Africa Day 2025 at UEF

Africa Day is the annual commemoration of the foundation of the African Union, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 25th May, 1963. Africa Day is celebrated around the world and is an opportunity to appreciate and mark the African continent’s diverse history and heritage, while acknowledging its cultural and economic potential.

At the University of Eastern Finland, Africa Day represents an opportunity to acknowledge a diverse and important group of scholars and academics who enrich and make a valuable contribution to education and research in and on Africa.

We shall have a series of different activities and communications about our collaborations with our African colleagues, partner institutions and networks. Further information below and on our social media #AfricaDayUEF.

Contact person: Roseanna Avento, email [email protected]

Events

UEF Library’s Virtual exhibition on Africa

The UEF Library hosts a virtual exhibition on UEF Primo, featuring books related to the African Union, the history and future of Africa.

15.00-16.00 Africa and The National Archives of Finland.

By invitation only! Contact Roseanna Avento if interested. Very few places left.

Venue: The National Archives of Finland, Yliopistokatu 6 A, Joensuu and the UEF Library, Yliopistokatu 4, Joensuu.

African history, particularly focusing on the history of East Africa and Namibia, has been a major research subject at the UEF Joensuu Campus since the mid-1970s. Since then, research on Africa has expanded to include economic, environmental, and demographic issues, as well as education and remote sensing. Research materials have been systematically collected since the early 1980s, resulting in extensive collections of both published and unpublished materials deposited at the National Archives of Finland and the UEF Joensuu Campus library. During UEF Africa Day, the National Archives in Joensuu will organize an introduction to the collections and materials in general, with a special focus on the Africa collection.

16.30-17.30 Collaboration, Sustainability, Impact: Transforming Academic and Research Landscapes with Africa

Joensuu City Library (Koskikatu 25):

Welcome to UEF’s Africa Day discussion forum “Collaboration, Sustainability, Impact”.  Our 2025 event will focus on the topic: Transforming Academic and Research Landscapes with Africa. During the event, UEF researchers will present their partnerships with Africa, that are driving transformative change in academic and research landscapes. Participants will share their stories, and we shall discuss how we can continue to make meaningful education, research and innovation connections with African academia, enterprises and communities.

Refreshments will be served.

Programme

• Welcome and introduction. Roseanna Avento, Global Development Manager, University of Eastern Finland.
• Keynote address. Vice Chancellor Kenneth Matengu, University of Namibia.
• Roundtable discussion with UEF doctoral researchers:
  • Wadzanai Masvosva, Doctoral Researcher in Toxicology, Faculty of Health Sciences
  • Cloneria Jatileni, Doctoral Researcher in Teacher Education, Philosophical Faculty
  • Ida Herdieckerhoff, Doctoral Researcher in Natural Resource Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
  • Amos Sunday, Doctoral Researcher in Computing Sciences, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology
• Breakout session on collaborative opportunities: focus on research, educational exchange and technology and innovation.
• Closing remarks. Rector Tapio Määttä, University of Eastern Finland. 

UEF Africa researchers

Get to know some of the researchers at UEF who partner with Africa on UEF Connect. Check out the section on Experts by Region and choose Africa! https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/group/global-development/.

Latest news from some UEF Africa projects

ToxiSA: From toxicity to safety. ToxiSA enhances education and awareness on mechanistic, descriptive and regulatory toxicology, focusing on specific groups of chemicals in food, the environment and pharmaceuticals. The project is funded by the Finnish National Agency of Education through the Team Finland Knowledge programme and is implemented by the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Helsinki, the Tshwane University of Technology (South Africa) and the Harare Institute of Technology (Zimbabwe). Read here about the project’s first practical sessions held in Kuopio in April 2025.

Five Essential Questions for Integrating Sustainability into Teacher Education Courses: FUTE Blog series. The Future Teacher Education for Sustainable Development (FUTE) project, funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs through the Higher Education Partnership programme, is now entering its second implementation cycle, and more than 30 teacher educators from the four participating higher education institutions are now reviewing their courses through a sustainability lens. The educators examine how sustainability principles can be meaningfully embedded into their teaching practice. Read educator Janeth Kalinga’s review here.

DigiSTEAM: Digital learning in STEAM pedagogy for the equity of education. DigiSTEAM is a project implemented by the University of Helsinki, Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and the University of Eastern Finland and funded by the National Agency of Education through the Team Finland Knowledge Programme. The project runs a blog series, where you can read the experiences of students and staff. Learning material developed in the project will be freely available later this year in multiple languages including in Xhosa, Afrikaans, Finnish and English.

