA and NMBU by providing subject-specific North-South exchange student experiences. 4. Boost enrolment and graduation of postgraduate students, including international students, to the MSc Programmes at UNZA by the year 2022 by providing training and mobility scholarships through our World Bank Centre of Excellence and NORPART respectively.

More information

Through FORTECASE, we focus on the exchange of students (South-North and North-South)  and staff and strongly emphasise the competence of PhD training in Zambia. NMBU supervisors also contribute to research linked to ACEIDHA.
 

Participants