20MSIBR04

RDCONGO

QUESTION 1 – RELEVANCE OF THE STRATEGY

BACKGROUND AND STRATEGIC DIMENSION

A structural partnership agreement between the University of Lubumbashi (UNILU), situated in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and ULB was signed in January 2017 in recognition of 60 years of collaboration and the scale of projects that unite the two universities.

UNILU is currently one of 11 structural partners worldwide, and one of two in Africa (see: https://www.ulb.be/fr/partenaires-et-reseaux/partenaires-privilegies). In May 2019, ULB opened a liaison office in Lubumbashi, currently staffed with one Coordinator, with the aim of supporting exchange projects between the two partners.

These recent steps aims at reinforcing a partnership that has evolved over time, going back to the foundation of UNILU in 1956.

Both universities already have a track record of successful cooperation in creating and strengthening Master programmes at UNILU. For instance, a Master in Public Health has been created at UNILU between 2005 and 2010 with contributions from ULB’s School of Public Health and the Tropical Medicine Institute of Antwerp. The programme is still ongoing and has developed into an offer that draws students from across the DRC. Another Master’s programme is currently being prepared in the field of trade law, in close collaboration with “Organisation pour l’harmonisation en Afrique du droit des affaires” (OHADA).

4 MUTUALLY REINFORCING OBJECTIVES

1. These multiple experiences provide the backdrop for this mobility project, which will offer capacity-building for UNILU’s Faculty of Architecture. This faculty has been created in 2018 and is one of the first tangible results of the partnership agreement between ULB and UNILU concluded in 2017. Colleagues from both sides have laid the foundations for a start-up plan for the new faculty of architecture by developing a pedagogical plan for this course and identifying the actions to be taken. A first teacher exchange and training is taking place while writing this application, subsidized by ULB seed funding.
2. From UNILU perspective, these exchanges are very important because the specific nature of teaching architecture implies incorporating practicing architects who, in Lubumbashi, have little experience in teaching practice. The objective is to carry out cross-exchanges of architectural teachers (ULB-UNILU) in order to strengthen the pedagogical skills of Congolese architects.
3. In addition to the central component of architecture education, the possibilities for research development will need to be considered fairly quickly by integrating, in the faculty of architecture, the CCPGU (Centre of Competences and Planning in Urban Management). This Research Centre is one of the main outcome of a project which benefited from the support of ARES between 2012 and 2017. Its activities could thus be stimulated and constitute an important articulation for the work carried out by both universities in the field of territorial management and urban planning.
4. As a continuation of the mobility project described in this application, the objective is to set up a (complementary) Master’s degree in didactical teaching of architecture intended to improve those skills and to integrate our fellow architects, currently with a high school degree, into the university sphere, giving them access to university degrees (and ultimately to a PhD).

A COOPERATION SUPPORTED BY A WIDER ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

Beyond the actions taken by our two universities, links between DR Cong and (French-speaking) Belgium have also become a priority for ARES, the academy for research and higher education serving as a common consultation and funding platform for HEIs from Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. A high number of projects of different categories (institutional development, capacity-building, research) have been carried out over the past two decades, bringing together different consortia of FWB and Congolese institutions.

RD Congo is also well covered by the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, a global network of French-speaking higher education institutions. 31 universities or universities of applied sciences in RD Congo are AUF members. Digital learning platforms such as the Campus numérique francophone are also operated from regional hubs in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.

This mobility project will also benefit from contacts with the Kongo University (Mbanza-Ngungu) and the Higher Institute of Architecture and Urbanism (ISAU – Kinshasa). Their goals and status are similar, so several teachers from ISAU and UK are currently doing their PhDs at the ULB’s Faculty of Architecture. Altogether, this may result in building a network of architectural education in the DRC of which the ULB would be an important player.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE REQUESTED TYPES OF MOBILITY

Mobility of teaching staff is considered most appropriate in the context of this project. Mobility of admin staff or students is not a priority and therefore not part of this application.

