One of the key focus areas in the Durban University of Technology’s 2.0 Strategic Plan is building research and innovation for development, which means increasing external research funding with the aim to increase the percentage of staff with Masters and Doctorates.
One way these objectives can be achieved is through obtaining international academic partnerships with other countries so as to benefit the University and all its staff and students.
DUT’s International Education and Partnerships (IEP) directorate supports DUT’s drive towards becoming a globally positioned University of Technology and developing partnerships with other Universities internationally.
With that aim in mind, Director: International Education and Partnerships. Dr Lavern Samuels hosted Dr Anja Hallacker from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), to give a presentation on how DUT students and researchers can apply and obtain DAAD scholarships and funding opportunities from Bachelor to Post-Doctoral level, at the ML Sultan Campus last Thursday, 06 September 2018.
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is the largest funding organisation in the world that supports the international exchange of scholars, academics, researchers and students. The DAAD has many postgraduate scholarships in South Africa, some other African countries and Germany on offer for South African students.
Speaking more on DAAD and its role, Dr Hallacker, spoke on all the issues, questions pertaining to the various international exchange programmes that are available and how we (DAAD) and can best work together with DUT.
“There are great study, research and funding opportunities available for South Africans and Africans in Germany. The DAAD highly recommends doing a degree programme or research stay in Germany and bringing this knowledge and international research experience back home. The DAAD, in short, encourages change by exchange,” she said.
Dr Hallacker also added that Germany has many different kinds of universities, all of which offer excellent quality. She also elaborated on the various universities, types of academic scholarships, the type of research focus areas they had on offer to DUT students wanting to pursue their studies in Germany.
“DAAD strives to achieve our development policy goals with an approach that is based on partnership, sustainability and transparency. We also promote internationalisation efforts at German universities, and help developing countries build their own systems of higher education. So, if students would like to study in Germany, DAAD looks forward to welcoming and helping those students,” she said.
Dr Samuels welcomed Dr Hallacker to DUT and said he was extremely glad it had culminated in this visit where both DAAD and DUT can now speak about how they can cement their ties and work together in the next few years. “In terms of internationalisation at DUT, we have more German partners than partners from any other country. We embrace a comprehensive internationalisation, so it goes far more than the mobility of the elite few. It’s really about changing the University systems. The exchange programmes with German universities are just one part of a far broader engagement with German universities and we are certainly looking at ways of how we can do that better,” he said.
Pictured: DUT’s Dr Lavern Samuels with Dr Anja Hallacker from DAAD.
Waheeda Peters
