The sixth annual ACU Commonwealth Summer School, hosted by the University of Rwanda from 13-20 August 2016, saw 39 delegates from 14 Commonwealth countries discuss how universities should implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Summer School is a key part of the ACU’s work in promoting opportunities for student and staff mobility, capacity building and collaboration between member institutions. The majority of participants receive ACU-funded bursaries to attend. 

Delegates benefitted from a series of lectures from international and local speakers, site visits, skills training, social activities, group project work and opportunities for networking. The site visits organised by University of Rwanda provided a chance for delegates to learn about Rwanda’s history, culture and vibrant economic sector. Some highlights included visits to tech hub K-Lab, a University of Rwanda student community building project, and the King’s Palace museum in Nyanza. The full programme can be found here.

Speakers who joined the event to share their expertise included the Honourable Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Dr Diane Gashumba; Dr Prasad Senadheera from the Open University of Sri Lanka, and Dr Alex Coutinho, the Executive Director of Partners In Health Rwanda. For information on all guest speakers, visit the biographies page. 

Hard-working and talented delegates collaborated on group projects, culminating in the production of a high-quality poster and presentation in front of a panel of judges. The project specification was to plan in detail a project to be carried out in partnership between universities in two Commonwealth countries, in order to address one of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The winning group consisted of Stephen Aeko from Uganda Martyrs University, Kezia Campbell from the University of Guyana, Stephanie Craig from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, Oyedibu Oyebayo Oloyede from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and James Otieno from Moi University in Kenya. For details of theirs and others’ projects, go here.

The next Summer School will be hosted by Bath Spa University in the UK from 6-12 August 2017 with the theme ‘Creating greener narratives through the environmental arts and humanities.’ Bursaries will be available for postgraduate and final year undergraduate students from ACU member universities. To register your interest and be notified when applications open, please email [email protected]