Stellenbosch University (SU) recently launched a Doctoral Mobility Programme at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) Entrepreneur College (XEC) in Taicang, China.
This pioneering initiative – the first between the two institutions that was launched from 30 June to 11 July 2025 in China – was designed to enhance doctoral education by fostering student agency in entrepreneurial thinking, strategic innovation, and global collaboration — all in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The two-week international programme equipped SU doctoral candidates with the tools to translate research into sustainable, real-world impact.
Mobility programmes enable doctoral candidates to obtain both international and industry exposure to the latest trends, developments and technologies in their respective areas of research.
The programme provided a transformative platform for SU doctoral students to step beyond disciplinary confines and apply their research to pressing real-world challenges. Through immersive training in financial forecasting, AI for academic impact, bibliometric analysis, web scraping, and sustainability-driven business modelling, participants developed a future-oriented mindset grounded in data, strategy, and innovation.
A defining feature of the programme was the IGNITE session, where students worked on industry-aligned challenges using the business canvas model. These hands-on experiences were reinforced through high-level site visits to innovation leaders such as Chinese companies Moog, NIO, and HAIER, giving students direct insight into how advanced technologies, leadership, and market strategy converge in practice.
The programme culminated in a final Business Pitch Showcase, where interdisciplinary student teams presented SDG-aligned innovations. Solutions ranged from AI-powered credit tools for informal markets and aquaponics for saline soil regeneration to wildfire prediction systems for urban safety—demonstrating the students’ ability to convert doctoral expertise into viable, scalable ventures.
“This programme was not just about knowledge acquisition—it was about empowering our research students as agents of innovation and impact,” said Prof Sibusiso Moyo, SU Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies. “It has set a new benchmark for what doctoral mobility can achieve in terms of practical ways to enhance the doctorial attributes, innovative and entrepreneurial thinking and exposure to global industries and cutting-edge innovation ecosystems. Developing doctoral attributes requires more than the traditional curricula and this initiative is an example that can be replicated and scaled to enhance the doctoral student experience.”
Prof Kanshukan Rajaratnam, Director of the School of Data Science and Computational Thinking, added: “Such doctoral mobility programmes allow us to leverage expertise in other countries. This partnership through our research fellows develops the next generation of doctoral graduates who will be ready to take up entrepreneurial opportunities across borders.”
The project was led by Dr Mustafa Ozguven (Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Hub) and Dr Anisa Vahed (Associate Professor, Educational Development Unit), both also Honorary Research Fellows at SU’s School of Data Science and Computational Thinking and Moyo. The programme was made possible through the visionary leadership of Prof Andrew King (Associate Dean, EEH) and Rebecca Wakelin (Director, EDU), with support from a diverse network of academic and industry mentors from China.
“As SU doctoral students return to their research and professional trajectories, they do so equipped not only with new knowledge and networks, but with renewed confidence in their ability to lead, innovate, and drive change in a rapidly evolving global landscape. We thank the various support entities that contributed including SU International that plays a big role in supporting international and global engagements, the departments, faculties and supervisors of the selected doctoral candidates that participated,” added Moyo.
