May 29, 2023 marked a very historic moment for UWC in our quest to collaborate with our African partners and assist the African Union (AU) in the implementation of its Africa Union Agenda 2063.

At the AU, with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the AU Commission (AUC) and the University of the Western Cape, our many months of hard work have paid off. The MoU was signed at the AU Commissioner’s Office at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

I had the pleasure of negotiating and signing the MoU on behalf of the University. Her Excellency, Ambassador Minata Samaté Cessouma, Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development of the African Union, signed on behalf of the AUC.

This MoU enables our Migration and Mobilities Interdisciplinary Collective in Africa (MMiCA), one of my Apex projects, to be the AU Commission partner on migration studies in the following ways:

• Our new Master's in Migration Studies, which will start in January 2024, makes UWC one of only four universities on the African Continent which offers this Master's programme. The others are University of Egypt, University of Ghana and Wits University.
• We have also agreed to do continuous education, starting with the accreditation of the AU Handbook on Migration Governance. This training would be available to the AU Member States and regional centres.
• From a scholarship perspective, MMiCA has scholars at UWC from five faculties and has already been very successful in raising grant funding for some of the research undertaken.
• In October 2023 UWC-MMiCA will be hosting an international symposium on Migration and Mobilities, drawing leading scholars and practitioners from all over the world.
• Part of the MoU involves scholarships for Master's and PhD students, as well as research collaboration with the three AU African Centres of Excellence in migration in Mali, Rabat; in Morocco; and in Khartoum, Sudan.

Thank you to the technical team who assisted in a lengthy negotiation process - Prof Mulugeta Dinbabo, our lead coordinator of the new Master's in Migration Studies programme, and Mr Peter Mudungu from the AUC, with the full support of Mr Sabelo Mbokazi, Head of Division: Labour, Employment and Migration.

Since the objective of the MoU is to build the capability of scholars and practitioners in Migration and Mobilities, it was agreed that this MoU would be the start of the relationship between the AU Commission and UWC, and it can be expanded to intersecting areas after the first three years of its implementation.

We look forward to ensuring we meet the objectives that we set for the AU Commission and UWC.  

Regards,

Prof Vivienne Lawack
DVC: Academic