Professors and development

In 2012, Emeritus Professors Gerard van Oortmerssen and Joop Vianen took the initiative to support African universities ‒ pro bono ‒ in developing high-quality education and research programs with the help of fellow emeritus professors. Africa’s future leaders, after all, are shaped by their own universities, which, however, are often barely integrated into international scientific networks. On the occasion of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf receiving her honorary doctorate in 2012, Tilburg University entered into an agreement with the University of Liberia to help reinforce its academic education programs. As part of this agreement, scholarships have been granted to Master’s students who were or were planning to be involved as teachers at their Liberian university. This has been a most successful initiative, providing a major impetus to university education in Africa. An important condition is that activities do not serve to replace local experts and that initiatives must be embedded into the programs of partnering universities.

Transferring knowledge

Several emeritus professors have meanwhile offered their pro bono services to universities in Zambia, Namibia, Congo and Zimbabwe. They have transferred their knowledge to local teachers in putting together Master’s programs, delivering workshops, receiving research methodology schooling, involving students from partner universities in collaborative efforts and supervising PhD students. The average travel and accommodation expenses for a two-week stay in Africa range between 1,000 and 2,000 euros. The accommodation expenses are usually taken care of by local universities, but this is not always feasible. Next to Tilburg University sponsoring, therefore, crowdfunding efforts by students and alumni has helped to raise about 20,000 euros for this program.