The University of Pretoria is running the Future Professors Programme (FPP) in collaboration with the national Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The FPP is a flagship programme of the DHET, aimed at developing the qualities of academic excellence and leadership in university scholarship in order to contribute to the development of a future South African professoriate.

The FPP is designed to help create synergies that will benefit the participating fellows upon entering the professoriate, and to cascade to the broader next generation South African academic populace. The selection criteria for qualifying applicants includes a PhD in any discipline, with a proven track record of some academic achievement which would signal advancement to the professoriate.

Most fellows typically come from lecturer and senior lecturer levels. The programme assists future professoriate fellows with critical elements such as applying for NRF rating and research grants, enhancing research capacity, mentoring, personal development, and other dimensions required for eligibility to full professorship. The programme prioritises black South African females who are full-time, permanent academic staff members in universities. In addition, eligible candidates should demonstrate:

• A deep commitment to the pursuit of knowledge building;
• Evidence of productive and imaginative scholarly work in the form of publications and artefacts;
• An academic who is focused and purposeful;
• A willingness to benefit from and contribute to a community of scholars across disciplines;
• Novelty and willingness to engage in the multidisciplinary pursuit of large ideas;
• Commitment to community engagement which is tied to research and knowledge building work;
• Openness and commitment to personal growth and inquiry-based conversations;
• Evidence of resilience and persistence in dealing and coping with challenges;
• A willingness to benefit from and contribute to a community of scholars;
• Openness and willingness for their academic and research work to undergo scrutiny and review by peers.

Applications are open and close on 28 February 2022. Numbers are limited to five fellows per university. Only applications made via the UP Learning and Development Office will be considered. Visit https://futureprofessorsprogramme.co.za/ to learn more about the programme or contact the UP designated authority, Dr Louw Botha [email protected].