Building Stronger Universities is more than just an R&D partnership

Building Stronger Universities (BSU) is a partnership between Danish universities and selected universities in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Nepal. The aim is to strengthen the universities in developing countries so they are better equipped to fulfil their role in society. AGRO has since 2011 been involved in BSU in Ghana and Nepal. We are now in the last phase of the BSU-II programme.

Four thematic platforms were offered that the universities could bid into, but there have also been work packages earmarked the strengthening of the administration in relation to, for example, PhD degrees, finances and management support. AGRO has welcomed visits from the universities in Ghana and Nepal, and some of our employees have visited their universities for shorter or longer periods.

Project administration

To provide inspiration and develop expertise in project and management aspects, we have been visited in AGRO by four people from the University of Ghana (UG) in February and by two from Kathmandu University in April.

To support the universities’ strategic work with research, innovation and development improvements in project administration are needed. Therefore a number of key staff will be trained to lead the development in the recipient countries. In the longer term, this will probably mean that the universities can also handle large international projects.

The delegation from the universities in Ghana and Kathmandu managed to visit, among other places, the Research Support Office in Aarhus to hear about the support offered at AU in connection with research grant applications. They also visited Foulum, where the topic was project management seen from the perspective of the project leader, the project account manager, the secretary and management.

Besides giving a presentation of the department, AGRO also provided examples of:

• Principles of management and planning in the administration, including responsibilities and management roles for the management, section leaders, secretaries and project accountants.
• Project management tools, such as
  • Spreadsheet for budget calculations
  • Registration of applications with a view to assessing future activities
  • Time allocation/staffing plans
  • Management status reports for sections and department
• Wheel of annual activities for department and accounts section
• Process from idea to reporting of projects
• Project leader support by accounts section
• Principles of calculating indirect costs
• Reporting on projects

In Ghana we know that they are currently preparing the implementation of indirect costs so that they can add overheads to projects. They are also preparing systems for time management.

The representatives who participated in the study trips will furthermore help train colleagues at UG in, for example, financial reporting, budgeting and project reporting so that processes for these procedures become uniform and transparent.

PhD programmes

UG also has a need for systems and procedures for its PhD programmes, both for teaching and for administrative purposes. A workshop for scientists and PhD students held in Ghana was therefore given presentations from respectively a supervisor, a former PhD student, the GSST PhD school and from the department’s PhD secretary on how we in AGRO welcome new students.

Examples given by us of social and academic initiatives for PhD students were:

• the role of a supervisor
• the Buddy initiative
• the option of a technical supervisor
• lunch seminars
• journal clubs
• study periods abroad
• courses
• half-year evaluations
• the PhD dissertation and content and format requirements
• AGRO’s attitude to PhD students and the demands we put on them

UG also looked at the PhD planner used at AU and AGRO arranged contact to the supplier of the program, but UG ultimately bought a program from another supplier.