The INTPART programme promotes collaboration on higher education, research, and innovation  between South Africa and Norway. Five universities, three Norwegian and two South African obtained resource funding for one INTPART project to enable reciprocal student and faculty mobility to develop and strengthen entrepreneurship education in close collaboration with the regional ecossystems.  The five partners started out in the first workshop in 2019, and  has made a comeback after the pandemic halted the programme for almost two years.

Filled with excitement and enthusiasm, the first group of nine Norwegian students from the Nord University Business School (NUBS) and  Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), arrived at Stellenbosch University (SU) recently (5 March) with the aim to conduct comparative research for their master and PhD theses within themes such as entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial ecosystems, technology transfer office (TTO) activities, sustainable entrepreneurship, and sustainable construction.

“This is the first opportunity for SU to host the Norwegian students at SU since the agreement was signed in 2019," said Mr Adolph Neethling, SU's lecturer at the Department of Business Management in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, who manages the programme with Prof Inger Beate Pettersen from the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences in Bergen from their respective countries.

Four students from respectively SU and the University of Pretoria (UP) – which is the second group of students from South Africa, have already departed for Norway this week to engage in a three-month internship program in Bergen, Norway. Likewise, five Norwegian students have arrived in Stellenbosch and will  complete a three-month internship in Stellenbosch.

"The students are excited and grateful that they could be travelling to continue their studies," said Prof Pettersen who accompanied the students from Norway to South Africa.

In keeping participants on track with the programme, the Department hosted last week a get-together event with South African students who returned from their expeditions in Norway during the lockdown of 2020. At the same time, SU welcomed the Norwegian students to South Africa.

 "They are the first group to come to South Africa since the program's start in 2020. The Intpart programme could not occur last year because of the pandemic restrictions. So this is a special happening for them," said Prof Pettersen.

Prof Pettersen will return this week to Norway to welcome the SU students who arrived there.

At the get-together event last week, the Norwegian students were introduced to two alumni, Ms Minette Siebenhagen from SU and Ms Paleesha Naidoo from UP. They shared their learning experiences as the first Intpart students from South Africa that had gone to Norway in March 2020. They arrived there a few days before the global lockdown and could not leave Norway until they could travel. Gladly they completed their internship program  while trapped in Norway, said Prof Pettersen.

These alumni agreed that the programme helped them see more opportunities and exploit more opportunities while processing challenges, learning new cultures, and raising their awareness of themselves. The exchange has also exposed staff and students to cultural differences, which has been an enriching experience.

Intpart community

The participants in the programme, including the alumni who are still involved and supportive, are forming a community, said Prof Pettersen. The close partnership is one of the envisaged goals of the programme: connecting countries and advancing knowledge sharing, comparative research, and collaboration. This way, we help build a global village that works together in solving challenges affecting the world, said Prof Pettersen.

According to Prof Pettersen, the programme must help students acquire through this engagement an entrepreneurial mindset and be equipped with knowledge and experience within different cultural and industrial landscapes.

Mr Neethling added that the engagement is also not for academics only and fruitful discussions have taken place between Dr Anita Nel and Mr Joubert De Wet from Innovus and Mr Nils-Eivind Holmedal, a TTO executive from the regional TTO in Bergen together with Prof Pettersen and a Master's student also working at the TTO in Bergen, Norway.  

Programme origins

The Intpart is also described as a matchmaking and bilateral platform between universities and industries. This specific Intpart project  was  backed with 4,5 million Norwegian Kroner  (R7.5 million).

Mr Neethling said that the initial collaborative agreement was for three years, and the partners are looking at ways of entering a new agreement to build on the collaboration established thus far.

The programme's mandate is to foster partnerships between universities  and industry actors in Norway and Brazil, Russia, India, China or South Africa (BRICS) striving to advance research, higher education and innovation," said Pettersen.

Elaborating on the program's mission, Mr Neethling added that with this programme, they want to advance research and connect to companies from all sectors and help create solutions to industrial and societal challenges.

Prof Pettersen said other universities in Norway have a similar partnership agreement with the other Brics countries.

Exchange students

The two SU students who have left for Norway are Maret Swart and Joss Hansmeyer.

The five Norwegian interns, Gard Eriksen,, Iselin Østvedt, Kristine Flatøy , Jørgen Skaftun and  Anders Eri will do three-month internships at startups in and around Stellenbosch. They are focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation studies.

SU's Launchlab and industry consultants associated with SU have assisted students with finding and connecting to startups and spinoff businesses relevant for internships and for their research.

Mr Neethling said that with this programme, postgraduate students are working with industry teams from all sectors in the host country and at the same time get opportunities from early-stage to late-stage research, technologies and expertise for consultancy. 

Other developments

• SU's Mr Kelvin Ivankovic, one of the four students trapped in Norway during the 2020 lockdown, has been offered a bursary to complete his PhD in Norway.
• South African students will travel to Norway to conduct comparative research for their master theses later in 2022.
• Universities are committed to joint supervision of PhD students
• Faculty from all five universities will join in a workshop in September 2022 to work on a special issue for publications.
• In July 2022, all five partnering universities will participate in a two-week-long innovation workshop in Pretoria, with 40 students from various universities creating new business ideas collaboratively.

Main banner: The students, alumni and staff present at the get-together were (from left to right) 

Svein-Inge Solås, Henrik Tvinnereim, , Martin Olaf Quist, Kristian Wikse, Oda Camilla Rykkje, Paleesha Naidoo, Kelvin Ivankovic, Adolph Neethling, Minette Sieberhagen.

Photographer: Sandra Mulder