Climate change and induced disasters have direct negative impacts on the environment. Increasing the knowledge of experts on using spatial methods to cope with climate change effects and related disasters, as well as providing proper tools for spatial analysis to support planning and decision making, will improve the quality of environmental management in Mozambique and Africa.Three 10 ECTS courses will be developed in this project for training students on the applications and use of spatial methods for disaster modelling and management. Disaster management authorities, organisations, and companies in Mozambique need Geographical Information Science (GIS)/Remote Sensing (RS) experts to cope with an increasing influence of climate change, while there is lack of experts on these topics. This implies that the students who will be trained on these topics will have a high chance of being employed. A disaster management tool (DMT) will be developed. The partners, together with the public, will at the end be the main users of the DMT, and their staff will be using the developed courses to increase their knowledge on the applications of GIS/RS in disaster modelling and management. In general, this project establishes a type of cooperation between universities, government and business that supports the “knowledge triangle innovation” thematic area.eLearning systems will be established in Mozambican partner universities, so the developed courses as well as other programmes can be offered in distance mode. This is very beneficial specially for vulnerable groups who cannot attend in-campus programmes. Trainers will be trained on how to teach the courses. Dissemination activities will be conducted to increase the general knowledge and awareness of public and organizations on spatial methods and their applications for disaster management.

“LaTFURE – Learning and Teaching Tools Fuelling University Relations with the Economy in Mozambique and South Africa” helps to fight disparity between the regions and societal groups in Mozambique and South Africa (as expressed with partly violent student protests in 2015). The introduction of dual study programs leads to an increasing employability of graduates, societal relevance of research, and innovation, resulting in a development of the economy and the society. Dual study programs combine learning periods at a university and at a work-place. Through close cooperation between employers and professors, theory and practice are constantly combined. The consortium includes some of Europe’s most experienced universities for dual programs, like the Danube University Krems and the Dual University of Baden-Württemberg, both with almost 100% of working students. German CHE contributes latest research results on the topic. In MZ and ZA, the 9 partner universities comprise prestigious institutions that are accepted role-models like the University of Cape Town, and universities in disadvantaged settings. In both countries, the science ministries fully support the aims of the project, which is also expressed by their full partnership in the consortium. Business partners like PwC and SANParks (ex Kruger) support the consortium. The project develops programmes in extractive industries and tourism as two of the key sectors for development in Southern Africa (need for innovation in mining, newly-found oil and gas deposits, lack of skilled tourism experts in ZA, increasing business tourism to MZ). Mechanisms and tools are developed in a way so they can easily be adapted for other disciplines and in neighbouring countries at a later stage. Most learning and teaching tools are produced online to make it easy for other countries to copy for their needs. The documents will be available in English and Portuguese, making it understandable for large parts of the African continent.