FUTD, RUT Join Forces for Sustainable Russian- African Network of Transportation Universities
Oru Leonard
The Ministry of Transportation of the Russian Federation and Russian University of Transport (RUT), held a two-day summit titled “Russian-African Network of Transport University (RANTU), in which the Federal University of Transportation, Daura actively participated.
According to a press release made available to News Dot Africa by Umar Usman, Chief Information and Communications Officer on Tuesday, the summit, which took place at the Russian University of Transport, Moscow, Russia, was held between Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd October, 2024.
The project is an inter-regional project which was aimed at combining the potential of 19 transport educational institutions in Russia and African Universities that are either specialised in transportation or they are offering transport-related programmes, into a single educational network for the development of a sustainable transport environment, training of qualified personnel, and scientific and expert support of joint initiatives in the field of transport infrastructure.
The summit was also aimed at developing partnerships between educational institutions, governments, and companies, popularize Russian transport education, and expanded scientific and technical cooperation with African countries.
In his efforts to increase the visibility of the Federal University of Transportation, Daura (FUTD) and establish contacts, partnerships and collaborations, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Hon. Prof. Umar Adam Katsayal, mni, showcased the young University at the event by making a presentation.
The title of his presentation was “Russian-African Network Transport University Project: Commitment of the Federal University of Transportation, Daura – Nigeria”.
After extensively speaking about the University – its establishment, vision and mission, academic programmes being offered, and focus of the University, Vice-Chancellor spoked about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the University.
Prof. Katsayal highlighted some of the challenges of the University to include: infrastructure development; shortage of skilled personnel in the areas of transport technology; limited research funding; rapid technological advancement; integration of technology and digital divide.
He stated that the research focuses the University were on transportation systems optimization; transport infrastructure development; logistics and supply chain management; transport policy and planning; and intelligent transportation systems.
Others were environmental sustainability; public transport systems, transport safety and security; human capital development, and innovation in transportation technology and entrepreneurship.
He further talked about the potential areas of collaboration with intending partners to include: emerging technologies and green energy; intelligent transport system; transport security; public transportation access; logistics management; health and safety in transportation; smart pipeline systems and data management system.
He finally emphasized on the commitment of the University to the RUT and the RANTU Project particularly on curriculum mapping and development; staff and students exchange programme; joint graduate top-up programmes; joint research and publications; capacity building and training as well as joint construction and consulting projects in African countries.
The Federal University of Transportation, Daura, was represented at the event by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Hon. Prof. Umar Adam Katsayal, mni and the Director Academic Planning and Monitoring, Prof. Ahmad Abubakar.
