Initiatives of the University of Milan for advanced skills teaching in Africa

Università degli Studi di Milano (UniMI) has played an active role in the organization of courses within the framework of the TNE UnItAfrica, led by professor Sabrina Sorlini at Università degli Studi di Brescia, and aimed at empowering the academic cooperation between Italy and Africa for fostering the quality and effectiveness of the higher education systems in a mutual learning environment.

In particular, the last weeks our university was involved in the actual realization of several courses in Milan and in Beira (Mozambique).

Our University was the promoter of the course PyGreen – Python tools for the Green transition (professor Mauro Giudici and professor Alessandro Communian), which has been organized in close collaboration with Politecnico di Milano (PoliMI), Università degli Studi di Trento (UniTN) e Università degli Studi di Udine (UniUD). The course, subdivided into four disciplinary modules (Energy – PoliMI; Forest resources – UniUD; River dynamics – UniTN; Groundwater – UniMI), has been structured in a first part online (from 9 to 11 December 2025) to familiarize the participants with the basic of Python scripting language and to introduce some disciplinary topics, whereas the core was the students’ project realized working in person from 12 to 16 January, 2026. Finally, the follow up on 19 and 20 January was useful to discuss the results of the initiative and to plan future activities. 

The school has been hosted at the Campus Bovisa of Politecnico di Milano, thanks to the excellent work by the staff of our administration and the support of the colleagues from PoliMI. 20 participants in person and 5 remotely (due to delay in the visa release), from Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania, shared a challenging, but exciting experience about how different scientific expertise can integrate and provide solutions to issues related to sustainable development; the use of software tools in an open science environment facilitated an integrated and collaborative approach, with mutual advantage for Italian and African academicians.

In December 2025, members of the Faculty of Medicine of our University organized three courses aimed at the implementation of the skills related to writing scientific papers, grant application and management for academic staff members of the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM) in Beira (professor Maura Francolini and professor Cristina Battaglia). The courses were held in January 2026 (from the 6th to the 16th) in presence with our personnel in Beira. During these sessions the most relevant aspects of writing and management were addressed as workshops (lessons, round tables and practical activities). Completion of all courses will imply online asynchronous activities from the participants with feed-back from the teachers (the asynchronous activities will be completed by the end of February on the Moodle platform). Specifically, the titles of the three teachings were: 1) Scientific Writing and Article Publication Course; 2) Grant writing for researchers and lecturers; 3) Project Management for Research and Academic Leaders. Each module had specific aims and intended to provide participants with a number of skills relevant to their specific area of expertise and career.  More than 20 participants (afferent to different areas of the faculty of Health Sciences of UCM: scientific, teaching, administrative, human resources and ethical committee communities) attended these classes and the overall feed-back from them was extremely positive.

Additionally, in January a team composed of staff from UniMi (professor Daniele Dondossola) and Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milan (professor Alessandro Jacchetti) was involved in an additional course aimed at implementing basic point-of-care abdominal and thoracic ultrasonography skills. The course was held at UCM and in three hospitals in Beira and involved 22 participants from different medical specialties. Theoretical sessions, clinical scenarios, and hands-on training were used to provide basic knowledge on clinical management based on ultrasonography findings, enabling fast, repeatable, and low-cost answers to clinical questions. Tuberculosis, portal hypertension, trauma, and cardiac decompensation were the main pathological conditions managed by trainers and trainees in hospitalized patients in Beira. Online consultations were scheduled to improve the trainees’ problem-solving abilities after completion of the course. In addition, various activities with local authorities and NGOs were carried out to assess hospital needs and to create opportunities for future steps of the project.

Professor Stefania Recalcati coordinated the medical courses and travelled to Mozambique with her colleagues.