Radio Miraya
2667: Miraya Breakfast Show: What opportunities does the Erasmus Plus program offer?
very good morning to you who welcome your listening to them via breakfast so of course this is where the big conversation begins every morning. Yesterday, the University of Juba hosted Erasmos Plus Infosessions. Now Erasmos is a European Union program that supports education, training, youth and sports in Europe. Now it was an open event that was also streamlined for those who are not able to attend in person. But for those who miss both, don't worry. Of course, the Miraya breakfast show is here to give you the details. Now my guests will explain to you everything you need to know about the Erasmos Plus program. I'm glad to be joined here in the studio by Professor Mairi John Blanchins, who is academic registrar University of Juba. Mr. Mairi, good morning. Good to have you on the Miraya breakfast show. Good morning. Thank you very much for hosting us. You're also welcome. And also with us here, in the studio is a familiar voice. You might have heard her on the Miraya breakfast show. Animu Evisasi, with us in the studio. She is Erasmos Plus National Focal Point for South Sudan. Animu, good morning. Good to have you. Good morning, really, Miraya. Thank you so much for having us. Great. Now, as a focal point of this particular program, briefly just tell us about the event yesterday at the University of Juba. How was the turn out? Oh, actually, the turn out was overwhelming. It was more than we anticipated. We had sort of planned for about 60 people, because obviously it's an info session, so we would like it to have impact as much as possible. But we had a turn out, a physical turn out of about 100 plus people, including being graced with the presence of the honourable municipal high education science and technology, and several key leaders, deans within the universities. We had faculty from University of Juba, APANEL University, Catholic University, but also NGOs that are associated with higher education institutions, so Rift Valley Institute, Study Institute, the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies. So, yeah, it was a really amazing turn out and sort of challenged us on the need for the hunger for knowledge in this country and the hunger for being able to do capacity building and other aspects. Great. And yes, just before we even go into the details of all these, of what happened yesterday, how important this program is, but what is this Erasmus Plus, basically, what is it about? Give us a brief about what this program is. So, yeah, thank you very much. As you already mentioned in the briefing, Erasmus Plus is the EU's program, the Repentions Program to Support Education, Training Youth and Sports in Europe. And it's taken on a different context since 2021 to 2027, really focusing on green energy and transition, digitalization, social inclusion, and also promotion of young people in a democratic life. So, in other terms, it would be considered as scholarships, but there are different focus of scholarships where you have, and there are also different types. So, we have capacity building for higher education, but we also have mobility programs. We also have the Erasmus, Mundus, Masters programs. So, there are different aspects, but what is really unique about Erasmus is more the exchange, it's not just student-to-student exchange of faculty-to-faculty exchange. It's the whole being. So, you have students being able to go to European universities, but also universities collaborating with other universities in Europe, and sort of building capacity and exchanging. And that's really what is unique about this program. So, it's not just you go, come back, yeah, there's also opportunities for the virtual exchange where you have students being able to benefit from that, but also faculty, but also people from the NGO aspect, yeah. Yes, and Professor, my good to have you here, of course, in the program as someone from the University of Juba, particularly from what you saw yesterday, how is this program important to your students, and of course, to the university as well? Thank you very much. I think as you're all aware, the university is part of resource training for social students, especially human resources, not only for social learners, but for the whole world. We are supposed to have international students at the university as well. And we also want to be part of the international community. So, capacity building is very important for us. We need to train not only staff of the University of Juba, but we also need to train staff for social and the world at lunch. So, this gives us opportunity to explore other ways of training our staff and our colleagues from the country in this. So, that first meeting was very important for us, because a few of us had questions that we needed answers to. And that was an opportunity to get answers to these questions. I mean, yes, we don't answer. Yes, we know for sure that Erasmus is a European thing. Are we Europeans? We are not. So, where do we come in? We come in as a third party, or countries that are non-EU countries. And we wanted to know exactly what is in it for us as non-EU countries. We did realize that Erasmus is a number of areas that we can cooperate in. We have staff mobility, student mobility. That means we can send our students to go and land there in European universities. They can also send their students to come and land here in our universities. And we can also send our staff to go and have some particles there. And they can also send their staff there. And we can also collaborate in areas of research. These are all key areas for us. Universities don't own a train. They also need to do research. And so, to say this, but one of our weakest points in social science is research. So, if we can have