European Commission launches Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme

European Commission launches Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme

The European Commission (EC) has launched the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme that contributes to the economic, social and human development of Africa by improving the skills and competences of individuals in different areas, in particular those linked to climate change and green transitioning.

Objectives

The Specific Objectives of the action are to:

Promote inclusive learning mobility opportunities, with a focus on the participation of women and on climate change;

Increase the employability and entrepreneurship of higher education students and trainees, specifically in green jobs;

Improve the quality, relevance, internationalisation and climate change focus of higher education in Africa.

Themes and Priorities

This call is open to all themes/subject areas. Each proposal, in any thematic field, should ensure the quality of the academic programmes and of the traineeships offer in order to maximise the benefit for the mobile students and trainees. It is advisable to focus on a limited number of thematic fields and academic programmes to enhance the coherence and quality of the project.

Indicatively 40% of the selected projects will address the thematic fields related to environment and climate change (with a focus on adaptation and mitigation). It is expected that these projects will foster development of skills and competencies in targeted areas of academia including life and climate science, and will mainstream climate adaptation and mitigation in other curricula (such as engineering).

These projects will also promote the development of digital skills and competences in these areas, including space and earth observation technologies. Increasing skills in these technologies is indeed key to access, process and share sound and reliable data and information on weather, climate and the environment and to plan and act in climate-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, blue economy, water management, transport, renewable energy, and disaster risk reduction.

It is expected that these projects raise awareness and disseminate practices that support climate friendly businesses and sustainable economic practices, reinforce the role of universities as producer of climate change knowledge data as well as practical solutions.

Moreover, by promoting the green and digital transition agendas in the continent, they should aim at building national and local knowledge and capacity on climate change and environment management, needed by employers and policy makers, and at strengthening awareness and ownership on adaptation and climate risk reduction processes at local/national and regional level.

Scope

The Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme is the EU’s programme to encourage international learning mobility across the African continent by providing support for consortia of African Higher Education Institutions and scholarship opportunities for African trainees, students and staff.

The action is part of the Youth Mobility for Africa flagship in the field of Education and Training under the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package and it aims to support learning opportunities and exchanges and ultimately to promote Africa as an attractive study destination.
This call is open to all themes/subject areas relevant to the action’s objectives.

An established percentage of indicatively 40% of the selected projects will address the thematic fields related to environment and climate change with a focus on adaptation and mitigation.

Funding

Information

The estimated available call budget is EUR 27 000 000.

Expected Impact

The expected outputs linked to the specific objectives include:

Improved mechanisms for the international transparency and recognition of studies/degrees and qualifications in the participating HEIs.

Improved knowledge transfer, quality of higher education and information exchange on study opportunities in the African Higher Education and Research Space between HEIs.

Strengthened HEIs capacity to manage international partnerships, mobility flows and career services.

Increased partnerships and networks among HEIs in Africa, in particular in the research area at regional and continental level

Enhanced cooperation of HEIs and business, including on climate change area.

Enhanced knowledge, competences, skills and employability of scholarship holders

Increased participation of women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Knowledge, competences and skills in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation are strengthened across countries and stakeholders.

More African women hold a university degree, and access to HEIs 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).

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, Sao Tome & Principe, 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
West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Chad, 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 (masters level and/or doctoral degree) which lead to a qualification recognised by the competent authorities of their country.

Specific Cases

Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible.

International organisations — International organisations are not eligible.

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.

EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

How to Apply

For more information and job application details, see; European Commission launches Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme

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