The National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Energy Mobility Education Trust have concluded a 3-year partnership agreement which aims to: (i) strengthen the responsiveness of the National System of Innovation (NSI) to the energy challenges by developing innovative skills development programmes; (ii) promote inclusive and diverse skilling of highly qualified individuals from traditionally marginalised groups; and (iii) contribute to the transformation of the South African Education landscape with a specific focus on South African citizens who are Black, female or persons living with a disability.
Immediate outcomes of the partnership are the establishment of the NRF-EM Education Trust Scholarship Programme, which will promote academic, scientific, and technological cooperation by supporting full-time studies for South African Postgraduate Students at the honour’s level for the first year of partnership and inclusion of master’s and doctoral levels from 2024.
“The EM Education Trust has championed the attainment of formal qualifications in STEM and commerce for over 8 years. However, we recognise the dearth of funding of postgraduate studies. As such this complementary and strategic partnership with the NRF strengthens our position and commitment to narrowing this gap. Additionally, our partnership will augment the much-needed innovation in developing and managing the current and emerging renewable energy systems,” says the trust’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Vuyo Mwase.
The programme will commence with the provision of funding opportunities for 38 honours students for the 2023 academic year with an initial investment of R6.8 million, with master’s and doctoral programmes to start in 2024. Funding for postgraduate students will be made available in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines with a specific focus on Mathematical Science, Data Science, Computer Science, Green Economy, Renewable Energy and Climate Change studies. The first phase of the programme will support students from the Universities of Fort Hare, Limpopo, Pretoria, Witwatersrand, Western Cape and Johannesburg.
“The scholarship programme comes at a critical time as South Africa strives to respond to energy and climate change challenges amongst many other national concerns. This partnership is aligned with national policy goals on higher education, science, and technology such as the strengthening of human resource development and the creation of an enabling environment for innovation in South Africa,” says Dr Mbulelo Ncango, acting Executive Director: Human and Infrastructure Capacity Development, NRF.
