The project “Gender and digitalisation across context (GENDIG): enhancing the understanding and application of gender studies for sustainable quality higher education and community development in Uganda and Tanzania” is a collaboration between three universities. Makerere University (Mak), the University of Agder (UiA) and the University of Dar el Salaam (UDSM) all have gender studies and development as part of their teaching and research portfolio.
Through three-part cooperation, the project aims at a more gender-inclusive higher education sector and strengthening of societal impact through cooperation with civil society organisations. Interventions to mitigate inequality in higher education is the key focus, with an intersectional approach to gender and marginalisation. Digitalisation of master courses in gender studies at Mak and UDSM will be a central intervention in the project, accompanied by research on the effect this might have on inclusion and quality in higher education and the larger society.
This education and research project has four main objectives:
a) increase the completion rates, programme quality and inclusion in the master courses in gender studies at School of Women and Gender studies (SWGS) at Mak and Institute for Gender Studies (IGS) at UDSM, through digitalisation, scholarships, curriculum strengthening, internships and increased supervision competence
b) establish collaboration and development of programme interaction between the two scientific environments working on gender in Eastern Africa
c) allow for staff and student mobility to ensure mutual learning across three different contexts and academic environments (UiA, Mak, UDSM)
d) implement action research on the impacts of both blended and online learning for education quality and inclusion at the master level and the significance of gender studies and gender competence in the larger society in Uganda and Tanzania
The project is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) through the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research (NORHED).