In the Context of the SATIS project Prof. Abdelraouf A. Moustafa, Prof. Samira R. Mansour and Prof. Mohammed S. Zaghloul from Suez Canal University (SCU) visited Bremen University from 14.-18.9.2015. The workshop was organized by Dr. Thomas Buse from the UFT at Bremen University. Tanja Woronowicz, Prof. Hartmut Koehler, Raimund Kesel and Dr. Michael Boronowsky are The SATIS Team Bremen During the very busy schedule the current status of the SATIS project had been discussed. The activities in setting up the ReviTec pilot at SCU are finalized and the first scientific experiments had been started.
During the stay the adopted curriculum of the International Master of Ecology in Ismailia was deeply discussed and a plan for the national accreditation in Egypt was developed. The decision to start the MSc prgram only in 2016 was agreed as most valuable, because the management structures at SCU need to aligned accordingly. It will need some more month to establish a common set of quality assurance instruments according tot he Europaen Higher Education Area rules to further on enable students’ exchange from both sides. The current development of the Master was also discussed with Prof. Martin Diekmann, chairman of the International MSc program at University of Bremen. Beside these activities a visit of the KNO-Compost production site took place, also to support the discussion of the ReviTec substrate production.
In general terms new approaches to solve the pressing problems of desertification and degradation were discussed. The guests from SCU reported about the land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas which is intensively increased by human activities. Beyond this climate change effects, salinization, loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem service and goods, the use of natural resources, environmental economics and sustainable development had been topic of this visit.