The GfGD Database of Geoscience Higher Education Courses in Eastern and Southern Africa

GfGD student ambassadors have compiled a database of taught geoscience higher education courses. This database strengthens geoscience education and supports sustainable development goals in eastern and southern Africa. The database is published open access: we encourage its use and welcome additional data submissions to keep it up to date and complete.

In collaboration with our partners, Geology for Global Development is developing roadmaps for governments, universities, and professional bodies to guide the strengthening of geoscience higher education. We are aiming to ensure geoscience students are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals this decade. 

Our first step towards this aim has been to develop baseline data describing geoscience courses currently being taught. GfGD Student Ambassadors Laura Pozzi and Gareth Hurman have started collecting data about tertiary institutions in eastern and southern Africa. We are excited to share the resulting product, the first version of the Database of Geoscience Higher Education Courses in Eastern and Southern Africa. 

This database compiles taught geoscience higher education courses available at universities in select countries in eastern and southern Africa, and includes short courses, certificates, diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, and master’s degree programmes. The database records course module details, course durations, and entry requirements. 

We are using the database to understand how current geoscience courses align with national sustainable development priorities and have started this work with our collaborators in Kenya. This assessment helps us to determine if and how geoscience education needs to be strengthened to support sustainable development commitments. We will be sharing updates about this ongoing research project.  

We anticipate that this database could be of use to you to create positive impact. We hope you’ll get in touch to tell us how the database has been useful to you, and if you have valuable data to add: Get in touch. 

We are grateful to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and the UNESCO/IUGS International Geoscience Programme Project 685, who supported the development of this database.