ULB teaching staff will be intervening in a number of capacity-building courses at UNILU’s Faculty of Architecture (6 outgoing mobilities of an average duration of 7 days). Capacity-building will focus specifically on the disciplines whose teaching is currently entrusted to local architects, such as “Architectural project workshop” and “Graphic means of expression”.  This requires collaboration to build a programme adapted to the Congolese context (i.e. teaching methods and cultural practices, configuration of teaching facilities, teacher-student ratio,..) supported by the experience of ULB teachers. We expect this collaboration to produce a programme of scalable, appropriate, contextualized exercises that respect our objectives, methods and evaluation.

UNILU teaching staff will visit ULB counterparts for an intensive programme composed of guest lectures and job shadowing (2 incoming mobilities of an average duration of 21 days). These visits will also be instrumental to show how research groups are operating inside ULB, and enable UNILU to draw inspiration from these observations in setting up own structures and procedures.

SUMMARY:

In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, we are requesting 2 incoming staff training mobilities for 21 days each and 6 outgoing staff teaching mobilities, each of them of a duration of 7 days.

QUESTION 2 – Detail your previous experience of similar projects with higher education institutions in this Partner Country.

• Have you ever worked in an Erasmus+ “International Credit Mobility” project? Or an Erasmus+ project?
• Have the two institutions worked together previously? In which projects.
• How will you communicate, and at what frequency? (Skype calls, phone calls, regular visits?)

 RELEVANT EXPERIENCE IN SIMILAR PROJECTS

ULB’S PERSPECTIVE:

ULB’s Faculty of Architecture has a very strong expertise in the field of architecture for development which has been achieved for many years by the organisation of international training courses intended for stakeholders in architecture and urban planning in developing countries.

Several Congolese officials were able to benefit from these trainings, including a former head of urban planning in Lubumbashi.

Moreover, ULB staff participated to a European project whose objective was the preparation of an inventory of the city’s rich architectural heritage which gave rise to the production of a map. Some teachers were involved in projects with the city museum, which is a privileged interlocutor.

In the DRC, ULB’s Faculty of Architecture enjoys a privileged relationship with the Society of Architects of Congo, with the Higher Institute of Architecture and Urbanism in Kinshasa and with Kongo University in Mbanza-Ngungu.

UNILU’S PERSPECTIVE:

UNILU maintains international collaborations with most Belgian universities, as well as Canadian, French, Russian and African universities.

The new Faculty of Architecture is a result of the cooperation between the University of Lubumbashi and the Free University of Brussels. The creation of this faculty is an extension of exchanges and projects conducted mainly with ULB’s Faculty of architecture, but it also relies on Belgian interuniversity collaborations that have allowed in particular to grant a degree Master’s degree in urban planning to about twenty students already active either in education or in public institutions.

COOPERATION BETWEEN OUR UNIVERSITIES TO DATE

•  2017: Signing of a privileged partnership agreement between the ULB and UNILU (the first of its kind between the ULB and an African university) which underlines the historical roots and the importance that the ULB to the close relations it intends to maintain with UNILU.
• 2019: Establishment of a ULB office in Lubumbashi in 2019.

ULB worked with UNILU in a project to establish a Centre for Skills and Planning in Urban Management in Lubumbashi. This structure is obviously an appropriate starting point for the foundation of an architectural faculty.

In collaboration with the University of Liège and these various Congolese partners, ULB’s Faculty of Architecture is piloting an ARES project aimed at setting up a doctoral school in « art of building and urbanism ». In this context, several teachers from the three Congolese institutions carry out research stays and doctorates in Belgium (mainly at ULB). This access to the PhD will create a pool of teachers who can provide the necessary pedagogical and research skills for the architectural faculties created in the DRC.

This first ARES project has just been completed with a second project, this time in collaboration with UCLouvain, whose goal is to set up a research and skills centre on territorial development whose vocation is national. The future Faculty of Architecture in Lubumbashi could not only be associated with these projects (for example by enrolling PhD students, future teachers of the faculty in doctoral training and doctoral studies at the ULB), but could benefit from them (by associating with research projects, for example).

