Research achievements of the Building Stronger Universities programme at State University of Zanzibar

The Building Stronger Universities (BSU) SUZA Partnership Symposium 2023 was attended by Hon. Lela M. Mussa, Zanzibar’s Minister of Education and Vocational Training, as well as project partners and collaborators from Zanzibar, Denmark, Tanzania, Uganda, and Somaliland. The symposium programme included contributions from key stakeholders and partners, as well as presentations by PhDs from the BSU programme about key research findings.

For the joint reflection session on day 2, several partners expressed that the BSU programme has been vital in lifting The State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) to higher levels. Looking back, SUZA have now established the necessary environments to support research, training, and education across the university – elements that are necessary for a future sustainable development in Zanzibar.

BSU-SUZA researchers explain their research projects

The key research areas in the BSU-SUZA collaboration include environmental public health and marine and coastal ecosystem health and services – important areas for the health and wellbeing of Zanzibar and its population. Watch the researchers pitch their main research findings below.

Fatma Saleh: Epidemic risk of arboviral diseases

Idrissa Hamad: Drone-based monitoring of seagrass in Zanzibar

Zhanna Tairova: Mercury levels in biota from Zanzibar coast

Mohammed Suleiman Mohammed: Bleaching of corals in Zanzibar

Ally Nassor and Maneno Khamis: Assessment of marine litter in Zanzibar beaches

Aziza Abdulqadir and Biubwa Ally: Solid waste management in selected tourist hotels, Zanzibar

Said Yunus: SUZA Online and Blended Learning

A decade of successful institutional and educational capacity building

Besides the research, the BSU-SUZA partnership has also focused on institution-wide capacity development at SUZA, including introducing and developing the university’s efforts within online and blended learning, new pedagogical approaches such as the case challenge format, university policies as well as libraries and laboratories.

During the 3 phases of the BSU programme, several achievements within postgraduate educational programmes has also been fruitful, with the main success story being the development and launch of the BSc in Environmental Health and the development of a curriculum for a MSc in Environmental Health.

The BSU programme has been in operation at SUZA for more than 12 years during 3 phases, and is funded by DANIDA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark. The Danish university consortium partners at SUZA for phase 3 include the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, and Aalborg University. Phase 4, which began 1 June 2023 also include Roskilde University.