A delegation of Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology today expressed interest in understanding and collaborating with Kerala’s IT sector with focus in the fields of integrated development of higher education and overall ecosystem development. The visiting team met Technopark CEO Col Sanjeev Nair (Retd), Santhosh C Kurup, Professor of Practice, Digital University Kerala (DuK) and Riji N Das of ICT Academy of Kerala (ICTAK) at Technopark here as part of their Indian benchmarking tour. The objective of the tour was to understand the development of educational system in India and the advancements made in education domain.
Col Nair gave an insight about Technopark, the first IT park of the country and how it benefitted the state’s IT landscape. He also added how government interventions and support made the Technopark model a success and an ecosystem enabler. The interaction with the delegation is the first step towards collaboration between Tanzania and Kerala’s IT sector. Santhosh Kurup gave an insight about DuK, the premier institute of Kerala that is digitally empowering the state. He added that there are immense opportunities of exploring academia - academia and academia-industry collaboration between the two countries. Riji N Das brought out the aspect of how ICTAK is bridging the skill gap to make the students industry ready in the ICT domain. The idea of exploring the possibilities of student exchange programmes with the east African country also was discussed, besides an exchange of academic and industrial expertise in the field of higher education in Tanzania.
Prof Peter Msoffe, who is the Director of Higher Education under Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, described the Kerala model as “truly remarkable”. “The way Kerala has expanded its IT landscape with government-aided initiatives is a big takeaway for us. How academia and industry is being connected — like in Kerala’s Digital University where students are getting industry experience while they’re studying — is a model we can emulate in Tanzania,” he said. The visiting delegates evinced keenness of signing MoU on collaboration prospects with the IT sector of Kerala. He added that it can help us seek the possibility of utilizing the academic resources of Kerala for the development of our higher education and developing our IT landscape.
Pointing out that Tanzania was now focusing on developing its service sector, Prof Msoffe said the delegation would also consider the scope of conducting internships, workshops and certification programmes in collaboration with Kerala’s IT sector for Tanzanian students.
Among the top priorities of the delegation’s visit to India are coordination of education, training, curriculum implementation and management, internship programmes, integration of technology and stakeholder engagement.
The other members of the touring delegation were Science, Technology and Innovation Director (under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) Prof Ladislaus Mnyo inne, Tanzania Commission for Universities Executive Secretary Prof. Charles Kihampa, MJNUAT Deputy Vice Councilor (Academic, Research and Consultancy) Prof. Joel Mtebe and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Principal officer Ms Kadole M. Kilugala.
The delegation interacted with lead strategists & IT fellows supporting the High Power IT committee, representatives of Higher Education and Industries Deapartments, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala Startup Mission, ICT Academy, Kerala Development and Innovative Strategic Council and Additional Skill Acquisition Programme.