RESPONSIBILITIES, ROLES AND TASKS

Responsibilities and tasks will be shared as follows:

• Development and signing of the inter-institutional agreement: Camille Bullot (ULB, Student Mobility Office), Xavier Denys (ULB, International Relations), Véronique Poverello, Head of ULB/UNILU office in Lubumbashi.
• Project Coordinators: Prof. Yannick USENI, Teaching Vice Dean faculty of Architecture (UNILU), Prof. Philippe LECOCQ (ULB).
• Coordination of the grant, drafting grant agreements, payments, mid-term and final reporting: Camille Bullot (ULB, Student Mobility Office). Part of the allocation for organisational support will be directly used to cover for additional expenses, such as visa support and insurance coverage. Therefore, no sharing of the OS is planned.
• Mobile staff selection: the participating staff has already been identified, based on their thematic expertise and knowledge of the context (for ULB), and their role and potential impact in the Congolese Faculty (for UNILU).

Brussels to Lubumbashi: Pierre BLONDEL (ULB), Denis DELPIRE, Suzanne GIOVANNINI (ULB), Philippe LECOCQ (ULB) shall be teaching, as well as 2 other ULB teachers to be determined according to the needs to be expressed by the UNILU authorities within the course of the project.

Lubumbashi to Brussels: Isidore DIBALA (UNILU), James MUFIKA LAFUL (UNILU)

• Staff preparation: ULB’s International Office will provide information and contacts to UNILU and ULB staff ahead of their mobility (for accommodation, VISA, insurance). ULB’s Faculty of architecture will produce the invitations and support the incoming participants with administrative processes. Veronique Poverello (ULB office at UNILU) will support incoming staff from ULB to UNILU.
• Planning of the mobilities: Coordinators and international offices. A schedule with provisional dates for mobilities will be made. Mobilities will need to be planned and announced at least 6 weeks before they take place.
• On-spot support: at ULB, Zohra Chenthouf (Mobility Coordinator at the Faculty of Architecture);  at UNILU, UNILU’s Cooperation Service managed by prof. César NKUKU.
• Supervision of the academic aspects (teaching and training agreements):

ULB: Prof. Judith LE MAIRE (Vice-Rector for international affairs and professor of architecture); Profs Philippe LECOCQ et Yves ROBERT;

UNILU: Dean of architecture faculty (Prof. MUKOKO KALENDA); Teaching Vice-Dean, prof. Yannick USENI.

 COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PARTNERS

 As already hinted at above, UNILU and ULB have a very close relationship, which results in very regular (virtual or face-to-face) exchanges between teachers and researchers to prepare and monitor projects.

The Coordinators usually exchange by e-mail, WhatsApp. More recently, UNILU’s staff has been granted access into the ULB Virtual University to provide online educational material.

Camille Bullot (ULB Student Mobility Office), Xavier Denys (ULB International Service) and Véronique Poverello are already in contact through emails and will be responsible for the signing of the inter-institutional agreement.

QUESTION 3

• What partner organisations plan in terms of selection of participants;
• Who will select candidates, and how?
• Who is in charge of informing and supporting participants with regards to visa, insurance, accommodation, etc?
• Who, how and when will you inform potential candidates of this opportunity?
• Who will support participants with the drafting of their mobility agreement?
• What support will be provided to participants?
• How will you handle the recognition of their mobility period (in particular in the Partner Country)?

SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS

The participants’ teaching profile and the curriculum, as well as their first assignments were defined over the previous missions.

OUTGOING MOBILITIES (ULB to UNILU):

At this stage, the most urgent needs for external contributions to UNILU are:

1. Elaboration of exercises for the architectural project workshops that are consistent with the skills to be acquired by students according to the progress in studies.
2. Integration and adaptation of theoretical courses into the architecture curriculum.

As mentioned in Q2, ULB’s Faculty of architecture has already selected teachers among the academic staff on a criterion-based selection in order to form a small team covering the main needs. All academics within the Faculty were sent a note, asking participants to send a dossier comprising:

• their Motivation.
• their Educational project for the architecture workshop;
• their positioning against the assessment criteria below.

Appreciation criteria were defined as follows:

• Critical thinking in relation to the teaching pedagogy of the architectural project;
• Quality of the candidate’s pedagogical project;
• Good knowledge of the faculty courses;
• Relationship between professional practice as a liberal architect and teaching;
• Demonstrated personal commitment to the project in addition to the presence on site (pre-coordination to adjust the plan and content of the week – possible extensions in the future of the project);
• Candidates’ function and their advancement in the career at ULB;
• Quality of candidate engagement in teaching, research and service in the faculty;
• Knowledge and experience of architecture and land use in the DRC (considered an asset).

