Forging distinctive African partnerships
We develop, negotiate and maintain partnerships and programmes that strengthen UCT’s integration with other African institutions with a focus on providing opportunities for the benefit of students and universities in Africa.
We manage a number of existing African partnership programmes as well as implementing strategic donor funded programmes including:
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1. The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program
In December 2013, the University of Cape Town partnered with The Mastercard Foundation in its Global Scholars Program; an initiative that will provide academically talented yet economically disadvantaged young people from developing countries – particularly from Africa – with access to quality and relevant secondary and university education. The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Cape Town will facilitate the development of the next generation of transformative leaders by enabling 444 young leaders to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies at UCT over a period of ten years.
To date, the programme has awarded 252 scholarships and 50 scholars have graduated from UCT.
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2. Universities Science, Humanities, Law & Engineering Partnerships in Africa (USHEPiA)
USHEPiA, established in 1996, is a partnership of South and East African universities that builds institutional and human capacity. USHEPiA offers PhD and masters fellowships to staff members of the partner universities. By the end of 2019, USHEPiA had awarded 83 full degree fellowships which resulted in 63 degrees being conferred.
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3. ARISE II
In 2016, UCT was awarded funding under the EU Intra Africa Mobility Scheme to run the Africa Regional International Staff / Student Exchange: Food Security and Sustainable Human Wellbeing II Programme (ARISE II). The programme focuses on Agriculture, Medical Sciences, Engineering and Energy to develop African capacity in food security and sustainable human wellbeing – and is strongly linked to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
ARISE II will provide a total of 46 opportunities for masters and doctoral studies as well as for shorter research and administrative visits for student and staff between the partner institutions.
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4. AFRICOM
UCT is a partner in another Intra Africa Mobility Scheme Project – Reinforcing Coherence Relevance and Partnerships in Computer Engineering Education in Africa (AFRICOM) led by the Universite de Yaoundé, Cameroon. AFRICOM is a cooperation and mobility programme in the area of Higher Education, implemented by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Union (EU).
The project is designed to facilitate the movement of Masters Students, PhD students and Staff between selected national Universities in the African regions as a means of building capacity and encouraging socioeconomic development in each region.
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5. Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)
OWSD is the first international forum to unite eminent women scientists from the developing and developed worlds. The objective of the organisation – based at the offices of The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) in Trieste, Italy – is to strengthen the role of women scientists and to promote their representation in scientific and technological leadership. UCT joined the programme in 2007, when three UCT students (from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) received fellowships. To date, 19 fellowships have been awarded for studies at UCT.
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6. Erasmus+ YEBO!
In 2017, UCT became a partner in the Erasmus+ Yebo! project co-ordinated by the University of Montpellier. The project focuses on developing a framework for the internationalisation of doctoral education and facilitates access to information concerning funding, mobility, and administrative procedures of PhD programmes.