Logistics

SUDLogER - Sustainable Urban Development through Logistics Education in Rwanda

Project Content

Motivation

As Rwanda pursues becoming a zero-carbon economy by 2050, it faces many challenges providing mobility for inviduals and goods without causing additional traffic congestions and emissions, specially considering the increased demand for e-commerce solutions in the country. In this context, innovative logistics concepts play an essential role in the creation of mobility solutions and promoting the sustainable urban development of Rwanda. Nevertheless, the current way of teaching logistics on a university-level is mostly based on educating students on theoretical logistics concepts, instead of linking those concepts to practice-relevant content. This leads to a gap between theoretically understanding logistics concepts and being able to apply them in a concret business environment, which ultimately hinders the development of creative, innovative solutions for the mobility requirements of growing cities with infrastructural and topographical constraints, such as Kigali.

 

Objectives

The project SUDLogER aims at improving the practice-orientation of current logistics education at the University of Rwanda (UR) and adjusting it to the logistics specifics of the mobility sector in Rwanda. This joint project of Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) and UR thereby focuses on better preparing students for upcoming requirements of the labor market and providing them with opportunities to get in touch with potential employers earlier. To achieve this, the project seeks to contribute to the following main fields of action (among others):

  1. Bachelor and master degree modules on city logistics, mobility and sustainable urban development will be developed and implemented. The basis of these modules will be the integration of practice-oriented case studies from the mobility sector to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
     
  2. Labor market relevant offers will be implemented on a regular basis, that support students to get in touch with practice earlier (e.g. logistics contact fair, regular company field trips, guest lectures by business partners).
     
  3. An annual co-working seminar will be established in which students from UR and TUB will collaboratively work on real-life cases from companies in Germany and Rwanda. Besides the practical application, students gain intercultural competencies relevant for future employment opportunities.
     
  4. UR und TUB will conduct joint practice-oriented research projects on sustainable logistics solutions for large cities in low-income countries of Africa. The aim will be to create synergies between conducting case studies for teaching purpose and analyzing those case studies for research.

UR and TUB will be supported by a selected group of business partners from Rwanda (Volkswagen Mobility Solutions Rwanda, Gorilla Logistics Company, Dalso Logistics Company Ltd., Songa Logistics Ltd.), Germany (DB Schenker) and Switzerland (Kühne Foundation) that will contribute practice-relevant content and assist the achievements of intended project Outcomes.

Achievements and Results

  • We are happy to share the successful acquisition of textbooks at the University of Rwanda (UR) as part of the SUDLogEr Project. In total 84 modern textbooks on logistics have been acquired to further support the education in the field of logisitcs. The attached picture depicts our partners receiving the textbooks at the library of the University of Rwanda.
  • On November 25, 2021 the SUDLogEr Project (Sustainable Urban Development through Logistics Education in Rwanda) together with the Competence Center “International Logistics Networks” funded by the Kuehne Foundation organized and successfully conducted the workshop “Opportunities for innovation in urban logistics for African cities”. The participants coming from different logistic service providers, African start-ups and regulators intensely discussed several innovation opportunities. We are very grateful to the Smart Cities Innovation Programme (SCIP) Africa for their support and we are looking forward to further collaboration.
     
  • On November 30, 2021 the SUDLogER Project (Sustainable Urban Development through Logistics Education in Rwanda) organized and conducted two excursions to OSBPs (One Stop Border Post) in Rwanda, one in Gisenyi and one in Rusumo. Our sincere thanks go to the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for making this possible. We are happy to announce that about 40 students of the University of Rwanda (UR) took part at each of the excursions.

 

Project sponsor

Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)- Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development - im Rahmen der Sonderinitiative "Decent Work for a Just Transition"

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) - German Academic Exchange Service - im Rahmen des Programms "University-Business-Partnerships between Higher Education Institutions and Business Partners in Germany and in Africa"

Project partner

University Partners:

  • Chair of Logistics, Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), Germany
  • The College of Business and Economics (UR-CBE), University of Rwanda, Rwanda
  • The College of Science and Technology (UR-CST),  University of Rwanda, Rwanda

Business Partners:

  • Volkswagen Mobility Solutions Rwanda, Rwanda
  • Gorilla Logistics Company, Rwanda
  • Dalso Logistics Company Ltd., Rwanda
  • Songa Logistics Ltd, Rwanda
  • DB Schenker RHO MEA, UAE
  • Kuehne Foundation (KS), Switzerland

Project duration:

1st June 2020 – 31st December 2023

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