With Higher Education Towards Sustainable Development in Tanzania

Higher education has an important role in developing sustainable communities. The international BUSCO project develops higher education in collaboration with Tanzanian universities, and creates a framework for continuous development. Diak's publication describes the implementation and results of the international BUSCO project in Tanzania.

The aim of the project was to develop the activities of the partner universities in Tanzania and promote sustainable development in local communities. The project was based on co-development, ie. the living lab model, which includes research, development and innovation activities that involve users in real operating environments. The co-development approach was also used to develop the co-operation between the universities, local communities and companies.

– As a result of the project, the co-operation between the university and working life increase benefitting communities and entrepreneurship, as well as ecotourism, which is important for the country. This also promotes the status of women and children, but especially the sustainable development of the environment. The working life orientation of the curricula increased as well alongside the quality of the teaching management mechanisms that promote high-quality university teaching also in the future, says the project manager and editor of the publication Elsa Keskitalo.

A significant result for the future was the strengthening of the IT and e-learning capacities of the Tanzanian partner universities, which will enable the further development of e-learning.

The project was conducted as part of the Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which supports joint projects between Finnish universities and the universities in developing countries. Diakonia University of Applied Sciences acted as the project coordinator in partnership with the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland and the University of Iringa and Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University in Tanzania.

The project website can be found at: busco.diak.fi.

Project publication

Keskitalo, E., Habiyakare, E., & Vanto, S (2021). Universities and Businesses Co-creating Sustainable Communities for the Future – Experiences and results from the BUSCO project. (Diak Puheenvuoro 39). Diakonia-ammattikorkeakoulu. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-493-365-0