Kashitu school connects students, alumni and experts. A new cooperation with FCE BUT!

The project to build a secondary school campus in Zambia brings together people from different professions, with diverse experience and from different generations. Students from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology will now become an even more active part of the team. On 3 November 2026, we signed a memorandum of cooperation that opens up new opportunities for students to get involved in the project and connects academia with practical implementation in Zambia.

Kashitu School has never been just a construction project. From the outset, we have seen it as a comprehensive community initiative that brings together education, construction, agriculture, water management, sanitation and other areas essential to the local community’s long-term development. Our team is just as diverse.

The project involves students, recent graduates and experienced professionals who have chosen to devote their time and knowledge to meaningful work. Some get involved while still studying, giving them the opportunity to apply what they have learned to real projects, work within real-world constraints and find solutions in conditions that often differ considerably from those in the Czech Republic. Others, already graduates, travel to Zambia for a volunteer holiday packed with meaningful work. Everyone brings different experience, a different perspective and a little different energy. That is precisely the strength of our interdisciplinary team.

A New Partnership with the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology

We are especially delighted to have established a new partnership with the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology (FAST BUT). The memorandum of cooperation was signed on 3 November 2026 by the faculty’s dean, Karel Šuhajda, and Anežka Havránková, chair of our association, Přátelé New Renato, z. s.

The partnership will enable us to expand opportunities for students to participate in both the preparation and implementation of the Kashitu campus. A student team is being formed at the faculty to work with the Kashitu School project team and experts from Brno University of Technology.

Students can contribute to preparing technical documentation, project design, and structural solution proposals, as well as taking part in practical construction activities directly in Zambia. The collaboration also creates opportunities for new student project topics, including semester and final theses. Their outcomes will address the project’s specific needs and can be tested directly in the environment for which they are developed.

Experiences that can’t be gained in a classroom

The opportunity to work on a real project in a different cultural, climatic, and technical environment gives students experiences that go beyond ordinary classroom learning. In Kashitu, they encounter different levels of material availability, alternative construction methods, limited technical facilities, and daily collaboration with the local community.

These conditions encourage the search for new solutions and prompt people to think about a project in a broader context. This is not just about construction itself, but also about understanding local needs, resources, and how the community works.

Students will have the opportunity to discuss their work with experts from FAST VUT as well as members of our project team, who are familiar with the specific conditions and the project’s long-term development. This creates space for sharing knowledge and experience, from which both sides can benefit.

One project, one team

We greatly appreciate FAST BUT’s interest in involving its students and experts in a project initiated by the local community. We see this as an important step not only in the further development of the campus, but also in supporting students and their practical education.

The collaboration will also include expert lectures, seminars and workshops focused on sustainable construction and development cooperation. Together, we also want to explore further ways to connect the professional and academic community with the project’s specific needs.

We believe partnerships like this make a real difference. Students gain the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice, experts can share their experience, and the project gains new ideas, energy and the professional support it needs.

Building a school is not a job for one discipline, one profession or just a handful of people. It is a shared effort involving many people who bring different perspectives to the project while working towards the same goal.

There is always plenty to do in Kashitu. That makes us all the happier that our team is growing once again!

Thank you, FAST BUT, for your trust. We look forward to everything our shared efforts will bring.