Building Sustainable Collaborations and Academic Networks in Low Income Countries: Case of Master Programmes

Abstract

During development of health information systems, local specialists were needed to take the local lead and train others. Through external funding, nine master programmes in health information systems were set up in developing countries in collaborations between a local university and the University of Oslo. While development efforts tend to fade out after initial project funds have been spent, keeping the programmes running was crucial for the upkeep also of the health information systems.

Their planning, running with external funds and continuation has been analysed by means of a Collaborative Governance Model, which was made more specific through literature on higher education. The specifics concerned initial planning, where bringing in relevant stakeholders, include local knowledge, network globally and have an interdisciplinary approach to learning were confirmed. During the implementation with project funding, small wins kept the collaboration going, and face-to-face dialogues for common problem definition helped solving emerging issues. The outcome has been that all nine programmes continue running, and local, regional and international collaboration help keeping the academics flourishing. More than 500 master students have graduated.