University of South Africa: Cross-continental collaboration as Unisa, Ethiopian HEIs strengthen existing relations

The collaborative agreement will take the form of a memorandum of understanding which will serve to formalise and strengthen existing relations and collaboration between the institutions.

The signing ceremony will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, and acting as signatories will be Unisa’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Puleng LenkaBula, the institution’s Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation, Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa, AAU’s President, Prof Tassew WoldeHanna, and AASTU’s Vice-President, Dr Abraham Debebe.

The three universities will consider priority areas for immediate implementation and will agree to develop the following collaborative activities in academic areas of mutual interest, on a basis of equality and reciprocity:

Exchanging faculty, professional staff, researchers and students
Conducting collaborative multidisciplinary research projects, joint publications and joint academic meetings, joint conferences and symposia producing conference proceedings
Exchanging resources, including academic information and materials for academic purposes
Formalising co-supervision of postgraduate students and joint supervision
Collaborating in the areas of marine, ocean/water studies, and the automotive field and industry
Researching development and enhancement of programmes in gender and feminist studies
Working with African institutions like CODESRIA on social science research and related issues
Professionalising co-curricular activities
Technology and innovation collaboration, advancing patents and collaborative research
Building capacity in agreed-upon areas, including theses supervision and other academic areas
Sharing resources in the open distance learning model, e-learning model and administrative model of Unisa
Collaborating in biomedical engineering and transport economy
Collaborating in peace studies