As a higher education institution, amU is involved in a number of international projects. Part of that commitment comes in the form of the MASSTER project. Carried at our university by Professor Fidelia Ibekwe, this Erasmus+ project aims to provide our partners in Senegal and South Africa with teaching tools to tackle the challenges of sustainable development in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. At amU, our main task in this project is to lead the development of a MOOC, (Massive Open Online Course), that will be open to students enrolled in our partner institutions in Senegal and South Africa but also potentially to learners anywhere in the world.
From the 26th to the 29th of May 2025, professor Ibekwe and Noé Schmidt (Assistant pédagogical and research engineer) attended the mid-term consortium meeting of the MASSTER project in Naples. Hosted by our colleagues at UNINA (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II), the workshop was an occasion for us to show our progress in developing the MOOC. The event was an occasion to deepen our research relationships with our colleagues on the MASSTER project, as well as form new ones with scholars in Agro-tourism and sustainable development at the University of Naples. Through multiple study visits, we saw innovative initiatives and international partnerships blossom. The UNINA partners organised a networking between the MASSTER consortium and their Agricultural research teams where we had the opportunity to exchange at length on the specific programs they developed to answer the pressing questions of sustainable development, facing not only Africa but also Europe. We had presentations on the intersection of agriculture, empowerment of vulnerable populations in SSA expeically women and the decolonisation of curricula and Europe-Africa relations. The feeling of having started something tangible and exciting was on everyone's mind when the closing address was given on the evening of the 29th.
At the end of october, it will be amU's turn to welcome our colleagues from Senegal, South Africa, Germany, Italy and Serbia. We're looking forward to offering a fruitful study visit. We hope it can be an opportunity for amU researchers to build bridges and foster international cooperations.
For more information on the project.
