The maths department at the University of Essex has donated 20 boxes of high quality textbooks to African universities.

East Anglian Daily Times: Professor Peter Higgins and department manager Claire Watts with maths textbooks they are sending to African universities Picture: UNIVERSITY OF ESSEXProfessor Peter Higgins and department manager Claire Watts with maths textbooks they are sending to African universities Picture: UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

The higher education institution made the donation through Books2Africa, a charity committed to reducing environmental waste in the UK and improving the quality of education in Africa.

The book donation was arranged as the maths department prepares to move to a new building at the university’s Colchester campus, following the increase in staff and student numbers.

Professor Peter Higgins, from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, said: “As part of the move, our staff organised a donation of books that were surplus to our own requirements, giving them to our students and now also to African universities to help their institutions grow and build their own library stock.”

Currently 13million books go to Uk landfill every year.