The South Africa-Canada Universities Network begins to take shape with today’s inaugural webinar
South African universities will today (Thursday, 5 September) meet online with their Canadian counterparts in a webinar to identify opportunities for joint research between and among institutions from the two countries. Universities will be represented at the level of Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research Partnerships and equivalent.
This webinar is a culmination of processes started with a visit of vice-chancellors of South African public universities to Canada in April 2023, which was followed by the joint development of a Collaboration Framework concerning what will be known as the South Africa-Canada Universities Network (SACUN). Now that Universities South Africa’s Research and Innovation Strategy Group has endorsed the Framework, the document paves the way for tangible projects to get off the ground.
The goal of today’s webinar, which aligns with SACUN’s goal, is to increase bilateral research collaborations between South African and Canadian universities. The identified research focus areas will go on to inform a Call for Proposals (CFP) being developed, courtesy of South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF). It is envisaged that the connections being formed today will enable the participating institutions from both countries to develop and submit joint research proposals in response to the forthcoming CFP. The NRF has committed seed funding of R3million (effective January 2025) for joint research to be undertaken in this context.
About 60 delegates have registered to attend this engagement, which is being spearheaded by Universities South Africa (USAf) collaborating with the NRF from the South African side, and by Carleton University coordinating Canada’s universities in collaboration with the Canadian High Commission in South Africa. Research funding bodies such as the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) Secretariat are being kept abreast of the unfolding process.
On 1 August, Universities South Africa’s CEO, Dr Phethiwe Matutu (far left above), met with Canada’s delegation at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg. Among other matters, deliberations covered ongoing collaboration relationships between some Gauteng-based South African universities and specific Canadian counterparts. In the SACUN context, Dr Matutu expressed her concerns regarding coordination of the relationship by one university on the Canadian side. In light of the NRF’s R3million seed funding committed to joint research, Dr Matutu expressed a wish that Canadian science councils could also commit an equivalent, in Canadian Dollars, of what the R3millon stands to achieve in South Africa.
Attending the roundtable discussion were (from left) Ms Nina Dube, Mr Daniel Haboucha and Ms Caroline Bolduc from Canada’s High Commission to South Africa; Professor Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Head: Global Engagement at the University of Johannesburg; Professor Puleng LenkaBula, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of South Africa; His Excellency Mr Chris Cooper, Canada’s High Commissioner to South Africa; Dr Phethiwe Matutu, USAf’s CEO; The Honourable Ms Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr Verne Harris (behind), Acting Chief Executive at the Nelson Mandela Foundation; Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand; Ms Caroline Delany, Global Affairs Canada and Director General: Southern and Eastern Africa Bureau; and Ms Kathleen Oosthuizen from the Canadian High Commission to South Africa.
USAf, which places a high premium on the internationalisation of higher education, has formed collaboration relationships with other university systems, including the Japanese through the SAJU Forum, whose biennial meeting recently concluded at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Envisaged in the SACUN alongside joint research, are staff and student exchanges; joint academic/education programmes including curriculum development; knowledge exchange through joint conferences and a shared pursuit of development goals for mutual benefit.
‘Mateboho Green is Manager: Corporate Communication at Universities South Africa.
