South Africa Initiative
The Kresge Foundation believes that higher education serves as a dominant driver of democracy in South Africa. Increasing the number of knowledge workers, such as agronomists, teachers, engineers, researchers, health-care providers and computer scientists will expand South Africa’s industrial base, create more specialized jobs, and make it possible for the country to compete more effectively in the global economy.
Yet, in the wake of university mergers, increasing enrollments, under-prepared students, and an aging and homogeneous professorate, the ability of South Africa’s universities to meet the demands of the nation’s young democracy and fragile economy is uncertain.
Kresge seeks to help address these challenges by strengthening South Africa’s higher education system in the following ways:
- Increase the quality and quantity of locally produced research
- Improve learning and teaching
- Support university management
- Promote higher education innovation
- Nurture university-community relationships.
Our programmatic approach
Through direct grants to South African universities and higher-education organizations, we are helping to build the long-term local capacity of institutions in several specific ways. The grant awards are used in part to train the next generation of academic researchers and teachers; diversify the Academy by gender, race and ethnicity; renovate or construct laboratories and other facilities to meet world-class standards; build the management capacity and expand the income streams of universities; improve the preparedness and success of university students; and encourage universities to be fully engaged with their neighbors and the surrounding communities.
In 2005 we committed $10.5 million over five years and partnered with Inyathelo, the South African Institute for Advancement, based in Cape Town, to fortify and advance higher education and provide on-site fundraising training and support to five institutions: Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of Pretoria, University of the Western Cape and University of the Witwatersrand and the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trust.
The initiative, which continues through 2010, is closed to new applicants.
Partnership for Higher Education in Africa
In 2007, Kresge joined the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, a collaborative with the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford, Hewlett, MacArthur, Mellon and Rockefeller foundations. The purpose of the partnership is to strengthen higher education institutions across the continent of Africa so they can contribute to poverty reduction, economic growth and social development in nine African countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
Each member foundation makes both joint grants in support of partnership priorities and individual grants in the countries where they have an existing strategic focus.
By 2010, an estimated $350 million in grants from the partnership and the individual member foundations will have been awarded to universities and other African institutions and programs that are dedicated to improving higher education access, excellence, research and diversity for men and women at select African universities.
If you have questions, e-mail the Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.
Image credit: Stellenbosch University, South Africa