The choices were motivated in particular by the search for a balance in the composition of the team between men and women, Bachelor/Master, young/experienced, practitioner/academic.

The selection was made by the project coordinators and overseen by the ULB Vice-Rector for international relations (ex-Vice-Dean of the faculty of architecture).

INCOMING MOBILITIES (UNILU to ULB):

2 Congolese architects have been selected to teach the architectural project in the first year Bachelor’s degree. The selection was based on :

– Academic results (percentage achieved and grades obtained in the project course)

– Expertise in the field of architecture;

– Representativeness related in particular to the active role played in the Order of Architects;

– Contribution to the development of the faculty in collaboration with UNILU’s academic authorities since early stages;

– Readiness to be trained in university pedagogy.

CALENDAR AND CONTENTS OF THE TEACHING/TRAINING AGREEMENT

In order to maximise their impact, the ULB mobilities in Lubumbashi are scheduled to take place:

– At the beginning of the academic year to participate in the start of the lessons and the finalization of the plans previously elaborated with the Lushois counterparts at a distance.

– At the end of the academic year, at the final exams juries to draw up a report and readjust, if necessary, the programmes and educational contents.

The missions at ULB’s Faculty of Architecture La Cambre Horta will consist of a 3-week introduction to the organisation of theoretical and practical courses as well as a workshop project. The skills that will have been acquired at the end of the introductory course will be as follows:

1. Master the organisation of theoretical courses in a Faculty of Architecture;
2. Understanding architectural vocabulary;
3. Organisation of architectural workshops;
4. Follow the progress of theoretical and practical lessons in architecture.

Training and teaching Conventions are established by the Project Coordinators, with the supervision and guidance of the ULB Erasmus+ Institutional Coordinator.

PREPARATION

ULB’s Student Mobility Office, ULB’s Liaison office in UNILU and UNILU’s own Cooperation Department will provide information and contacts to UNILU and ULB staff ahead of their mobility (for accommodation, VISA, insurance).

GRANT PAYMENT

The grant payment is managed through ULB Student Mobility Office, who also collects the certificates of arrival/departure.

INCOMING STAFF

Incoming staff will be offered to book their journey and/or accommodation through ULB travel agency. The cost of their ticket is then deduced from their grant.

Incoming participants will receive the total amount of their grants (minus the cost of their journey/accommodation if they chose this option) through bank transfer upon their arrival at ULB.

OUTGOING STAFF

Outgoing staff can also book their journey and/or accommodation through ULB travel agency. The cost of their ticket is then deduced from their grant.

Outgoing participants are reimbursed according to the rules of ULB Financial Department (per diem and real costs).

DURING THE STAY AT ULB

– Accommodation: Incoming staff may book their accommodation through the ULB travel agency.

– Visa: UNILU’s Co-operation Department will support participants in filling out their online forms and verifying that the file is complete. For incoming staff, upon receipt of the nomination, the Faculty sends out an acceptance letter certifying the staff member is to come to Belgium within an exchange programme, and that s/he benefits from a grant. This makes the obtention of VISA easier. The International Welcome Desk can liaise with the Belgian consulate if needed. ULB offers to reimburse any cost incurred in the process of VISA obtention (e.g. if the staff member needs to travel to another city).

ON THE UNILU SIDE

– VISA: UNILU’s Co-operation Department headed by Prof. César NKUKU will be in charge of producing the invitations and make sure they are signed by the competent authorities.

– Transportation: Logistically, transport between the airport and accommodation will be provided, as well as administrative assistance at the entrance and exit of the territory. Support for local travel is also planned.

– Accommodation: On request, Mr. NKUKU’s can take care of the booking of accommodation (a « guest house » is also available according to availability).

LANGUAGE CLASSES

There are no language class foreseen as both faculties and therefore participants are French-speaking.

INSURANCE

ULB’s Student Mobility Office takes on complementary insurance for Erasmus+ international participants (Outgoing and Incoming). This additional insurance covers a large range of risks, included lost luggage, tenant liability, etc. (see annex).

AFTER MOBILITY / RECOGNITION

There is currently no formal way of recognising a mobility for mobile staff. At ULB, we are developing a reflection on this topic. Informal recognition could thus take place through experience-sharing, mentoring, acknowledgement in promotion dossiers, etc.

