The YEBO! project, focusing on the promotion of the internationalization of doctoral studies in South Africa, aims to address and redress the problem areas of doctoral studies. The YEBO! project is a response to the target of the South African Government's National Development Plan to have an estimate of 5,000 doctoral graduates per year by 2030 in the fields of Science and Technology. Preliminary findings indicated that capacity building is critical in supporting doctoral studies. The imperative developmental areas include supervisory support and capacity, grant capacity and proposal writing capacity, with the potential to increase access to research networks, international funding and internships. The aforementioned do not exclude capacity support to institutions in support of doctoral studies, from an international perspective, and with a focus on best practices. Three principle approches were identified in response to the capacity development needs of South African universities: - A web-based portal that encompasses research and funding networks, identification of funding opportunities, with an emphasis on training materials and videos accessible to all. - Four themed conferences, co-organized by programme and partner countries, focusing on best practices for the internationalization and promotion of doctorate studies, and fostering networking and cooperation opportunities.- Three training sessions, organized in South Africa, with a focus on supervision capacities.

The Higher Education sector in South Africa is going through a fundamental transformation process, addressing several challenges such as inequality of representation amongst existing staff, high student : staff ratios, low throughput rates, limited qualifications of existing staff and an inadequate postgraduate pipeline. Therefore, the government aims to identify and nurture academic talent, support newly recruited academics to acquire Doctoral and Master’s degrees, and develop their research skills. Also, the roles of professionals in Higher Education operating in the ‘third space’ are increasingly important as universities seek to differentiate themselves in how they create a valuable student experience; ensure student outcomes; and positively impact their local, regional, and global communities and economies through research and engagement. The project will address these aspects with a focus on strengthening postgraduate environments, reinforcing academic cultures at public universities in South Africa. This will contribute to transforming public universities, creating more conducive environments for postgraduate studies and sustainable supervisory capacity. The project intends to support universities to develop supervision capacity, nurture academic talent, assist them in training newly recruited academics to acquire Doctoral and Master’s degrees and develop research skills of academic staff.At individual level, participants will be coached to design a tailor-made programme to develop postgraduate supervision, while taking into account the historical background, nature of the concerned institute, its ethos, its vision and mission and available resources. At institutional level, the extended tailor-made programme designed by the participants will be presented to their research office, faculty and university leadership, anticipating approval and implementation of (essential elements of) the proposed programme to enhance their postgraduate environment.

Based on a previous EU project on innovation in South Africa we realized there was a need for a capacity building project in the region. As previous projects had focused on mobility of students and staff, we wanted to create a project that would train and support the university staff in developing innovation in their universities.We put together a set of models which would affect employment of graduates, operation of innovation centers as well as structured meetings between universities and the industry. This has the potential to increase innovation and entrepreneurship in South Africa while increasing employment of graduates, increasing research collaborations with the industry and strengthening all sides of the knowledge triangle

Faced with a so-called ‘quadruple burden of disease’, the South Africans’ health situation is challenged in various aspects. For this reason, SA President Jacob Zuma announced in his state of the Nation that health, and more specifically building a high-quality caring capacity and promoting a healthy lifestyle, is one of the principal priorities of the government to work on in the coming 5 years. In addition, there are a serious shortage of health (care) professionals (700 000 – 1.3 million) which undermines the countries’ ability to improve health outcomes and performance of health systems. In addition to the quantitative need for more training and education of health(care) professionals, the SA department of health also urges for improvement of current health(care) education so that (future) health professionals are better equipped in addressing SA’s quadruple burden of disease. Patient-centredness, a mind shift from 'cure to care' and target group empowerment are key in health(care) provision.In the Caring Society (CASO) project, 3 SA HEI’s (CPUT, UCT, UWC) will closely collaborate with 3 highly experienced (Urban) European HEI’s that have ample knowledge and expertise on (1) placing health(care) learners in community clinical settings (Avans); (2) teaching more basic healthy lifestyle and enhanced physical activity education (LUAS) and (3) involving local communities in health(care) education and focus on strengthening the competence level and professional position of the health(care) professional (KdG). Together they will co-create 3 highly innovative 15 ECTS (or its SA equivalence) programmes which will be attuned to local health needs thanks to the involvement of a range of local stakeholders (associated partners). By working in such a quadruple helix setting, CASO will improve the quality of SA Higher Education in the field of health and health care and simultaneously empower and support selected target groups/end-users to face SA’s health challenges.