DCU delivers post-graduate courses in Africa on development and the knowledge economy

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore TD has launched a new partnership between the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dublin City University and the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) which will see senior government officials across Africa study for DCU postgraduate awards in the area of ICT and the Knowledge Society. The initiative was launched in Nairobi, Kenya and is supported by the African Union Commission and the Finnish Foreign Ministry. Successful participants in the Leadership in ICT and the Knowledge Society Programme will receive Graduate Diploma awards from Dublin City University. Participants will be eligible to continue to pursue studies at Masters level and beyond. The African Leadership in ICT Programme will enable present and future African leaders to become change-makers in government and to participate in and influence the kind of central policy-making necessary for social and economic development. Currently, the course is running in 5 countries – Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, South Africa and Mauritius - with almost 100 participants. A further 200 participants from Malawi, Botswana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Namibia and Mozambique will join the programme in October 2012. It is expected that the programme will be offered throughout the entire African continent. While the partnership between DCU and GeSCI currently focuses on world-class professional development programmes for African leaders and key policy makers, the broad partnership will, in due course, include science, technology and innovation programme and research initiatives.