Harnessing public–private partnership to enhance practical-oriented graduate training in fisheries and aquaculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are hubs of knowledge generation and innovations to drive community development towards achieving African Aspirations laid down in the AU Agenda 2063. Student centered learning, supported with experiential learning and strong field hands-on training activities is a central approach for HEIs to impart the required skill and competence in graduates. However, most HEIs receive limited funding especially to fully support and equip themselves with the requisite infrastructure and expertise to guide trainees in knowledge generation. Indeed, several HEIs are stuck in the traditional teacher centered, classroom-based training. Yet, fisheries and aquatic based sciences are more practical oriented, hence require more dedicated time for hands-on activities. The Austrian Development Agency through Austrian Partnership Programme in Education and Research for Development (APPEAR), provided financial support to an academic partnership comprising of teams from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Austria coordinated by Department of Zoology, Entomology and Fisheries Sciences, Makerere University. This partnership has introduced a field-oriented stakeholder-facility-based training approach with the aims of: a) increasing the participation of private and public stakeholders’ in the training of future employees and b) harnessing existing infrastructure and human resources within communities to leverage practical activities. It is anticipated that by establishing strong public private partnerships, there will be increased community appreciation of training process, hence high employability of graduates, enable development of community-focused technologies for rapid adoption, and allow for prompt identification of problems and solutions