collaboration with institutions in more developed countries, we could do it. It's our weak area. Not because we don't have the ability. It's because of resources. We rarely have the resources to carry out research. But if we can have this collaboration, I think it would be a great thing for us. Great. Now, I knew what was the problem, like basically who are the speakers and presenters who are answering the questions that our professor Mary and the rest were having yesterday. So, that's a very good question. So, as a national focal point, this is also one of my tasks to provide information about the program. How can people apply for the program? But yesterday was a unique scenario because we had, you know, experts from the European Commission in Brussels who joined us virtually, experts in the field, even people that have benefited from the program before explaining down to the detail of even how when you go to the page of application, where do you click, what do you avoid, when you have a number. And they really dedicated a lot of their time to be able to answer those neat, gritty questions, even questions that seemed borderline trivial. So, we were very grateful for that, because we had somebody, an expert on capacity building and higher education, someone, another expert also on Erasmus Mundo's master's program. We also had the capacity building on vocational education or training. So, those people were able to take questions from students, from faculty, everybody who was there, even online questions. I mean, some questions were like, do we have to do a English test, you know, because, yeah, and then it's really best on university to university, yeah, Europe is not homogeneous, not everybody speaks English, yeah, okay. Now, the question is, who can benefit from this program? What kind of opportunities basically does it offer for those who are listening to us here now, how can I benefit from this? And what qualifies me to be able to benefit from this program? So, their program benefits mainly students and staff of higher education institutions, but also higher education institutions as organizations. And then also think tanks and NGOs that are associated with universities. So, unfortunately, we've missed the call for 2024. So, September 2024, we might not be able to have South Sudanese join, but the new call would open around November. But between now and November, we're going to have several other information sessions, even beyond Juba, even beyond Juba University, to be able to make people aware and to start preparing. But basically, to answer your questions, teachers, faculty, universities, even ministries of higher education, they have opportunities for some capacity building in certain areas. They can't benefit from this program, yeah. So, it's all encompassing, but particularly young people, because it also has a really huge aspect of youth and sport. And today, is this kind of like a scholarship program or is it cost sharing or the students have to pay for themselves? All this program does is facilitate. How is the package? Most of the program actually is catered through the Erasmas Plus program. It has a budget of about 2.61 billion US dollars. And that takes care of the whole Erasmas program, Sub-Saharan Africa and other countries. So, most of it, the program is taken care of. I would like to give an example, like of the Erasmas Mundo Masters program. They pay for everything. So, once you qualify, it's about 36,000 euros per year. And that takes care of your board, your tuition and other things. So, it's like a really full scholarship. Yeah. Yeah. So, Professor Mairi, what is the role of the university here and particularly in the University of Juba when it comes to enabling this program to happen? The first thing to realize is the University of Juba is the mother university in South Sudan. We are the oldest, we are the largest. That's not the father. So, that is very important. That's a very crucial point. So, it's good that the launching of these information programs starts with the University of Juba. And we have invited our colleagues from Mother Universities and EUS also invited them to come and attend to this. So, what is it in there for South Sudan or University of Juba? It's really, as I said earlier, it's less... We found also find that it rhymes with our programs. As part of a human resource training for South Sudan, we are also now focusing on the TVET or vocational education, which we find is also of importance with Erasmus. So, for us, I think once we start working on this vocational training, because anybody who knows anything about South Sudan, you'll realize that we have highly skilled individuals at the top, but somewhere in the middle here, the technicians are missing, the planners are not there, the mechanics are not there. So, we need to focus or focus on that. And that's what we are going to do. University of Juba will benefit a gradient from that, and we are also going to benefit a gradient of that as the country of South Sudan. And we are also going to make sure that we train the human resources. We train the human resources for this country in these areas. So, these are real opportunities for us to benefit from. And we are also going to extend it to other universities. And as Mr. Risa was saying, we are going to have a number of other sessions to train people. And as part of the University of Juba thing, our main task now is to ensure that we do the right things like having relationship, opening partnership with other universities in Europe, because this is crucial. Once we open relations with universities in Europe, then we can exchange programs with them, like send our students to their universities, they send their students to our universities, we send our staff, they send their staff. And then also, importantly, we can also have