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Strategic Partnerships Office

The Strategic Partnerships Office is a division of the DVC – Research, Postgraduate Affairs and Strategic Partnerships.

We focus on three areas:

  • Brokering Partnerships on behalf of the university
  • Publicising and administering various Funding Opportunities for staff and student  exchanges and some research funding opportunities
  • Arranging Visits for academic and government delegates to Wits
  • Managing and administering Erasmus+

Click on the map below for a list of our partners in each country. At the end of each list, a link to the Wits Partnerships database is available to Wits staff only.

Strategic Partnerships Office (SPO) maintains and seeks out new partnerships with other organisations (universities, research bodies, government departments etc.) on and beyond the African continent. Through these linkages, and working closely with academic departments, SPO is able to facilitate opportunities for Wits staff and students to participate in research collaborations, student and staff exchanges etc.

The university is a member of very important networks:

African Research Universities Alliance

The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) was inaugurated in Dakar in March 2015, bringing together sixteen (16) of the region’s leading universities. It is a network of universities from different countries and different historical backgrounds, but with a common vision. The network is generally about expanding and enhancing significantly the quality of research done in Africa by African researchers. This new network, from inception, was intended to be different from any other regional university networks. The difference was to come largely from the approach to be employed, namely bringing together a number of peer African institutions that were willing to work together by pooling their own limited resources, with a view to generating a critical mass that could more effectively support their limited, but growing numbers of researchers. Underlying this was the conviction that they could thereby leverage this effectively for additional resources from outside.

For further information go to ARUA

The BRICS Network University

The BRICS Network University is a joint educational project aimed at creating a single educational space, encourage academic mobility, as well as provide the economies of member countries with highly qualified personnel in the fields of energy, economics, computer science, and ecology, among others. The agreements to set up the BRICS Network University were signed by the Education Ministers from these five countries on November 5, 2013 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

For further information go to BRICS-NU

Association of Commonwealth Universities

The ACU enables member universities to connect with and learn from each other by bringing them together to address key policy issues such as gender and equity, climate resilience, and peace and reconciliation; organising events and initiatives to share best practice and benchmark performance; and running programmes to support professional and institutional development. The ACU is an advocate for its members and for higher education, maintaining close working relationships with other Commonwealth and international organisations including the Commonwealth Secretariat, UN, national governments, regional and national university associations, and a range of international fora.

 

For further information go to Association of Commonwealth Universities

Association of African Universities

The AAU strives to be the leading advocate for higher education in Africa, with the capacity to provide support for its member institutions in meeting national, continental and global needs. Its mission is to enhance the quality and relevance of higher education in Africa and to strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development.

 

For further information go to Association of African Universities

The Nairobi Alliance

The Alliance currently links the universities of Nairobi, Rwanda, Malawi, Witwatersrand and Leicester. Work is currently ongoing to further develop the Alliance and link this growing research partnership with potential collaboration for educational activities.

 

For further information go to Nairobi Alliance

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