On 4 June 2019 the University of Pretoria (UP) was formally admitted as the tenth member and only South African partner of the Michigan State University-led Alliance for African Partnership (MSU-AAP). Michigan State University Provost Professor June Pierce Youatt signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with University of Pretoria Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tawana Kupe at an official ceremony held at the University of Pretoria.  

The University of Pretoria joins Michigan State University and eight other African consortium members, namely:

• Egerton University (Kenya);
• Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) (Malawi);
• Makerere University (Uganda);
• University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania);
• Universite Cheik Anta Diop (Senegal);
• Universite des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Bamako (Mali);
• University of Botswana (Botswana); and
• University of Nigeria Nsukka (Nigeria).

MSU-AAP (https://aap.isp.msu.edu) seeks to promote sustainable, effective and equitable long-term partnerships among the African institutions, Michigan State University and other international collaborators. The Alliance focuses on using its collaborative and cross-disciplinary platform to address today’s global challenges in six interconnected themes: agri-foods systems; culture; health and nutrition; water, energy and the environment; youth empowerment, and education.

According to Professor June Youatt, Provost & Executive Vice President, Academic Affairs at Michigan State University, “We are pleased to have the University of Pretoria join the Alliance for African Partnership representing South Africa. We are looking forward to integrating them into the consortium, starting with our collaboration on the AAP African Futures early career researchers programme. This is just a starting point for the mutually beneficial relationship that UP and the rest of the AAP member institutions will undertake.”

“The University of Pretoria considers MSU-AAP membership an important extension of its current strategic networks and platforms in and related to Africa, including the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), and the Australia-Africa Universities Network (AAUN), all of which provide an even broader reach for any collaborative activities undertaken by UP and AAP,” said Prof Tawana Kupe, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Pretoria.

UP’s membership of the AAP builds on the vision outlined by Prof Kupe during his inaugural address earlier this year, in which he renewed UP’s commitment to making a difference in transforming Africa.

UP’s new Future Africa campus, the first of its kind on the continent, also affirms this commitment through its function as a space for transdisciplinary research on issues linked to the AAP`s six themes, which are of critical relevance to Africa’s sustainable development.