6 Learnings from an African-European Collaboration – Tandem Teaching at Ashesi University

The road to Ashesi University is difficult to master, which makes commuting to and from Accra, Ghana’s capital, time consuming. The campus on arrival presents itself as an oasis of serenity away from the bustling city. Many lecturers, like Danyuo Yiporo, guest lecturers, like Ralph Spolenak and the students live close to or on campus. This creates an ideal learning environment for the joint Master’s programme in Mechatronic Engineering between ETH Zurich and Ashesi University, together with several partners from industry. In the following, Yiporo and Ralph share some impressions of their joint teaching experience, in the form of 6 key takeaways:

1. Material Preparation (Yiporo)

In March 2022, I visited ETH Zurich to prepare a joint course for the Ashesi-ETH Master’s Programme that I would co-teach with Ralph and his co-lecturer Carmen at Ashesi University that summer. It was my first time in Switzerland. At ETH, Zentrum Campus, one had a great view of the city. The lake, the towers, the big clocks on church buildings, and the cold weather were just memorable. My visit to ETH-Zurich was well coordinated by both Ashesi University and ETH. Everyone I met at ETH Zurich was ready to help, for example at the canteen when communication sometimes became difficult due to my lack of knowledge in German and French, a staff or student was always there to help with interpretations.

2. Perseverance (Ralph) 

Yiporo was there. Carmen, my co-lecturers from ETH for this course, and I could not believe it. We had been told Yiporo could not participate in our lecture effort at Ashesi University due to medical reasons, but Yiporo was there. I felt a great relief. Most of the afternoons of our teaching had been designed during Yiporo’s visit to Zurich in March to be focused on practical work, including casting, welding, and machining. We thought we had to forego the practical part and were expecting tough times for both the students and us while delving into theory, practically two weeks non-stop, but now Yiporo was there. It was obvious that he was still in pain, when climbing up the stairs. He had to take the car for the hill between the machine shop and the lecture hall, a hill that even made the former athletes among us sweat. Yiporo was there and our plan worked out beautifully. This was a level of dedication and commitment which is rarely found nowadays.

3. Enthusiasm (Yiporo)

It was always a fully packed day. Ralph’s commitment to delivering the materials was impactful. I was concerned about the long hours. Ralph stood to deliver the class. The activities on materials testing and microstructural analysis by Carmen and myself complemented our teachings. It was indeed effective and an interactive class. The students at the receiving end endured multiple daily activities without giving up or showing any signs of tiredness. Their presentations were highly elevating.

4. Flexibility (Ralph)

Esi, Kristen, and Kelly, three students from the joint Master’s programme, were ready for their first presentation. The slides were being projected, and they were ready to go. Kristen turned into her presentation self, raising her voice and drawing everybody’s attention, “Listen up, class”. She was well into describing the data on her second slide when … the lights went out. Esi and Kelly immediately started drawing their graphs on the whiteboard. Kristen did not miss a beat. When the power came back, the last slide could be summarised. I was baffled; I could not have done that myself…

5. Transparency (Yiporo)

The course syllabus, schedules, and grade distributions were presented to the students prior to the commencement of the course. Students’ opinions as well as faculties’ views were properly discussed before arriving at a decision. We, the faculties, were liberal to changes and suggestions along the way depending on workloads. This was to ensure students were not imposed with anything they were not happy about. It created a peaceful atmosphere for engagement.

6. Warmth (Ralph)

Ghana is a warm country, which is obvious as it is situated close to the equator. It can, however, be seen in a more general way, in terms of its people being amongst the friendliest on the African continent (as commented by the non-Ghanaian participants on the course). My personal experience was that within days I knew the names of half the cafeteria staff (Janet and co-workers), and they were busy acquainting me with Ghanaian cuisine.