Sustainable management of the resource “Land” requires up-to date and detailed geoinformation for decision-makers. Well-educated land administration (LA) professionals are providing this information for the tasks of land management by using satellite images, photogrammetry, and geoinformation technologies (GIS).

Li4LaM aims to improve knowledge, skills and competences of LA students on collecting, interpreting, and analyzing geodata. Li4LaM develops and provides state-of-the-art teaching and learning materials for in total 12 existing modules of LA relevant study programs offered at four Ethiopian universities. For each of the Ethiopian partner universities also one new module (5 ECTS) is developed tailored to the specific needs of land management in their region, and one module (10 ECTS) is elaborated for Lifelong-Learning (LLL) courses aiming to up-skill local LA experts.

For all modules, learning and teaching material is prepared for being delivered as online courses as well as for on-site courses. European partners will use selected parts of the material.

For the four ETH partner institutions, a LLL strategy is developed and a handbook for quality assurance and accreditation processes for LLL is elaborated.

Ethiopian universities have a severe lack of textbooks. Li4LaM will bridge this gap as teaching and learning material is provided in an electronic format, enabling a broader access for Ethiopian students. Teaching videos, animations, recorded lectures, PDF-textbooks, etc. can be downloaded from Learning Management Systems, which are implemented by Li4LaM for all Ethiopian project partners.

Li4LaM will enhance pedagogic and didactic skills as well as the competence to develop state-of-the art teaching and learning material for all project partners in general and for the Ethiopian partners in particular. European project members benefited from the pandemic situation of the last two years, as the pandemic forced them to adopt distance-learning techniques.

Duration: January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2026
Funding: European Commission, Erasmus+ CBHE Program, 101083003–Li4LaM–ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CBHE
Contact person: Gerhard Navratil (gerhard.navratil@geo.tuwien.ac.at)

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Austria

BOKU is just celebrating its 150-year anniversary, as it was founded in 1872. The “Alma Mater Viridis” is among the leading universities for sustainability in Europe and combines natural, technical and socio-economic sciences. BOKU sees itself as an innovation leader in the green economy, with the goal of integrating sustainability into all processes in society.

It comprises 15 departments and some experimental centers around Vienna and is the only Austrian university in the area of Natural Resources Management and Life Sciences, with some 11.000 students (23% of which are international). BOKU has vast experience in coordinating research and educational EU projects and managing student+staff exchanges in various scholarship programs. In research, BOKU is coordinating and actively participating in several projects funded by the European Commission, Christian Doppler Laboratories, and has several ERC starting grant professorships and one UNESCO Chair.

Special emphasis of BOKU’s activities is research for development; BOKU was the first Austrian university to include R4D in its strategy for internationalization and to establish a Centre for Development Research. In the last years, BOKU developed several joint degree master programs, 8 double/multiple degree master programs, as well as a number of doctoral schools.

Bahir Dar University (BDU), Ethiopia

BDU was established by merging two former higher education institutions; namely the Bahir Dar Polytechnic and Bahir Dar Teachers’ College. The Bahir Dar Polytechnic Institute was established in 1963 under the technical cooperation between the Government of USSR and the Imperial Government of Ethiopia. The institute was a premier institute in producing technicians for the nation. The Bahir Dar Teachers’ College was established in 1972 by the tripartite agreement of the Imperial Government of Ethiopia, UNESCO and UNDP. Its general objective was to train multipurpose primary education professionals capable of adopting primary education to rural life and rural development. Its specific objectives were to train primary school teacher trainers, supervisors, educational leaders, adult education organizers and community development agents.

The Institute of Land administration (ILA) of BDU was the first educational center in the area of Land Administration in the country and one of very few in East Africa. At a BSc level land administration education was started at department level in September 2006.

Currently, the institute is running three undergraduate (BSc level) programs and four postgraduate (MSc and PhD level) programs tailored to land sector since its establishment. ILA has been providing the most valuable training in the country focusing on the different dimensions of land such as land tenure management, property valuation, land use planning and development, GIS, cadastral surveying and mapping, urban design and planning, and so on. It has more than 1550 students in its programs.

ILA is closely working with the federal and regional states and has been providing different short and long-term capacity building training courses to the experts in the land sector. LA has also been conducting research on critical land sector problems in collaboration with national and international partners.

Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) is an institute at Addis Ababa University (AAU). It was first established in 1954 as Building College. In 1969, the Building College merged with the college of engineering and formed the Faculty of Technology under Addis Ababa University and remained as such until 2009. On March 6, 2010, the institute was reformed into its current state as the Ethiopian institute of architecture building construction and city development and it is becoming a leading academic institute in Ethiopia on such topics as environmental planning, urban and regional planning, landscape architecture, urban design, building technology, housing and sustainability.

Currently, EiABC is engaging in fostering the development, capacity and competitiveness of industries in the fields of Architecture, Design, Construction, Urbanism, Environmental Planning, Landscape Architecture, Regional Planning, Management and Geospatial Technology. It provides study programs at Bachelor, Master and PhD levels; conducts research and offers consultancies in all fields concerning the built environment. EiABC addresses a wide range of topics, such as private sector support, international standards and quality management, and professional education at university level.

The rapid growth and the fast technical development of the cities, of tourism, traffic, solid waste, sewage, and the corresponding pollution negatively affect scarce resources like water, air, and soil. This situation urgently requires preventive design measures, which have to take effect through the corresponding projects, planning and legislation. In this regard EiABC, Addis Ababa University has been working in close collaboration with national and international institutions in the area of spatial planning, green infrastructure management, land use planning, and water management. To further scale up the sustainability of land use and environmental management, EiABC would like to collaborate for institutional capacity building in quality education related to geospatial planning, sustainable natural areas, working landscape and built environment which require synergies for professional practice with sister institutions.

