PREA is a joint project between four European Universities (London Metropolitan University, UK; University of La Rochelle, France; National and Kapodestrian University of Athens, Greece;

Dortmund University of Technology) and three African Universities (University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda, Witwatersrand University in South Africa), as well as the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), an international NGO, that promotes renewable energy. It aims at a joint development and implementation of coordinated Masters’ degree courses in this field that initializes the formation of a network of Southern African Higher Learning Institutions and links them with an already existing European network (TAREB) in which Dortmund University of Technology already participates together with six other European Higher Learning Institutions, three of which are also named above as participating in the PREA project. The Masters’ courses are to be preceded by, and later to run parallel with a series of Workshops, in order to sensitize African government policy makers, decision makers and implementers, regulatory agencies and senior members of academic institutions about energy efficiency (EE) and application of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in buildings, as a way of fighting poverty and saving the environment at the same time.

This project is running for three years, during which time it is expected to have established permanent structures in form of Masters’ courses at the three African universities, which are intended to continue even after expiry of the project period (December 2008).