South Africa’s Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Buti Manamela, has secured agreement on high-level research cooperation, including mutual recognition of various academic qualifications, during a visit to India.
Manamela, in discussions with India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shri Sanjay Dhotre, also reached consensus on the formation of a Joint Committee on Education to streamline coordination between Pretoria and New Delhi.
Dhotre underlined the historic connection between the two countries, pointing out that South Africa is one of the countries covered under the Indian government’s Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC).
SPARC is geared towards enhancing the global research ecosystem by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian institutions and other renowned universities across the world.
Since its launch in 2018, four research project proposals from South African institutions have been accepted under the scheme.
In addition, 17 reputed South African academics are on teaching assignments at Indian institutions under the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) program
GIAN taps the talent pool of foreign faculty to teach higher education courses in India.
It’s expected that a comprehensive Memorandum of Association covering different facets of mutual cooperation in the field of education will be hammered out during Manamela’s visit.
