The Erasmus+ funded EXCEL-PHARM project was officially launched in a two-day inception meeting hosted by the University of Cape Coast, bringing together six partner institutions from Africa and Europe to enhance postgraduate pharmaceutical and health sciences education.
The EXCEL-PHARM project — Enhancing Postgraduate Excellence in Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences through Intra-African Academic Mobility — was officially launched during a two-day inception meeting held at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. The project, funded under the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, brings together six partner institutions from across Africa and Europe to strengthen postgraduate education and research in pharmaceutical and health sciences.
The Consortium
The EXCEL-PHARM consortium comprises:
- University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana — Coordinating Institution
- University of Port Harcourt (UPH), Nigeria
- Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), Senegal
- Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa
- Makerere University (MAK), Uganda
- Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa (FFUL), Portugal — EU Technical Partner
Project Objectives
EXCEL-PHARM aims to promote intra-African academic mobility at the postgraduate level by offering structured mobility windows for Master's students, PhD candidates, post-doctoral researchers, and academic staff across partner institutions. The project will support a total of 37 mobility flows over a four-year period, fostering research collaboration, knowledge exchange, and capacity building in key areas of pharmaceutical and health sciences.
Inception Meeting Highlights
The inception meeting provided a platform for partners to align on the project's goals, governance structure, quality assurance mechanisms, and mobility implementation plans. Key discussions included programme coordination, student selection criteria, credit recognition frameworks, and monitoring and evaluation strategies.
Representatives from all six institutions participated, with several partners joining virtually via Zoom. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah, Overall Coordinator of the EXCEL-PHARM project and a Professor at UCC's School of Medical Sciences.
Looking Ahead
With the inception meeting successfully concluded, the consortium will now move to finalise mobility agreements, launch the first call for applications, and begin preparatory activities for incoming and outgoing scholars across the partner network.
This project is funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Programme. The European Commission's support for the production of this content does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
