As part of strengthening the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) global academic partnerships, Rector and Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Balfour, accompanied by senior colleagues, embarked on a visit to leading European universities. The delegation’s engagements at the University of Cambridge, Utrecht University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Ghent University (UGent) highlighted UWC’s commitment to advancing international collaboration in research, teaching, and social impact. The visits not only reinforced longstanding relationships but also opened new avenues for cooperation—ranging from joint degrees and faculty partnerships to projects in food security, digital inclusion, and institutional innovation.

Read the UWC delegation’s travel log:

University of Cambridge 

University of Utrecht 

Vrije Universiteit Brussel 

Ghent University

Hamburg

Dr Wilhelm Krull, former Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation for over twenty years, facilitated the UWC delegation’s engagements in the city. He is involved in various advisory capacities on science councils and research institutes. Dr Krull shared valuable insights into science systems and his experiences as the previous head of the foundation, and offered observations in reviewing several universities and centres of excellence, providing guidance to UWC on pathways toward as a leading research university.

The UWC delegation also met with Professor Dr Lutz Kipp, former president of the Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel. As a physicist, he regularly spends time at DESY, the large-scale synchrotron research facility. The UWC delegation gained key insights regarding his strategic approach to management from the perspective of university president, and the methods through which universities with large-scale federal research facilities collaborate.

University of Hamburg

Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study

Hanseatic City of Lübeck

The trip to Hamburg concluded with a brief visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. At the invitation of the Chairperson of the Possehl Foundation, the UWC delegation attended an event during which the Indian artist Shilpa Gupta received the Possehl Prize for International Art 2025. The event took place at the Kunsthalle St. Annen.