(15.05.2009) Dr. Anneth Munga, Dean of the Sebastian Kolowa University College (SEKUCo) in Magamba/Northeast Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, visited the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) in late April / early May.

The purpose of her stay was to establish further contacts in the fields of special education, sustainable tourism / environmental protection and diaconal studies. Dr. Munga’s agenda included discussions with representatives of the Heidelberg University Institutes for Diaconal Sciences and the Church College of Bielefeld / Bethel. One day was devoted to the topic of geography, sustainable tourism and environmental protection: On 4 May, Anneth Munga and Angelika Veddeler, head of UEM International Diaconic Service, visited the Institute for Geography of the Gießen University. Already in last year, Andreas Dittmann, professor at the Gießen University and the Institute’s contact person for SEKUCo, and Anneth Munga had signed a cooperation agreement in the context of which books and technical materials have already been donated and sent to Tanzania. The exchange of students and lecturers is to begin this very year, once the degree programme of “Eco-Tourism and Geography” has started in Magamba in September.

On 4 May, Kerstin Griese, Member of the German Parliament, had invited to a dinner in Berlin which was attended by both parliamentarians and representatives from the fields of medicine and special education.

A partnership agreement between the Sebastian Kolowa University College and the German Association for Logopedics was signed by the Association’s Chairman Gerhard Zupp and Anneth Munga in the presence of Prof. Ulrike Lüdtke in Berlin on 5 May. Lüdtke had worked as a lecturer and consultant on behalf of UEM in the SEKUCo in November of last year. The new agreement provides for a further cooperation in research and teachings.

“It was a programme filled up to the brim”, said Dr. Munga at her departure – “but it was worthwhile. The professional contacts are extremely important for the College, as they help us develop and design our degree programmes.” The SEKUCo is the first Church University in Tanzania and East Africa with a decidedly diaconal orientation. Currently, the degree programmes of Special Education and Law are offered; in summer 2009, the degree programme of Sustainable Tourism / Environmental Protection is to be added.