New policy brief from UEF’s Responsive Natural Resources Governance research group. The Policy Brief 2025: Globally Responsible, Locally Responsive was jointly written with seven institutions e.g. College of Business Education from Tanzania, National Policy Consensus Center from USA and Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Educational video on early intervention in family violence. UEF and the University of Namibia launch an educational video on early intervention in family violence. The Department of Social Sciences at the University of Finland and the University of Namibia have released an educational video on early intervention in family violence. The video highlights Finnish and Namibian approaches to addressing family violence and is intended for social workers, social work students and other professionals involved in family violence intervention. Family violence is equally prevalent in Finland and Namibia. Click here for further information and to view the video.

African Student Stories

We have over 200 African students currently enrolled at UEF, over 100 master’s students and about 100 doctoral researchers. They come from 22 different African countries. Here are some of their stories:

• Mariam Maku Quarshie from Ghana.
• Isaac Doughan from Ghana.
• Christian Muragijimana from Rwanda.

Read more about UEF degree programmes offered in English.

African Student Exchange Stories

UEF collaborates through the Erasmus + Global Mobility programme to implement student mobility with the following African universities: Cameroon: Pan African Institute of Governance, Egypt: Pharos University, Eritrea: National Higher Education and Research Institute; Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana, University of Development Studies, and CSIR College of Science and Technology, Kenya: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Morocco: University of Ibn Zohr and Al Akhwayan University,  Mozambique: Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Namibia: University of Namibia, Nigeria: University of Lagos, South Africa: Tshwane University of Technology, University of Limpopo, University of Pretoria, Tanzania: College of Business Education, Uganda: Makerere University. The UEF School of Pharmacy also collaborates with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and the University of Health and Allied Sciences that offer UEF students an opportunity to complete some of their pharmacy practical training in local pharmacies.

• See what South African research exchange student Mpho Kotlolo has to say about her exchange at UEF.
• See what Namibian exchange student Gebhardt Kanime from the University of Debrecen, Hungary has to say about his exchange at UEF.
• See what Ghanaian exchange student Mina Poku-Agyemang from CSIR Ghana has to say about her exchange at UEF.

African Alumni Stories

Over the years, over 1000 Africans from 30 different African countries have studied at UEF.  Here are some of the stories of our African alumni:

• Kwame Ohene Buabeng from Ghana.
• Jimmiel Mandima from Zimbabwe.
• Emma Kwegyir-Afful from Ghana.
• Victor Nyange from Kenya.
• Tanke Aba Samson from Cameroon. 

Join the UEF Alumni network here!

Networks

Finnish University Partnership for International Development (UniPID)

UniPID supports engagement with Africa and other parts of the Global South. Some examples of the support provided to enhance this collaborations include:

• UniPID Virtual Courses.

Many courses soon opening up for registration. Courses are open to students and exchange students at UniPID member universitites

• UniPID DocNET. The Finnish development research doctoral network.
• UniPID Infobank is a multidisciplinary expert and project database with researcher profiles and collaborative project descriptions to facilitate knowledge exchange, communication and cooperation opportunities.
• UniPID Toolkit for global academic partnerships.
• UniPID ethical guidelines for Global South collaboration

Southern Africa Nordic Centre (SANORD)

SANORD furthers multilateral academic cooperation between the southern Africa and Nordic regions and helps strengthen the capacity of all member institutions to address new local and global challenges of innovation and development. SANORD’s annual conference in 2025 will be held from 13^th to 15^th August in Aarhus at Aarhus University. More information from the website. 

Podcasts

Co-designing learning solutions in Africa, for Africa, with Africans. Hear from our researchers in the School of Computing at UEF, Doctoral Researcher Satu Järvinen and Dr Friday Agbo discuss their work on development of learning solutions in different parts of Africa. Dr Friday Agbo, who recently completed his PhD, tells us about his doctoral research, which focused on how to teach computational thinking to novice computer science students. Satu Järvinen, on the other hand, has just started her research. The aim of her doctoral thesis is to understand the opportunities and challenges of skills micro certification in Africa. Podcast available on Soundcloud.

Read more about the IMPDET - PhD studies in Education Technology that supports this research.

Detangling Development Podcast (UniPID): Finland’s Role in Global Sustainable Development. In this episode we take a look at Finland's role in global sustainable development with Teppo Eskelinen, philosopher and senior lecturer in Social Sciences at UEF. Listen to the episode here. Detangling Development, is a 7-part podcast series brought to you by UniPID, to dive deeper into important themes that bridge between the activities of universities and the aims of sustainable development by interviewing a guest with expert insight or research in the specific topic. Find the podcast here.

Blog posts

• Building Inclusive Partnerships: Key Strategies for Successful Funding Applications. EADI Blog by Roseanna Avento, Kelly Brito and Susanne von Itter.
• From Trash to Treasure: Empowering Prisoners with Entrepreneurial Skills in Arts and Crafts in Namibia UEF Puheenvuoroja Blog by Natalie Joubert and Rachel Freeman.