Developing Sustainable University Partnerships: Lessons from Germany and Tanzania

Panel 15: North-South University Development Cooperation: Towards More Equitable Academic Partnerships
Developing Sustainable University Partnerships: Lessons from Germany and Tanzania
George Mutalemwa
In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in international cooperation amongst African universities. However, little has been researched on the nature and output of the cooperation as well as the underlying reasons thereof. This paper argues that the establishment of partnerships is often inadequately devised. Usually collaborative partners tend to lose sight of the question of sustainability and the partnerships tend to be crafted in a skewed “sender-receiver” mode. As a result, some partnerships tend to be unidirectional, end prematurely or fail to meet the objectives of their establishment. Informed by the University Revitalisation Theory (URT), this paper seeks to answer the research question, namely how successful or otherwise has been the cooperation between the State of Lower Saxony in Germany and St. Augustine University of Tanzania over the past 15 years. Data collected through interviews with “donors” and “beneficiaries” as well as document reviews will be analysed thematically. As a beneficiary of this partnership, I will give precedence to the data. The paper will discuss the nature of the partnership, reasons for its success or failure and tease out the path for sustainability. Recommendations for sustainable partnerships will follow the discussion, which may help craft strategies for sustainable and equitable academic partnerships, particularly in the North-South relations.
Keywords: academic partnership, theory, sustainability, North-South relations