Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Dar es Salaam based Water Institute (WI) has opted to use online platforms to engage with its current students, its alumni and academicians scattered in different parts of the country.
The online platform will have benefits for current students to access learning materials and assignments at remote locations while the alumni will be able to be registered in a database using a special portal, upload their CVs and get some technical assistance from their peers and academicians who are sharing the same portal.
“This is a new initiative to continue engaging with our student in difficult times like coronavirus outbreak but also to conveniently engage with our alumni, connect them with available opportunities like job openings, projects and academic related matters,” WI Rector Dr Adam Karia told members of the press in Dar salaam
He said that this initiative came at the right time as the world was changing to adopting digital platforms to run different activities and discouraging physical meetings, a move that saves running costs among other benefits.
The Rector said that the online portal has already proved potency for his current college students’ learning, which alumni have been traced and registered with the portal, a move which promotes interactions at a simplified level for numerous benefits.
WI Academicians and others are also sharing various research papers and findings using the same platform.
“We have conducted a tracer study since this project started and 80 per cent of alumni with our colleges from the year 1974 when the college started have been spotted and are continuing to register with our new portal,” he said while thanking the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) for its financial and technical support to realize such remarkable steps.
For his part, GIZ Tanzania’s Senior water programme advisor Dr Frank Levise the support to WI was given out as part of efforts of improving the water sector in the country.
He said that GIZ believed in a skilled labour force and bringing them together for knowledge exchange would help build strong water sector programs in Tanzania.
