South Africa-European Union Joint Declaration Signing Ceremony

Members of the media are invited:
Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012
Time: 14h00
Venue: Room 1 C and D , School of Public Health Building, University of the Western Cape

The significance of this event for South African education and training

• The EU works with South Africa in many areas, including social services delivery, governance, and private sector development. Emphasis is placed on innovative approaches, best practices, risk-taking, pilot programmes, systems development, capacity building and above all skills and knowledge transfers.
• The EU recognises that improving service delivery by means of innovative delivery mechanisms and capacity building is important at the local level for the South African government. In view of this, all effort has been undertaken to ensure that EU financial support for South African government programmes dovetails with the aims of the Joint Country Strategy Paper for 2007 – 2013 on development cooperation between the EU and South Africa (the Joint Country Strategy Paper was collaboratively developed by the South African Government and the European Commission). The goals of the Country Strategy Paper encompass the reduction of poverty and inequality through employment creation in key sectors such as education and health, and promoting good governance.   
• The Country Strategy Paper is complementary of the TDCA provisions on Development Cooperation that outline areas for collaboration and support. The TDCA specifies that the EU would lend support to the South African Government’s policies aimed at fighting poverty, promoting the integration of South Africa into the world economy, and consolidating the foundations of democracy. National Treasury, as the focal point for overall management and coordination of official development assistance for the South African Government, coordinates interaction on official development assistance with the EU.
• The EU is also South Africa's principal development partner representing approximately 80% of all Overseas Development Assistance (ODA).  South Africa is earmarked to receive €980 million for various sectors for 2007-2013, an amount which represents less than 1% of South Africa's national budget.
•  In 2009, three South African Government programmes were being financed by the EU for a total of €137 million. The first programme focused on improving primary education through a sector policy budget support operation of €122 million as well as increasing access to better quality primary education especially for learners in the poorest schools. The Department of Higher Education and Training obtained funding from this programme (which is implemented by the Department of Basic Education) for its teacher development programme.
• The second programme of €5 million provides opportunities for South African students to study in Europe under the Erasmus Mundus Programme. The last programme, the Youth Empowerment Programme of €10 million, aims to support youth to develop their own potential through culture, art and sport.

Erasmus Mundus Programme (EM)

• The Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Programme is the European Union cooperation and mobility programme in higher education that aims to enhance the quality of higher education and to promote dialogue and understanding between people and cultures through cooperation with developing countries. In addition, it contributes to the development of human resources and the international cooperation capacity of Higher education institutions in Third Countries by increasing mobility between the European Union and these countries. In the case of South Africa, the focus is on using the Erasmus Mundus Programme to support South African students (previously disadvantaged undergraduates from the universities of technology) and researchers wishing to pursue post-graduate studies in Europe.
• The Erasmus Mundus programme provide support to:
• South African higher education institutions that wish to implement joint programmes at postgraduate level or to set-up inter-institutional cooperation partnerships between universities from Europe and targeted Third-Countries. South African universities of technology have been earmarked for support in this regard.
• individual students, researchers and university staff who wish to spend a study / research / teaching period in the context of one of the above mentioned joint programmes or cooperation partnerships;
• any organisation active in higher education that wishes to develop projects aimed at enhancing the attractiveness, profile, visibility and image of European higher education worldwide.
• The Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 programme is implemented through the following actions (South Africa will participate in Actions 1 and 2 only):
• Action 1: Erasmus Mundus joint programmes of outstanding quality at masters and doctoral levels including scholarships/fellowships to participate in these programmes;
• Action 2: Erasmus Mundus Partnerships between European and Developing Country higher education institutions including scholarships and fellowships for mobility at all academic levels;
• Action 3: Promotion of European higher education through projects to enhance the attractiveness of Europe as an educational destination and a centre of excellence at world level.
• The mobility of beneficiaries commenced with the 2010/11 academic year in Europe. A total of 162 South African Masters and Ph.D students were sent to EU universities last year as the first cohort of beneficiaries under the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Programme. A consortium of South African universities and EU universities are managing the recruitment of the next cohort of students.

How the department utilises the scholarships

• In light of the shortage of skilled graduates; low outputs at post-graduate levels and large numbers of under-qualified academics especially at the previously disadvantaged institutions, the Department believes that the EM programme may be a good investment which also does not require additional administrative burden to sustain it.
• The Department has proposed that 50% of funds earmarked for mobilities be reserved for students registered for Masters programme; 30% for Doctorates and 20% for Academic training and development.
• The duration of stay in a European institution for Master’s students ranges from 1 academic semester to 2 academics years (or 22 months maximum); for Doctorate candidates it varies from 6 to 34 months and for academics from 1 to 3 months. Academics enrol for either Masters or PhDs and utilise the programme as students.

For further details, please come and interact with Deputy Minister Mkhize and her European Commission counterpart at the University of the Western Cape at 14h00 today.
 
Enquiries:
Vuyelwa Qinga
Tel: 012 312 5555 / 5538
Fax1: 0865867047
Fax2: 012 323 5618
Cell: 076 883 4144
E-Mail: Qinga.V@dhet.gov.za