joint programs with them, especially master's programs. Great. We can have joint ones. All right. Now, we just take us to, I mean, how can one apply for this particular program? So, like I told you, once the call opens, we start the application process. The application is mostly online. And that was a huge challenge for most of the students in in in Juba here, because of issues around access to affordable and quality internet. But if you start early, usually the application starts November and closes around 15th of February. So, you have enough time like four months to be able to do that application process. It's quite rigorous. But that's why we're here. And that's why we're going to do as many info sessions as possible. I think we'll be like information overload. Great. Yeah. So, I think once the application comes offense, we'll also come back here and to remind people that the application is open. Yeah. And this is what you need to do with different stakeholders and partners. Yeah. Yeah. And when when is the next info sessions? Do you have an idea? Yeah. So, we'd like to do another info session in May. That's the first week of May to coincide with celebration of Europe Week. As you know, Europe Day is on the 9th of May every year. So, we'd like to do another info session around that time as part of the activities to commemorate Europe Week. But activity targeted towards young people and obviously educational institutions and part of building cultural exchange. And maybe also like, you know, what was mentioned at the yesterday at the University of Juba is that institutions in South Sudan don't have to reinvent the wheel. They can start from where others have already developed because South Sudan really requires a huge empowered and educated workforce, whether it's in the civil service or elsewhere. So, these opportunities make that possible. Right now, University of Juba is at the capacity of like 30,000 students. It's too much, you know. So, if we are able to at least send some out there, then I guess we can be able to achieve that goal of having an empowered and educated workforce. Yeah. Now, this question was to go to, if there's any of one of the delegates from the European Union delegation in South Sudan, someone will be wondering, of course, with all this offer, what does the European Union stand to gain? I think for them, there's a concept now is that building capacity outside automatically means that you are building capacity for yourself. I don't speak officially on behalf of the European Union, but I would like to understand that a promotion of cultural exchange and continent to continent cooperation, Europe, Africa cooperation is advancing our globalization. And we are not working in isolated societies anymore in order for us to be able to understand how issues are being solved or challenges or opportunities are being taken care of in other communities. We have to be able to -- education is a real key to bridging those gaps, knowledge gaps, breaking those barriers for mutual understanding and cooperation, but it's also educational diplomacy. And we also give them an opportunity to learn about our places and our cultures, yeah. Yes. And Professor Maire, any additional advice for those who would like to apply? Oh, thank you very much for asking that very important question. I think let me just add to what Mr. Aziz has said about -- Mrs. Aziz has said about what is the European Union. I think we have to understand the European Union is about integration of countries, breaking down boundaries. And that is what the extension to Sub-Saharan Africa also means. We want to break down the boundaries between us and Europe. We want to send our students there to learn and exchange views together. So -- and our faculty also, that is going to be very important. So what is it -- what is it that we can do now as a university? I think we spoke of the Internet challenges. I think as we have more sessions to discuss these issues, we'll also be considering is it possible for us to have a dedicated center so where students can come and apply. At the University of Cuba, we have got a Unipod, which is a Innovation Center supported by UNDP. If we can work closely with them, we can have a session. There's somebody dedicated there to help students fill in applications. I think that would really be a great deal. For us, although we have missed the call for this year, I think we see a blessing in that, in the sense that it gives us time to put our house in order and able to do that. This is really a great opportunity for us. We don't want to miss it. Also, we don't miss that on this. We have about one year to prepare for this. We are going to make sure that we take full advantage of this and celebrate it in coming year next year. We should be having our students and staff ready there. Great. And that's the time we have, Nemo. You find no remarks, please. I want to thank you so much, Radian, for helping us amplify this message and for the people especially that were not there and were also not able to attend online. But I just really want to encourage, especially young people, this is your opportunity. You must take it up. Don't wait for somebody to bring it for you on a silver plate. Actually, we brought it on a silver plate. So you really have to take it up and use it to the maximum. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yes, Mairi. Any final remarks? We are just looking forward to seeing everybody participating very actively, taking opportunity of this slight window that is open for us. It's the first time, as far as I can remember, the European Union engaging with the higher education. So we don't really want this opportunity to be lost. Thank you. Thank you so much, Professor Mairi. Thank you, and Nemo, for coming to realize to this. Do appreciate your time.