A4U establishes new ties with universities in South Africa

08/05/2012

The objective of the visit was to establish common areas of interest and draw up initiatives that will foster more exchange programmes for students and academic and research staff, as well as create new joint seminars and greater participation in projects under the European Framework Programme.

Thanks to the visit, A4U will be elaborating on the agreements signed with all the universities visited by preparing exchange programmes for students and lecturers, and new research collaborations between institutions.

The A4U delegation visited the University of Pretoria, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The delegation also visited the Spanish Embassy, the South African Ministry for Higher Education, the National Research Foundation, and the Higher Education South Africa, association representing all public universities in South Africa.

The internationalisation of its institutions is one of the main objectives behind the creation of A4U, formed by the universities Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad Carlos III and Universitat Pompeu Fabra. The four universities have developed a joint internationalisation strategy which gives priority to relations with the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. The BRIC group recently grew to include South Africa, a strong emerging economy.

More information: Alliance of 4 Universities