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Korea, World Bank Join Forces to Build World-Class Scientific Capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Posted on by Pauline Achoka
BUSAN, May 23, 2018 – Today, the World Bank and the Government of Korea reinforced their ongoing partnership to support Sub-Saharan Africa’s universities and research institutions in growing highly qualified local talent in areas important for Africa’s transformation, such as renewable energy, big data, artificial intelligence, and engineering.
“Investments in human capital have the power to transform the economic trajectory of nations and will be particularly powerful in Africa, which has the youngest population in the world. The Korea-Africa initiative aims to propel ongoing efforts by African governments to build a stronger homegrown workforce in the science and technology fields – a valuable asset in the face of rapidly evolving labor markets,” said Annette Dixon, Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the World Bank and Korea on the margins of the African Development Bank Annual Meetings. Under the MoU, the Government of Korea will set up a $10 million trust fund at the World Bank to support the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF).
“This partnership between Korea and the World Bank towards the Africa region will establish a new milestone of tripartite cooperation, helping Africa build human capital and capacity in science and technology, while also contributing to the innovative growth of African countries by setting the foundation for Africa’s industrialization,” said Ko Hyoung-kwon, First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, Republic of Korea.
Specific initiatives envisioned for the program include:

  • Scholarship and research support to students and university faculty working on relevant transformative technologies across Sub-Saharan Africa;
  • Funding of “sandwich” PhD training programs (programs incorporating international and home-based study) for scholars from African universities; and
  • Collaborative research between faculty in Sub-Saharan Africa universities and Korean universities in priority areas such as information and communication technology, solar energy, energy storage, and engineering with a focus on the innovative growth sectors.

Ministers of Finance from four countries that have taken the lead in seeding the RSIF – Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire – attended the MoU signing ceremony.

About PASET
The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) was launched in 2013 in recognition of the critical need to strengthen science, and technology capability for the socio-economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa. The Partnership functions as a convening platform by bringing together African governments and the private sector as well as new partner countries who have been investing heavily in Africa. To learn more, visit www.worldbank.org/paset.

About RSIF
The Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) was established in 2015 by African governments to help create a highly skilled, technical-scientific labor force to meet the national development agenda and accelerate Sub-Saharan Africa’s socio-economic transformation. The RSIF aims to create a strong pipeline of researchers in applied sciences, engineering and technology fields who can engage with development challenges and foster greater collaboration between African universities and local and foreign industries. The scholarship program has been designed considering best practices of international programs with technical assistance financed by the World Bank. The five countries that have taken the lead – Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal – and several other sub-Saharan African countries have expressed strong interest in contributing to the initiative. The initiative, as part of PASET, is facilitated by the World Bank.

PRESS RELEASE NO: 2018/132/AFR

Contacts

Washington
Karolina Ordon
+1 (202) 458-5971

kordon@worldbankgroup.org

Seoul
Jung Hoon Choi
+82-32-713-7031

jchoi4@worldbank.org

Press Release: PASET Welcomes First Cohort of Future African Leaders in Science & Technology

Posted on by Pauline Achoka

ACCRA, Ghana, May 16, 2018 – The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) announced today that the first cohort of 15 young African scholars – funded by its Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) – has officially embarked on ambitious PhD research programs at four renowned universities across the region.

The 15 researchers, four of whom are women, were selected to be in the first cohort. They will study at some of Africa’s most competitive programs in applied sciences, engineering and technology, focusing their research on some of the biggest challenges facing the African continent, including food security, information & communication technology, and materials, minerals and mining engineering. The young researchers will attend one of the RSIF’s four host universities: Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania, University Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Cote d’Ivoire, African University of Science and Technology in Nigeria, and University of Gaston Berger in Senegal.

Hon. Minister Mary Teuw Niane, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of Senegal and Chairperson of the PASET Board of Directors, said: “We are delighted to welcome the first cohort of the RSIF scholars after an extremely rigorous and selective process. We are confident that they will lead the way for African science, research and innovation and will be strong ambassadors for the program. We wish them the best for the journey ahead and look forward to hearing of their success.”

The scholars are being funded by several African governments who have come together to seed the pan-African RSIF, demonstrating their willingness to pool efforts to build the technical-scientific capability of Africa. In addition, the Africa Center of Excellence, SACIDS, at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania also joined forces to fund the 16th scholar under this cohort. The scholarship not only covers tuition and living expenses for up to four years, but will also offer scholars the opportunity to participate in a “sandwich” program, allowing them to conduct part of their research alongside global researchers at a leading international partner institution such as the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. Upon completion of their PhD program, scholars will also be eligible to receive further support for ongoing research and innovation initiatives.

More than 1,000 candidates applied to the scholarship program, and underwent a rigorous two-stage selection process that included an assessment by the host universities as well as subsequent interviews by an independent international evaluation committee.

About PASET

The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) was launched in 2013 in recognition of the critical need to strengthen science and technology capacity for the socio-economic development of sub-Saharan Africa. The Partnership, which is facilitated by the World Bank, functions as a convening platform by bringing together African governments and the private sector as well as new partner countries who have been investing heavily in Africa. To learn more, visit www.worldbank.org/paset

About RSIF

The Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) was established in 2015 by African governments to help create a highly skilled, technical-scientific labor force to meet the national development agenda and accelerate sub-Saharan Africa’s socio-economic transformation. The RSIF aims to create a strong pipeline of researchers in applied sciences, engineering and technology fields who can engage with development challenges and foster greater collaboration between African universities and local and foreign industries. The scholarship program was designed taking into account best practices of other scholarship programs, including technical assistance from the Institute of International Education (which administers the Fulbright scholars program). The countries that have currently made firm commitments to the RSIF and who are represented on the PASET Board are Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal and others have expressed strong interest in participating in this initiative. To learn more, visit  https://www.rsif-paset.org/

Contacts:

In Ghana: Osondu Joshua Onwuzuruigbo, +233-30-277-4495 / 761588, paset@aau.org
In Washington: Saori Imaizumi, +1-202-458-8090, simaizumi@worldbank.org

For more information about the PASET program visit: http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/paset

News Release

2018/001/AFR

PASET RSIF Call for University Selection

Posted on by Pauline Achoka

The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) is an Africa-led initiative with the objective of strengthening the science, technology and engineering capability in sub-Saharan Africa to further its socio-economic transformation. The PASET Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) will contribute towards training 10,000 PhDs in the fields of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (ASET) for priority sectors in 10 years, and building the capacity of a core of African universities to provide these trainings. The RSIF will be implemented through competitively selected universities in sub-Saharan Africa, which have the capacity to offer PhD programs in the selected thematic areas. The RSIF has been seeded by contributions from the Governments of Senegal, Rwanda and Ethiopia. The Association of African Universities (AAU) has been selected to administer the RSIF.

In RSIF’s first phase, the Africa Centers of Excellence (ACEs) that were selected for financing under the World Bank project will be invited to submit proposals for PhD programs to be included in the RSIF.  Proposals are to be submitted to AAU and will be independently evaluated by expert committees.  Between 4-6 Centers will be selected to be host institutions for the RSIF. These Centers will invite PhD applications according to the admission criteria and eligibility criteria laid down by RSIF.  In the first phase, PhD programs in the following four thematic areas will be considered: Energy, Information & Communications Technology, Food security, and Mining, Minerals & Materials Sciences. The scholarship covers full tuition costs, stipend to cover living expenses, textbooks and research materials.  About 60 PhD students will be financed in the first cohort (about 15 per center). Read full story at AAU.org >