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COMESA Virtual University Programme Kicks-Off

Lilongwe, September 11, Mana: Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) has taken the first step towards establishing the COMESA University of Regional Integration by launching a virtual Master’s Degree programme at the Kenyatta University of Kenya.

The Master of Regional Integration (MRI) programme is designed for government officials working in divisions or units dealing with trade, integration and cooperation issues; students intending to work as trade officers, trade policy analyst, advisers, researchers, trade attaches, and private sector trade practitioners among others.

Kenyatta University was selected to host the programme owing to its advanced e-Learning facilities and will collaborate with other 22 universities in other COMESA Member States, which have been involved in the design of the project.

The commencement of the programme follows approval by the Commission of University Education in Kenya.

“The MRI programme will be offered during the first semester of 2019-2020 academic year in collaboration with the School of Virtual and Open Learning of Kenyatta University. About 30 students have so far applied for the programme,” Chairman, Department of Applied Economics, Kenyatta University, Dr. Samuel Muthoga said.

COMESA has signed Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Mauritius; the Open University of Mauritius; l’Institut Supérieur de Gestion des Entreprise (ISGE) of Burundi; and the University of Zimbabwe to begin offering the programme.

The launch of COMESA virtual university was approved in October 2016 during the 19th COMESA Heads of State Summit held in Madagascar.

The program is aimed building capacity of member States to address the slow progress of regional integration in the COMESA region.

The program is expected to address the inability of member countries to implement protocols, decisions and acts due to the lack of institutional and human capital.

(By Roy Nkosi/Mana)

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