UoN hosts 50 years Celebration of East Africa-German Academic Exchange and 60 years German-Kenya Relations
The University of Nairobi played host to the 50 years celebration of DAAD Regional office and 60 years German-Kenya relations that coincides with the partnership with the University of Nairobi on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 19-20, 2023.
The first day was for celebration of all the beneficiaries of DAAD postgraduate scholarship and second day brought together researchers from universities in East Africa for a Science Forum.
Regional Director, DAAD, Beate Schindler- Kovats, speaking during the opening ceremony celebrated all the alumni, 'We want to celebrate all the alumni from the 7 countries that are represented here that are representing all the other alumni everywhere.
On his part, Prof. Stephen Kiama, VC, UoN, affirmed, ‘I am one of the alumni!’ He congratulated all the DAAD scholars and noted that, ‘many of the men and women who have received the DAAD scholarship have gone ahead to be leaders of this great country. we have learned the value of hardwork.’
Dr. Kai Sicks, secretary General, German Academic Exchange Service noted that, ‘50 years ago in September the first DAAD representative was posted in Nairobi and that's how we have an impressive number of 45,000 alumni from East Africa alone. This means that we could fill a stadium in Nairobi with DAAD alumni. Our alumni are the biggest treasure that we have.’
Hirut Woldermariam, Former Minister for Education, Ethiopia appreciated the role DAAD has played in access to higher education in Africa, ‘I would like to appreciate the staff who have worked tirelessly on providing information to the students on the available scholarship opportunities, I appreciate the government of Germany and Kenya for the collaboration. Let us maximize on all the opportunities from this partnership.’
H.E. Sebastian Groth, the Ambassador of Germany to Kenya noted that, 'I’m honored to celebrate the presence of our presence in kenya for 50 years.The 45,000 alumni are not only researchers and scientists but they are also ambassadors. We are all working towards the betterment of humanity and the SDG goals of Quality Education, Gender Equality and reduce inequalities. You are in a segmented group of people . We are proud to be the first ones in this country to seek partnership with the Kenyan government , its an envy from all the other western countries.’
H.E Dr. Rose-Asha Migiro, Amb of Tanzania to UK, Ireland- I would like to appreciate the organizers of this celebration. She reminisced her journey of how she became a DAAD scholar, the journey of learning German language. ‘My skills came in handly when I needed to serve in the Public Servivce of my country. DAAD has evolved in the last 5 decades, it has transformed the Higher Education where its present. I believe that DAAD evolution has had a lot challenges, geopolitics brought winds of change in different seaons. I take this moment to congratulate DAAD efforts in Africa in the past 50 years and can’t wait to see what the next 50 years hold for the institution.’