University of Ljubljana (UL), Slovenia

UL is the largest higher education and scientific research institution in Slovenia. It has more than 40,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students with approx. 5,600 employees. The university is listed amongst the top 500 universities in the world according to the ARWU Shanghai, Times THES-QS and WEBOMETRICS rankings. It also carries out its developmental pedagogical and research activity within the framework of EU programs. It is a member of international networks such as UNICA, Utrecht Network, IRUN, EUA, and runs an ongoing student and staff exchange with over 500 universities worldwide.

The mission of the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering (UL FGG), which will be actively involved in the project, is to teach, create new knowledge and develop innovative solutions in the fields of civil engineering, environmental engineering, geodesy and geoinformatics, and spatial planning. The faculty and its employees are involved in many international projects. The project team comes from the Department of Geodetic Engineering, which offers studies and research programs in the fields of geodesy and geo-informatics, and spatial planning. The key expertise refers to the geospatial and land management fields, including surveying, geoinformatics, spatial data analyses and decision making based on spatial information; land and real property information systems, spatial planning and real estate economics. The project team has been involved also in several projects dedicated to the creation of new curricula within the Tempus and Erasmus+ program. Furthermore, the team is active in international associations such as ISPRS, FIG, ICA, IAG, EuroSDR.

Improved quality of higher education to enhance employability for students

Updated curriculum(s) and modules for fit for purpose land management tasks: Li4LaM supports modernization of academic education. Selected geospatial (engineering) modules in the existing curricula of the Ethiopian universities will be updated and teaching materials developed. In the project, it is planned to develop/update existing curricula of the Ethiopian Universities especially for skill modules like GIS, remote sensing, photogrammetry and image interpretation. The development of the curricula in such a manner paves the way for other programs in the universities too. This is in line with the ERASMUS + priorities. In addition, two new modules tailored to meet the specific needs of land management in the region are developed in Li4LaM – one for the regular program and one for the LLL program.

Improved knowledge transfer applying modern learning and teaching approaches: Academic education has changed within the last decades. Knowledge transfer by frontal teaching and the provision of subject restricted fundamentals have given way to project-orientated and interdisciplinary teaching approaches making the graduates fit for the labor market. Knowledge exchange between students and teachers (team teaching) is becoming an essential tool in academic education.

Enhanced IT-knowledge by introducing Information Technology (IT) driven applications: In all updated and new geospatial-orientated modules, special software (GIS, remote sensing, image processing, photogrammetry) is used by the students. Focus is given to open-source software. IT-driven applications will enhance the IT-skills of students, teachers and professionals enrolled in LLL programs.

Teaching and learning materials fit for hybrid teaching approaches: Course content can be properly prepared and developed both, in electronic and printed form. This makes teaching independent from site and – in cases when online-lectures are recorded – also independent from time. Electronic teaching materials (textbooks, slides, movies, tutorials, etc.) also easily can be shared between teachers at partner universities as well as at other universities for regular and LLL study programs.

Equipment for the elaboration of electronic contents (camera, movie-maker software) and for the online delivery of courses (learning management system, conference system) is foreseen to be purchased for the Ethiopian partners.

Better educated and motivated teachers

At most Ethiopian universities, the pedagogical approach is teacher centered. There is an interest of senior officials in using the pedagogical approach of active learning, but this has not been successfully implemented yet. Within the project it is planned to improve the pedagogical approach from teacher-centered to student-centered. Experience with modern teaching and learning approaches will be trained and applied during a specific workshop. The skills gained and competences in the knowledge transfer will enhance the motivations of teachers. In addition, team teaching approaches applied in the last project year will be a win-win situation for both, Ethiopian and European teachers. Europeans will learn some kind of resilience from the Ethiopian colleagues, e.g. how to handle problems with electricity and limited resources.

Harmonization of LLL course delivery at Ethiopian universities

Li4LaM will standardize the delivery of Lifelong-Learning courses at Ethiopian universities. Based on a common strategy, guidelines for quality assurance and accreditation processes will be elaborated to guarantee the quality of and the accessibility to LLL programs.

Enhanced capacity in academic education, exchange of good practice and improved institutional cooperation

Improving the quality of the education systems by supporting modernization efforts of developing countries and to develop a strong knowledge of the local market is one focus area of the ERASMUS+ capacity building program. Therefore, training and workshops are an integral part of the Li4LaM. These build the capacity of professionals and students. Increased teaching competence of academic staff and improved employability by producing competent graduates are drivers for development.

Case studies to be elaborated in Li4LaM increase the research knowledge and skills of professionals in Ethiopia. At the same time European partners get new knowledge from developing country challenges.

As indicated in the ERASMUS + capacity building guideline, the capacity building part of the funding in higher education is mainly focused on student mobility. The institutional Higher Education (HEI) networking was nearly fragmented. This Li4LaM project is designed by the consortium of eight universities (four European and four Ethiopian), who agreed to work together as a team on the designed project activities.

Such a process needs to be controlled. Therefore, a Quality Management Plan (QMP) was elaborated and adoped in the project. The QMP contains forms for qualterly evaluation of the project progress, a spreadsheet to communicate deliverables (on time or delayed), and a form for self-assessment. These forms support the project staff in identifying problems early so it is possible to take measures for the compensation of delays.

Quality Management Plan

The security situation in Ethiopia is difficult. There is an ongoing armed conflict since July 2023. The effect was a complete communication shutdown between August and November 2023 putting the project to a full stop at that time. Although the situation calmed down a bit in 2024, there is still a travel warning (September 2026) for all areas outside of Addis Ababa preventing the European partners to visit 3 of the 4 involved Ethiopian universities. This was the main reason why the project duration had to be extended from 3 to 4 years. In September 2026 the armed conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia flared up again.