Virginia State Universit Selected To Work With LASU

Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Programme to support projects in Africa: Virginia State University (VSU) selected to work with Lagos State University (LASU).

Professor Richard Omotoye and Dr. Leonard Githinji from Virginia State University (VSU) were awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP) to travel to Nigeria to collaborate with the Lagos State University School of Agriculture to review the School’s agriculture curriculum along the line of suggesting possible revisions that could futher help strengthen delivery and practice. They will also conduct on-site farm extension demonstrations and drills, run workshops targeting LASU Ag majors and Nigeria’s Ag industry stakeholders (i.e. farming audience, food industry and retailers, Ag research partners, banking industry, etc.), and convene dialogues with stakeholders on the strategic partnership needs facing the Nigerian agriculture industry. 

The 6-week project, entitled, “The Lagos State University Agriculture Programme: Initiatives for Strengthening Curricular Practices and Vocational Training” will spotlight farm-based activities and workshops that could help trigger ideas for repositioning Nigeria’s Agriculture industry for the future and better prepare the country for the food needs of its escalating populations. It is also expected that the project will culminate in a long-term working relationship between LASU and VSU. LASU School of Agriculture Dean, Professor Olatunji Abanikannda, is collaborating with the two CADFP Fellows in the capacity of the Hosting Fellow. 

The LASU-VSU project is one of the 63 funded projects that pair African Diaspora scholars with higher education institutions and collaborators in Africa to work together on curriculum co-development, collaborative research, graduate training, and mentoring activities in 2023. CADFP, now in its tenth year, is designed to strengthen capacity at the host institutions and develop long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations between universities in Africa and the United States, and Canada. It is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in collaboration with the Association of African Universities (AAU). Nearly 600 African Diaspora Fellowships have now been awarded to scholars to travel to Africa since the programme’s inception in 2013.

CADFP fellowships match host universities with African-born scholars and cover related expenses for project visits of between 14 and 90 days, including transportation, a daily stipend, and the cost of obtaining visas and health insurance.

The two experts are currently on the Lagos State University Epe Campus, where the School of Agriculture is located, to carry out their assignment.

MySchoolNews reporting.