South African academics have been welcomed to the Highlands as part of an exchange link up involving the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). The visit was part of an initiative being funded by the South African government and the British Council, and saw guests from the University of Venda travel to the Highlands through the University Staff Doctoral Programme. It followed a trip by UHI supervisors in South Africa in 2023.
The programme aims to help institutions in South Africa educate greater numbers of their academic staff to doctoral level, encourage greater links of research into teaching and enhancement, and contribute to international research. The collaboration involving the UHI, University of Venda, and the University of the Free State, is based on “mutual research development interests and similar regional contexts, with campuses located in remote and rural areas”. The UHI explained that the research topics span a range of fields including education, natural resource management, and economic development.
Dr Iain Morrison, UHI Dean of Student Services and Graduate School, commented: “This collaboration demonstrates UHI’s global reach and the high regard in which our research staff are held. The South African students are benefitting from the expertise of our supervisors, whose own understanding and that of other UHI students, is being enriched through close collaboration on a wide range of projects, from the impact of herbicides on health to the inf.