© sascha perten
Maureen Njaramba has worked in Kenya's Ministry of East African Community, helping to get trees in the ground and strategies off the ground. She is currently studying in the double-degree Master’s program Sustainable Land Management and Conservation at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.
Imagine you work in a government ministry of a country that is one of the world’s most affected by climate change. You organize tree planting campaigns, design concepts for ecological restoration and know every day that the work you do truly counts. And then you decide to take a short break from all of this – and go back to school.
This is roughly how Maureen Njaramba's journey can be described. The 36-year-old from Kenya completed her bachelor's degree at the renowned Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and then threw herself into the thick of the action instead of looking for a cushy job. She worked in the Kenyan ministry that has ‘Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs)’ and climate policy in its portfolio. This is Njaramba’s past, though. Currently, she is studying for a double-degree Master’s program in Sustainable Land Management and Conservation at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.
© Hochschule Anhalt - Sascha Perten
What Maureen did at the ministry sounds like pure administrative work. But it wasn't. She handled ecological restoration programs attempting to reclaim landscapes that had been lost due to deforestation, erosion or overuse. Tree planting campaigns, sure. But also developing strategies, writing proposals, thinking in systems.
Kenya is not an abstract example of the climate crisis – it is one of its epicenters. Droughts, floods, the decline in biodiversity: In Kenya, these are not headlines, but everyday life.
Why study at Anhalt University? Maureen has a clear answer to this: "It has a good reputation in the field of applied environmental and agricultural sciences, and the focus on hands-on learning was a deciding factor for me. It's not just a theoretical course, but one that breaks out of the lecture hall."
She is particularly enthusiastic about the excursions – out into the countryside, out into the action. The double-degree Master's program, a cooperation with an international partner university, is a symbol of the global orientation of Anhalt University. The fact that students like Maureen come here at all is no coincidence, but rather the result of a deliberate internationalization strategy, which enriches the learning environment for everyone.
"The focus on hands-on learning was a deciding factor for me. It's not just a theoretical course, but one that breaks out of the lecture hall.
Maureen Njaramba
Maureen feels at home in Germany, finds some stereotypes confirmed – and is happy about it. "I like the punctuality and reliability," she laughs. "I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and to gain new cultural experiences." And yet there is a bittersweet note: "I miss my family, my food and the colors of my home country, especially in winter when everything here looks so white," she admits.
Anyone who knows her homeland – the sunlight, the bright red flame trees, the orange hue of the earth – can imagine what a gray January morning in Saxony-Anhalt feels like in comparison. Homesickness is real, even if one goes in eyes wide open. Yet Maureen doesn't carry it as a burden, but as part of her story.
At some point, Maureen Njaramba will return to Kenya with another degree, some new methods, and knowledge of Europe from the inside. And perhaps she’ll return with an idea of how to restore the landscapes she sees every day at home. Anhalt University will then be a small part of it.
With someone like Maureen next to you in a classroom, ‘learning from one another’ takes on a whole new meaning – with a fellow student who knows climate policy not from the textbook, but from frontlines of a government ministry.
Katja Wallrafen
About the ProgramThe two-year, English-taught double master's program Sustainable Land Management and Conservation (M.Sc.) is offered in cooperation with several international partner universities. Students spend their first year at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences and complete their second year at one of the partner universities, for example in Zambia, Namibia, Ethiopia, or Kenya.
Throughout the program, students acquire in-depth knowledge of landscape and agroecosystem management, nature conservation, and sustainable land use. They also learn how to analyze and assess the impacts of different land-use practices using field, laboratory, and computer-based methods. Graduates are well prepared to plan and implement conservation measures, conduct scientific research, and provide expert advice on sustainable land management.
