Strathmore University, a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), accepted an invitation to
participate in their Structured Training for African Researchers (STARS)programme. This took place in August 2015 when Strathmore was already in
advanced engagements with the Consortium to implement AURA programme.
Structured Training for African Researchers
(STARS) programme
The STARS project is an online professional
skills course implemented collaboratively with African universities to develop and
refine professional development for academic staff early in their careers. The
project aims to institutionalize and embed early career support and build the
skills and confidence of early career academics. The resources in the programme
are collaboratively developed and are openly licensed under a creative commons
license so that universities can adapt and embed the material within their own
professional development offerings.
The programme was designed in a three year
cycle. The first year involved the design of online content for training early
career researchers. The second year involved piloting the online course in
twelve universities. The third year involved implementation of the course with
additional universities. This is the point at which Strathmore joined into the
programme.
Similarities and differences between STARS and AURA programmes
The major similarities are that both
programmes are focused on research capacity building among a more or less
similar target group. The key differences are that STARS is already at an
advanced stage of implementation while the African Universities' Research Approaches (AURA) programme is still in its first year. The key
distinction in design and outcome between the two programmes is evident in the
implementation.
At the point of recruitment, faculty were
presented with details concerning the objectives and the implementation format
of the two programmes. It appeared that the majority of the young scholars and
early career researchers opted into the STARS programme, partly due to the
perception that the amount of commitment was shorter and less intense than the
AURA. However, early feedback shows that those in the AURA are making
significant and demonstrable transformation in their research undertakings.
This experience highlights the importance
of taking a strategic institutional view and developing a strong implementing
capacity when taking on board similar programmes to avoid failure or collapse.
This experience provides an opportunity to
learn and to better scrutinise future engagements against institutional
capacity and goals
Engaging in both AURA and STARS provided
Strathmore with an opportunity to explore how to position both programmes in
the context of institutional goals. We
also had an opportunity to provide staff with a choice to enrol in either
programme. The model of co-creation in the AURA Programme required creativity
on the part of the champions in order to persuade staff to sign up for AURA
especially because the STARS programme presented a perception of lighter work
load commitment as compared to the AURA programme.
Final reflections
Whilst it may appear that competition
between the two programmes could pose challenges in maximising the benefits,
this was not the view we took at Strathmore. Since there is an intended end in
both programmes to empower the institutions involved to deliver and implement
internally driven and sustainable capacity building programmes that will bring
research outputs to a new level, having the two programmes provides our
institution with an opportunity to complement the lessons learned from both
programmes. Furthermore, Strathmore has taken an active step to harmonise the
benefits by concentrating the programme management under a collaborative
approach between the Research and Teaching departments to avoid scattering and
duplicating efforts. This would be a key
recommendation for other institutions that when an institution is involved in
two programmes that are addressing similar areas, or include synergies, then it
is very important that the programme management is shared collaboratively
between departments in order to avoid a silo mentality, to ensure that the
programmes complement each other, and to prevent duplication.
Stephen Ng’ang’a and Cavin Opiyo are based
at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya.
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