Collaboration Between Japanese and East African Universities: Creating Conversations to Promote Research and Understanding Among Faculty Members

Abstract

Collaboration between and across universities on a personal rather than an institutional level is an effective way of sharing and learning from each other. All departments can gain from this type of collaborative effort between colleagues of different and even competing institutions. New or inexperienced university lecturers often struggle with the demands of university instruction and research. An exchange of ideas and points of view between instructors of varied levels of experience, or from different disciplines and institutions leads to deep professional growth and creates opportunities for career advancement. This paper will present a brief overview of the literature regarding practice and theory of academic collaboration, examine the benefits of inter- and intra-institutional collaboration, analyze one case study of collaboration between faculty members at three Japanese universities and present a list of suggestions for implementation of academic collaboration in the East African context. Keywords: collaboration, cross-cultural communication, university faculty development.