Land Administration Academic Education in Eastern Africa

Abstract

The last five years has shown a remarkable growth of academic programs in land administration in Eastern Africa. In recognition of the role of land and land administration, various governments have supported training institutions in their countries to set up programmes in the land administration domain. Programs at Bachelor’s level are being offered in Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda, and are expected to start in Tanzania. Ethiopia embarked on an MSc program in Land Administration, while universities in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, are developing their postgraduate and/or master’s curricula. A comparative analysis of the Bachelor’s programs offered at Eastern African Universities showed that the programs are quite similar in nature and are covering a broad spectrum of land administration subjects. The Master’s and postgraduate curricula are more specialised, with different orientations in the different universities. An important role in the development of land administration academic education in Eastern Africa played The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden, where many young graduates were trained who later became responsible for the development of the first bachelor’s programs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. In 2010 these countries and their universities started the Eastern Africa Land Administration Academic Network (EALAAN) in order to support each other in the development of their curricula. In the meantime EALAAN has grown as new members joined or are expected to join soon. It has broadened its focus to include Post Graduate Degree, Master’s programs and vocational training in land administration.