The African Regional Institute for Geospatial Information Science and Technology (AFRIGIST) has requested a postgraduate-programme partnership with the University of Liberia.

The Executive Director of AFRIGIST, which is tied to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Dr Adewale Akingbade, said that he and his team visited the university to explore ways they can work together.

‘So we can have a collaboration to have a PhD programme in Geography, on Land Administration or Demography’, the scholar said.

He revealed that AFRIGIST also runs consultancy activities, standard short courses as well as customised training.

‘Unless we foster collaboration among ourselves to meet specific needs of our respective countries nobody from different part of the world will do it for us’, he added.

The AFRIGIST head also said that Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Egypt, Nigeria, and Senegal were making contributions to the institution, while Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau and Liberia have shown interest.

President of the University of Liberia, Professor Julius Nelson, said that he was happy that Liberia’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Al-Hassan Conteh, had contacted the university, urging it to meet with the AFRIGIST delegates.

He assured that his administration will do its part to make sure that the partnership between the school and AFRIGIST is sustained.

Since 1976, AFRIGIST, formerly known as Regional Centre for Training in Aerospace Surveys (RECTAS), has been providing training and mentorship in research at graduate and postgraduate levels to students and academics from more than 30 countries in Africa.

Source: University of Liberia

Photo source: University of Liberia