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SU launches Africa Centre for Scholarship
Author: Asiphe Nombewu and Rozanne Engel/ Corporate Communication
Published: 24/11/2017

​​Stellenbosch University (SU) launched the Africa Centre for Scholarship (ACS) during the Africa University Day celebrations today (24 November 2017).

As part of the ACS launch, three bursaries of R30 000 each were awarded to postgraduate students from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

Prof Hester Klopper, Vice-Rector: Strategic Initiatives and Internationalisation at SU, facilitated the bursary awards. Prof Klopper has recently been elected to serve on the Council of the Consortium Universities for Global Health based in the USA. She is the first South African to achieve this feat.

 

The purpose of the ACS includes developing and implementing a trajectory for scholarship development across Africa, building on but not limited to existing SU on-campus initiatives.

The guest speaker at the ACS seminar was Prof Jonathan Jansen, Distinguished Professor at the SU Faculty of Education. Jansen is the former Rector and vice- Chancellor of the University of the Free State.

 

Reflecting on the role of a social scientist, Jansen said: “A social scientist should be one that scrutinises concepts on campus and with his/ her community, scholars need to be suspicious of things."

 

In his keynote address Prof Jansen also focused on topics such as decolonisation, the education system and the student protest about university fees, access and inclusivity. This was followed by a panel discussion and questions from the audience.

 

Mr Robert Kotze, Director: SU's International Office, closed the discussions off by reflecting on the topics and questions posed during the discussions.

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