The Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme, a joint initiative of the African Union and the European Union, is being implemented under the auspices of the Pan-African Partnership. The programme is directly managed by the European Commission through the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, under the supervision of the Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development and in collaboration with the African Union Commission Department for Human Resources, Science and Technology.
Objectives of the Programme
The Objectives of the programme is to enhance human capital development in Africa, while strengthening intra-African collaboration as called for by Agenda 2063.
- increase the employability of students;
- improve the quality of higher education in Africa and its relevance to Africa’s development vision;
- strengthen the modernization and internationalization of African higher education institutions, and
- promote the development of an African higher education and research space
Mobility of students and staff between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is expected to help them acquire stronger knowledge and skills and contribute to improve the quality and relevance of teaching and learning through exchanges of practices. Within the African Union vision, this is also essential for developing higher education capacity to generate African solutions to African challenges and to build an African higher education and research space.
In addition, the scheme will contribute to strengthen the modernisation and internationalisation strategies of HEIs through the establishment of mechanisms to manage the mobility flows. This will in turn increase HEIs’ capacity to forge partnerships with other institutions to undertake joint collaboration and research.
Furthermore, the programme is bringing together HEIs from different regions which will have to set up adequate mechanisms to organise the exchanges, such as arrangements to compare curricula and recognise the study periods abroad. It is therefore expected that the programme will enhance harmonisation and standardisation of higher education in line with the African Union Strategy for Harmonisation of Higher Education. It will provide specific lessons for the implementation of the Pan African Quality and Accreditation Framework and make a substantial contribution to regional integration.
Application Deadline: 15 June 2024
Eligibility Criteria :
Students
To be eligible for a scholarship in ESIMSAD project, master students as well as doctoral candidates must comply with the below criteria at the time of the application for a scholarship:
- Being nationals of a member state of the African Union and being resident in Africa
- Being registered/admitted in or having obtained a HEI degree (or equivalent) from: – one of the HEIs involved in the partnership (Addis Ababa University (AAU-Ethiopia), the Witwatersrand University (WITS- South Africa), University of Nigeria (UNN- Nigeria), Cairo University (CU-Egypt), Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU, Ethiopia) (this is called Target Group I);
or
- a HEI not involved in the partnership but established in Africa (this is called Target Group II)
- Have sufficient knowledge of the language of the courses in the host countries
- Students can only benefit from one scholarship under the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme (regardless the type of mobility or the funding project). Students having benefitted from scholarship(s) under the previous Intra-ACP Academic Mobility Scheme cannot receive scholarships under the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme.
Academic and Administrative Staff
In order to be eligible for a scholarship, (i.e. financial support to third parties), academic and administrative staff, hereafter referred to as “staff”, must comply with the below criteria at the time of the application for a scholarship:
- Being nationals of a member state of the African Union and being resident in Africa and
- Working for a HEI involved in the partnership (Addis Ababa University (AAU-Ethiopia), the Witwatersrand University (WITS- South Africa), University of Nigeria (UNN- Nigeria), Cairo University (CU-Egypt), Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU, Ethiopia)
Benefits;
The scholarship will cover:
- Round-trip flight ticket and visa costs.
- Participation costs such as tuition fees, registration fees and service fees where applicable.
- Insurance coverage (including health, accident, travel, respectively).
- A settling-in allowance.
- A monthly subsistence allowance.
- A contribution towards the research costs associated with student mobility of 10 months or longer.
- Female master and doctoral scholarship holders will receive an additional allowance corresponding to one month’s subsistence per academic year.
- Living Allowances
How to Apply:
Applicants who meets the requirements can click here to read more and apply for the program