Apply Now: Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme

Objectives

• The specific objectives of this action are to:
  • Promote inclusive learning mobility opportunities with a focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation in curricula and research programmes;
  • Increase the employability of higher education students and trainees, specifically in green jobs, and their entrepreneurship skills;
  • Improve the quality, relevance, internationalization and climate change focus of higher education in Africa.

Themes

• The Global Gateway flagship projects cover primarily the following sectors:
  • Climate and Energy (e.g., mitigation, climate resilience, clean energy)
  • Digital
  • Education and Research
  • Transport
  • Health (e.g., pharmaceutical supply chains and local manufacturing)

Funding Information

• The estimated available call budget is EUR 29,000,000.
• Projects should normally last 48 months.

Expected Outputs

• The outputs to be delivered by this action and contributing to the Specific Objectives are: At system level
  • Improved mechanisms for the international transparency and recognition of studies/degrees and qualifications in the participating HEIs.
  • Improved knowledge transfer between HEIs, quality of higher education and information exchange on study opportunities in the African Higher Education and Research Space.
• At institutional level:
  • Strengthened HEIs capacity to manage international partnerships, mobility flows and career services.
  • Increased number of partnerships and networks among HEIs in Africa, in particular in the research area at regional and continental level.
  • Enhanced cooperation between HEIs and business, including on climate change area.
• At individual level:
  • Enhanced knowledge, competences, skills and employability of scholarship holders.
  • Knowledge, competences and skills in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation are strengthened across countries and stakeholders.
  • Increased participation of women and increased number of African women holding a post-graduate degree.
  • Access to post-graduate degrees is diversified with special attention to students with special needs or vulnerable status (e.g., coming from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, fragile and least developed countries/regions, with a refugee status).

Eligible Activities

• In order to achieve this, during project implementation the consortium should:
  • Draw up a Consortium Agreement among the participating HEIs with the objective to reach sound management of the project, and which should address all main aspects linked to the internal arrangements for coordination and operation.
  • Provide for adequate human resources capacities at each participating HEI, to deal with the administrative and financial management of the grant, including continuous reporting on mobility data and activities.
  • Establish a project management board to ensure cohesive management of project activities which includes representatives of the relevant services (e.g. finance, student service, international office, quality assurance, etc.).
  • Carry out activities to reinforce the capacity of the participating HEIs, such as exchange of experience in international relations offices, building networks, exchange of practices/methods in teaching and research, upgrade and harmonization of curricula, development of new collaboration projects, etc.
  • Set up adequate mechanisms to carry out the mobility scheme between HEIs from different countries and regions, including arrangements to compare curricula and competences and to recognise the study periods abroad.
  • Establish links and cooperation agreements with private and/or public business actors, (including appointment in project’s boards), in view of facilitating university/employer dialogue, developing, and implementing mobility of trainees, and strengthening career services, innovation, knowledge transfer, as well as skills anticipation and matching.
  • Set up internal, and where possible external, quality assurance mechanisms and tools to assess the overall project implementation, including management and cooperation arrangements, application and selection processes, institutional services and support provided before, during and after mobility, follow-up activities in post-mobility periods etc. These mechanisms should also allow the assessment and measurement of the project’s impact at all levels.
  • Develop a sustainability plan to favor the creation of durable links among the HEIs involved – and with the business sector – and ensure the financial and operational continuation of the collaboration beyond EU funding.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
  • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States and overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
    • African countries (East and Central Africa): Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.
  • Southern Africa and Indian Ocean: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
  • be a higher education institution (HEI) accredited by the competent national authorities and providing courses at postgraduate level (master’s level and/or doctoral degree) which lead to a qualification recognised by the competent authorities of their country (independently of their name, ‘university’ ‘polytechnic’, ‘college’, ‘institute’ or other).

For more information, visit European Commission.