Africa-Press – Angola. The lack of mathematicians in the country is a major concern for the Faculty of Sciences at Universidade Agostinho Neto, according to Professor Maria de Natividade.
The professor at the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Universidade Agostinho Neto (UAN) was speaking on the sidelines of a Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Health, under the motto: “Theoretical foundations for multi-scale modeling of disease dynamics”.
The conference took place at the Maria do Carmo Medina Auditorium of the UAN Law School and was presented by Winston Garira, professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Venda, South Africa.
The Angolan professor revealed that the country has only two PhDs in Mathematics.
According to Maria de Natividade, the reasons for this shortage of doctors in this discipline are the absence of a policy for the development of Mathematics, which has been implemented in the country for 53 years.
“There are no professors prepared to teach undergraduate classes, because students finish the course with many weaknesses and when they decide to take a postgraduate course at a renowned university, they are unable to do so, because they have no basis and, as a result, they deviate from the if, they do Pedagogy or Mathematics Teaching”, he said.
Maria de Natividade finds it serious that a Pedagogy teacher or one who has studied Mathematics is a Mathematics teacher at the Faculty of Science, because it deviates from the objectives of the course.
The teacher pointed out that it is necessary to make a fresh start in the Mathematics course, starting with the PhD of teachers in the same subject.
He highlighted that the importance of Modeling in Health Mathematics serves to know the methods, evolution and how to stop the disease, requiring a significant and strong intervention in this discipline.
Maria de Natividade is also a representative of the African Mathematics Union Executive Committee and says she knows well the development of science on the continent.
He considered that the meeting is a normal dynamic between universities, one of the examples mentioned was his recent stay in Spain, at the University of Navarra, where, for six months, he taught and participated in a research group.
He explained that the conference is an activity between Universidade Agostinho Neto and professor Winston Garira, from the University of Venda in South Africa.
The objective, he stressed, is to establish collaboration in scientific research and other academic activities with the Department of Mathematics.
The professor is coordinating a research group on Applied Mathematics in Health Science, to give postgraduate students the possibility to do their PhD and identify partners and project funding.
In addition to the lectures aimed at postgraduate students, it is expected to establish ways of recruiting postgraduate students and researchers about research opportunities in applications of Mathematics to Health Sciences, in its research group in South Africa.
Dr. Winston Garira coordinates the Research Group on Mathematical Modeling in Health and Environmental Linkages (MHELRG) at the South African University of Venda. He is currently carrying out fieldwork at the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at UA.
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