A-4U expands to include collaborations with South Africa

From 23 to 26 of April, A-4U delegation travelled to South Africa on an institutional visit to a number of leading universities in the country and governmental bodies concerned with higher education.

The aim of the visit was to identify common areas of interest and to discuss specific initiatives such as staff and student exchange programmes, joint seminars, and participation in the European Framework Programme projects. The following institutions were visited:

University of Pretoria

University of Witwatersrand

University of Stellenbosch

University of Cape Town

University of KwaZulu-Natal

Ministry of Higher Education and Training

national Research Foundation (part of the Ministry of Science and Technology)

Higher Education South Africa (an association of all South African public universities)

Spanish Embassy in South Africa

As a result of the visit, A-4U started the process of signing general agreements with the above universities, which will open the way to setting up student and staff exchange programmes as well as research collaborations.

Internationalisation is one of the main objectives for creating the Alliance. The four universities have developed a joint strategy of internationalisation with priority in BRIC countries: India, Brazil, Russia, and China. Recently, the BRIC group has expanded to include South Africa, an emerging economy that is currently leading on the African continent. The visit to South Africa was co-funded by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), which supports A-4U international activities.