 At UNILU, the experience of the two mobile participants will feed in directly the development of UNILU’s Faculty of Architecture. Their already significant role will increase in the Faculty.

 QUESTION 4

Explain the desired impact of the mobility project on participants, beneficiaries, partner organisations and at local, regional and national levels.

• What “change” are you hoping to make?
• What concrete outcome do you wish to achieve?

Describe the measures which will be taken to disseminate the results of the mobility project at faculty and institution levels, and beyond where applicable, in both the Programme and Partner Countries.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

 The following tangible outputs are expected:
Immediate outputs of the architectural workshop at teaching level:

• Enhanced capacity-building skills to help establish the architecture faculty at UNILU, through joint definition of objectives, methods and evaluation in the field of project-based teaching:
• Development of a corpus of practical exercises applicable in the workshop of the faculty of architecture of UNILU taking into account the Congolese specificities including identification of synergies with theoretical courses where applicable.

At faculty level:

• Inventory of pros and cons of implementing a credit accumulation system rather than a per year academic achievement.
• A 5-year Faculty Development plan, listing necessary human and logistical resources in relation to parameters such as estimated number of students, required pedagogical support, logistical constraints.

EXPECTED IMPACT

 Short- and mid-term impact, contribution of this mobility project:

On an individual level:

• Devlelopment of the pedaogical skills of the architects who will teach at UNILU Faculty of Architecture;
• Greater awareness from the teachers coming from other faculties of the specificities of teaching architecture ;

Evaluation: the impact of the two previous points could be done through the evaluation of the classes that will be set up and taught.  

On the level of the academic/professional discipline:

• Involvement of the stakeholders coming from the professional world in the academic programme evaluation and greater visibility and promotion for this academic training.
• Clarification of the status of teaching architects: a transitory solution could be found on the short to middle term. A long-term outcome would be the recognition of a status through a formal Convention.

On the institutional level:

• Follow-up of the number of enrolled students vis-a-vis the faculty development plan;
• Budgetary impact of the increased number of students of the faculty;

Impact on the recognition and visibility of the faculty.

This mobility project is also intended to contribute to the following long-term developments (beyond the lifetime of the project):

On the level of the academic/professional discipline:

• This project intends to contribute to the pending question of the status of architects from the professional world and their recognition in the academic world. To accelerate the transition that should enable Congolese architecture schools to develop by leveraging the skills of professional architects, we will examine the possibilities of creating a master’s degree in « pedagogy of architecture » accessible directly by architects and which would give them quick access to the Doctorate while developing their teaching skills. The programme of this master would namely include:
  • An internship that would consist of a supervision of the workshops within the faculty.
  • A master thesis whose scope would directly serve the qualitative improvement of the faculty’s teachings.

The mobility project will contribute to this long-term objective by drafting a joint project to make this objective a reality.

DISSEMINATION

Academic network

The results of this project will be shared within ULB and UNILU’s academic network:

• ULB’s Faculty of Architecture of the ULB continues to maintain close relations with ISAU-Kinshasa and Kongo University in Mbanza-Ngungu. These two institutions share the same questions about a qualitative improvement in their teaching of architecture and seek to ensure cross-cutting coherence at the national level. In this context, ULB’s Faculty of Architecture will relay and share the contents of this project in these different institutions, through conferences or seminars in which academic authorities and stakeholders, in particular the Congolese Order of Architects, participate.
• More direct collaboration and exchange between UNILU’s Faculty of Architecture and the other two DRC institutions shall be fostered by setting up a group of reference persons out of those 3 institutions involved in the organisation of the teachings (I;e. Dean, Teaching Vice-Dean).

Professional network

• The two Lushois architects who will carry out a mobility from UNILU to ULB also provide the interface with the other members of the local Order of Architects. The project results will be disseminated via their mailing list. Conferences or seminars are regularly organised to stimulate exchanges and reflection on the architecture-teaching thematic each time members of the Faculty of Architecture of the ULB visit Lubumbashi.

Students

UNILU will be responsible for promoting this new faculty of architecture through its own distribution channels: brochures, website for young people who are considering access to higher education.