Photo: His Excellency Andreas Peschke, German Ambassador to South Africa sharing his collaboration plan.

During his recent courtesy visit to CUT on 25 August 2023, His Excellency Andreas Peschke, German Ambassador to South Africa, said he is impressed with what he has seen at CUT’s centres of excellence and was also pleased about the existing collaborations between CUT and German universities of Applied Sciences.

Peschke said science cooperation is an integral part of bilateral cooperation and South Africa is by far the most important partner on the continent. ”Our cooperation is truly broad and manifold. The philosophy of our cooperation is both general and project-oriented. We see it as a cooperation of equals and want to learn from each other. So, looking at international cooperation between Universities of Applied Sciences is logical.“

When unpacking his new collaboration plans with CUT,  he mentioned that the possible areas of cooperation will include the field of medical research, environmental research in all areas- Environmental sciences: water resource management, sustainable land use, biodiversity, ocean research; technology- green hydrogen & derivative like green aviation fuels, food technology as well as a broader complex of the energy transition. “In this area, we can look at, among other things, joint Research Chair that was agreed between ministers.“

He further mentioned the two concrete support programmes that may be relevant, which are the Special BMBF support programme to UAS that will include an international component of cooperation joint project research to boost existing partnerships and develop new ones and the DAAD support programme to Universities of Applied Sciences with individual support (scholarships) and project support.

“Practical tertiary education is very important in both our countries. Tertiary education needs to be of high quality, and it should be practice-oriented. Too often, graduates need help finding their place in the labour market, but it shouldn’t be the case with universities of applied sciences.“