The Non-Curriculum Challenges and Opportunities of Administering a U.S.-Based M.S. Degree in Kilimanjaro, Africa

In the world of pharmaceuticals, regulatory science is an emerging field that has goals of developing tools, drugs, devices, and practices to increase benefit and lower risk concerning safety, quality control, and effectiveness. The dangers of having a subpar or non-existent, regulatory science practice can be costly at best or lethal at worst. Formal education at the graduate level to train professionals is a relatively new field. Research has been done on the practice of regulatory science, and on the institutions educating these scientists. The university’s investment, in particular, has the ultimate goal of getting sustainable medicine to Africa. The collaboration of the university’s Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Science program with the Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy is helping to provide good regulatory practices in Africa. Designing an applicable, theoretically sound and pragmatically implementable curriculum was the first step. This curriculum has been discussed in a previous paper on this topic. The risks of attending class through war torn territories, lack of information technology infrastructure, language, cultural implications, and the payment of tuition and fees are but a few, and perhaps most administratively challenging, of the challenges and opportunities yet to be documented and presented. This paper, therefore, focuses on the many non-curriculum challenges and opportunities of delivering a U.S.-based M.S. degree in Kilimanjaro, Africa. A program individuals’ risked their lives to participate in.