A step to enhanced cross Mediterranean and African collaboration in Higher Education
The CIVIS Alliance has entered a partnership agreement with six leading African universities, with a view to enhance cross Mediterranean- and African- collaboration in higher education. The partnership promotes closer integration between CIVIS members and the African partner institutions and offers opportunities:
- For increased mobility (both physical and virtual)
- To leverage shared capacities to seek external funding
- To make a positive social impact on our local communities
The agreement commits CIVIS and the following African partner universities to an ambitious agenda for partnership over the coming years, offering a framework for exciting and innovative new collaborations.
- Makerere University – Uganda
- Eduardo Mondlane University – Mozambique
- Université Hassan II de Casablanca – Morocco
- University of Sfax – Tunisia
- Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar – Senegal
- University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg – South Africa
The agreement was signed at the end of the conference New Horizons for the European-African Partnership, co-hosted by CIVIS and Aix Marseille Université (AMU), as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Council. The event coincided with a joint position paper calling for a European University Initiative which is open to global partnerships and promoting closer research collaboration with African partner institutions.
Deputy Vice Chancellor, External Engagement, Rachel Sandison attended the signing ceremony at AMU on 11 March 2022 on behalf of the University of Glasgow.
Following the ratification of the Call for a new cross-mediterranean cooperation framework n which universities and research organisations from all parts of Africa and Europe urge the African Union and the European Union to embrace a comprehensive, long-term vision for the Global Gateway’s AU-EU Innovation Agenda and pilot an integrated Africa-EU Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Programme for the period 2023-2027, the first CIVIS Steering Committee including African partners will take place on 20 June 2023.