The Bern-ARUA PhD funding scheme starts in 2022 and will contribute to academic capacity building at ARUA universities. It is intended as a long-term programme that is designed to build deeper ties between researchers at the University of Bern and ARUA member universities.

The beneficiaries of the Bern-ARUA PhD funding scheme will be employed by the University of Bern, receive tutoring by a senior researcher and become members of a research team. Their research stays in Bern are going to be a part of their PhD degrees awarded by the ARUA university where they are based.

During their time in Bern, the grantees have a chance to develop relationships with other researchers in their fields. They will bring the knowledge acquired in Bern back to their home universities, which contributes to strengthening local research capacities at ARUA universities.

The funding scheme will complement existing subject-specific research collaborations with partners in Africa. For example, the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) and the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) have strong ties with researchers across the African continent.

Political momentum

The Bern-ARUA PhD funding scheme comes amidst renewed efforts by policymakers to support the university sector in Africa. On 17 and 18 February 2022, policymakers of the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) will announce a new agreement to deepen ties between the two continents, including increased research cooperation.

In response to The Guild and ARUA proposals, the EU has launched a pilot call to fund 40 early-career researchers, called African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE). The Guild-ARUA initiative has been endorsed by the European Universities Association and 20 national rectors’ conferences, representing over 1100 universities.

Sustainable university partnerships

On 22 November 2021, ARUA and The Guild jointly hosted a conference entitled “Strengthening the African knowledge society: Towards more sustainable African-European university partnerships”. It brought together academics from African and European universities as well as high-ranking policymakers from the AU and EU. The conference was attended by 250 participants from all over Africa and Europe.

Adam Habib, Director of SOAS University of London, argued that “until now our notion of solidarity was to give a couple of scholarships to talented students in the developing world,” who then went abroad and rarely ever returned. “Not because of any malevolence, but because life happens,” Habib added. The idea that institutional agreements could help deepen long-term research cooperation between African and European universities received widespread support at the conference.

The Bern-ARUA PhD funding scheme will help educate the next generation of early-career scientists and will contribute to capacity building at ARUA universities. This will give all scientists involved an opportunity to pool their talents when tackling the research challenges of the SDGs.

Member-universities of ARUA

Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Makerere University, Uganda
Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Rhodes University, South Africa
Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal
University of Cape Town, South Africa
University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
University of Ghana
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
University of Lagos, Nigeria
University of Mauritius
University of Nairobi, Kenia
University of Pretoria, South Africa
University of Rwanda
University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Text: Caspar Bienek