The Ministry of Education of Zambia and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Algeria have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at deepening cooperation between the two Countries in areas of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
The signing ceremony took place yesterday, 27th April, 2024 at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Algiers, Algeria on the margins of the Minister of Education, Hon. Douglas Syakalima’s working visit to that Country.
Speaking at the signing Ceremony, Minister of Education Hon. Douglas Syakalima indicated that Zambia is on the path to Economic re-engineering and to achieve the objectives set by Government, Universities are expected to play a key role through their applied research outputs.
He said besides the brain exchange that will be facilitated by this MoU, he expects Zambian Universities to begin to develop their research outputs into patentable products with value for commercialization.
He noted Algeria’s strength in the establishment of Business Incubators or start-up centers at Universities that support the transformation of research outputs into Start-up enterprises.
He therefore hoped that the collaboration that will be facilitated by this MoU will lead to the establishment of innovation hubs at Zambian Universities that will provide full end to end support to students and researchers who have innovative ideas that do not only offer commercial value but provide solutions to some of Africa’s challenges.
And Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Hon. Kamel Baddari said the purpose of the MoU was to establish an effective partnership through the development of university training programmes and the exchange of knowledge, students and supervisors.
This MoU will further enhance Zambia’s collaboration with Algeria in the administration of the Scholarships that the Algerian Government has been offering Zambia since 2006.
Currently, Zambia receives 54 undergraduate scholarship offers for Zambians to pursue their Studies at Algerian Universities.
Through this MoU, the two Governments will engage further to explore the possibility of including post graduate study scholarships, especially at PhD Level.
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