
Today is the last day of the visit to the United Kingdom, by seven MUT staff members and four from the University of Johannesburg.
The Acting Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Babatunde Bakare, who led the team, said the visit was the result of their response to a call for proposal that was made in 2019. The proposal’s theme was “Sustainable Societies and Disruptive Technology”. The proposal was for a programme that was jointly funded by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training and the British Council under the ‘University Staff Doctoral Programme’.
Professor Bakare said the purpose of this collaborative project was “to promote multi- and inter-disciplinary cross-pollination across broad areas of research to increase the chances of community-focused research interventions”.
The programme supports six MUT and four University of Johannesburg staff members through a bursary stipend for research purposes, specialized staff development training that will take place in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and co-supervision support by academics at Manchester Metropolitan University, and promoting internationalization. A collaborative agreement has already been signed by all three Universities involved.
Professor Bakare said the programme sought to develop capacity through supporting 10 University staff for doctoral studies in-line with the project theme. The MUT doctoral staff in the programme are Krishnambal Gonaseelan, a Lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Science; Thobile Zikhathile, a Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Health; Nomfundo Ndlovu, from the Department of Chemical Engineering; Bongani Qwabe, a Lecturer in the Department of Office Management and Technology; Refiloe Ntoi, a Lecturer in the Department of Nature Conservation; and Sanele Mngadi, from the Department of Information Technology and Networks.
The 10 doctoral staff members are already undertaking specialized staff development training and strengthening the internationalization agenda between MUT and MMU, as per programme requirements.
“Delegates from Manchester Metropolitan University would be visiting MUT in the year to further enhance the internationalisation agenda as part of the output of the USDP project,” said Professor Bakare. The UK visit took place from 2 to 10 July 2022.