School of Health and Life Sciences professor, Marion Creutzberg, joined the Ministry of Education's cooperation project
Photo: Personal archive
The Associate Dean of the School of Health and Life Sciences and Advisor of the Office of the Vice President for Undergraduate Studies and Continuing Education, Dr Marion Creutzberg went to São Tomé and Príncipe as a member of the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research (Inep), of the Ministry of Education, in the cooperation project involving the Ministry of Education and Higher Education of the African country from Oct 28 to Nov 1.
At this stage, Inep’s staff and evaluators are monitoring the first external evaluation of higher education institutions in São Tomé and Príncipe. In mid-May, Inep finished the design of the electronic system “e-SUP”, which is used for assessment.
“International cooperation activities are an opportunity to share knowledge and expertise. In this specific case, rather than sharing, we built something together. As a team of specialists in the evaluation of higher education from Brazil, we were able to support the local team of São Tomé in designing and implementing the system, so that it effectively meets the reality of the country and its higher education system”, Marion explained.
Photo: Personal archive
The way she sees it, working together with the São Tomé team was essential to ensure that the local staff played a leading role. “Although it may seem obvious, what we get is a different reality: the team reported that many international partners go to the country to develop a particular project but fail to understand the local culture and its potential. In the end, it ends up obsolete and useless”, she comments.
Marion joined three on-site evaluation committees, along with eight other university professors from São Tomé. This has been the fourth mission of this type and will be the last stage of the project to implement the National Higher Education Evaluation System in the African country. The activity has been developed under the Technical Cooperation Agreement between Developing Countries, signed in 2018 by the governments of São Tomé and Principe and Brazil, through Inep and Agência Brasileira de Cooperação (ABC).
