{"id":27673,"date":"2026-08-08T14:42:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ul.edu.lr\/new\/?p=27673"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:43:05","slug":"ul-hosts-german-laboratory-equipment-firm-for-potential-lab-modernization-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ul.edu.lr\/new\/ul-hosts-german-laboratory-equipment-firm-for-potential-lab-modernization-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"UL Hosts German Laboratory Equipment Firm for Potential Lab Modernization Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monrovia, Liberia (August 7, 2026) \u2013 <\/strong>Representatives of a German laboratory equipment company toured science laboratories at the University of Liberia this week as part of a possible partnership to modernize facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHYWE delegates Mr. Vladimir Schelakov and Dr. Michael Flowers visited labs at the university\u2019s Fendall campus and the David A. Straz-Sinje Technical and Vocational College in Grand Cape Mount County during a weeklong visit aimed at a proposed collaboration, which would see the company provide modern laboratory equipment and technical support to strengthen practical teaching, research and innovation across the institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UL President Dr. Layli Maparyan said the university is committed to making long-term investments to modernize STEM Education and views the recent engagement with PHYWE as a step toward that goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are times in the life of an institution \u2013 or of a nation \u2013 when you have to make transformational investments to achieve transformational results,\u201d Dr. Maparyan said. \u201cOur visit with PHYWE enabled us to imagine together a UL in which STEM Education is all it should be, fully equipped and fully modernized. We look forward to exploring next steps after we receive PHYWE\u2019s post-visit proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based in Germany with offices in the United States, China, and Dubai, PHYWE distributes and trains institutions on the use of laboratory equipment for physics, chemistry, biology, and other STEM fields. The company works with more than 100 partners worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Vladimir Schelakov and Dr. Michael Flowers toured UL\u2019s labs in Science, Engineering and Agriculture on Tuesday and Wednesday; and they also visited University Innovation Pod at Sinje campus on Thursday. Their visit concluded Friday with a meeting at Fendall campus with Dr. Maparyan and STEM Education leaders..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was so energizing to sit with UL\u2019s diverse deans and chairpersons of STEM disciplines, both basic and applied, as they talked about their passion for science and science education,\u201d the President said. \u201cFrom basic bench sciences like Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, to essential inter-disciplines like Environmental Science and Public Health, to applied disciplines such as Engineering and Agriculture, we got a picture of the rich potential of STEM education and faculty research at UL.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mr. Schelakov outlined their typical approach to laboratory modernization, explaining that the process usually begins with assessing each department\u2019s needs before preparing equipment proposals for review and prioritization. He said such projects generally include laboratory design, installation, training, digital learning technologies and improvements to existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next phase will focus on preparing laboratory proposal for each department in the coming weeks, including the equipment needed before procurement begins. Selected UL representatives may also travel to Germany for training and visits to modern laboratories before the project is implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the delegation\u2019s site visits, faculty leaders committed to supplying the delegates with their curricula, as well as detailed lists of what they need for the upgrading of their labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limited supply of equipment and the lack of it in some departments, including chemistry, biology, agriculture labs, fisheries, University Innovation Pod, and Sinje, and other challenges were faculty leaders\u2019 major highlights during the PHYWE delegates\u2019 tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the College of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Moisalia ay Sheriff, Director for Soil Testing Plant & Water Analysis Lab, told PHYWE delegates that they accommodate at most 20 students per schedule for lab demonstration, even if the class has more students, due to the availability of equipment, particularly microscopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, or AS, renovated nearly a decade ago, has not been fully functional since. According to him, an AS is a machine that does analysis of all the cations and macronutrients in the soil, as well as water, environmental samples, fertilizers, and other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, you see those microscopes, we try to grab some and make spots. Some are good, some are not,\u201d he said.  \u201cOnce you bring the sample, you prepare it, and it does the analysis. Okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr.  Schelakov and his colleague, Dr. Flowers, earlier on Tuesday visited the bacteriological lab, the veterinarian lab, where Dr. Varney Kamara explained what he and his students do in the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Kamara said the university is improving, and it is moving from zero to something, citing the availability of modern tools and research facilities. However, he said most of the cabinets in the biology department\u2019s labs were destroyed and rebuilding them is very expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut again, as I said, it was zero. When we were going to school, it was zero. But things are improving. Even the lab, we suggested that the lab should come to this campus so that it can complement the university,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said he faces some challenges, including the lack of money to replenish reagents to do their work after the available ones are exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey need to be replenished. Who’s going to buy it? So those are challenges. It’s not just building the lab, but you need qualified people, and you need reagents, you need everything to run that lab,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the diagnostic lab, which has a solar panel control room, Dr. Kamara, it was heavily funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPO) with support from the USAID project. But since U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s administration withdrew USAID funding, Dr. Kamara said a lot of things have gone wrong with the lab, including leakages of the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, the government is struggling. We have very few leakages, but today the engineer came to repair some of those leakages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sinje, Dean Adolphus Nippae of the David A. Straz-Sinje Technical and Vocational College showcased the college\u2019s science and computer laboratories, and water supply system to the delegates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Nippae and his team led the guests to the college\u2019s evolving medical laboratory and its fruit farm in the hope of attracting their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd with the coming of PHYWE to visit our facility, that also gives light to our emerging program, because if you want to expand, you must have hands-on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that the curriculum is designed to provide both practical and theoretical lectures to enable students to apply what they read about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the PHYWE delegation met with Dr. Maparyan and officials of the university. She said upgrading laboratories is one of the university\u2019s most important strategic priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve suffered with laboratories that don’t meet the needs of our curriculum or our students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She informed the guests of UL\u2019s growing student population, which is approximately 28,000, and challenges with providing the necessary equipment and other amenities, including consumables, for the various science labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The engagement marks a significant effort by the university to strengthen science and technology education, a sector seen as critical to Liberia\u2019s long-term development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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