The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and SPU have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will focus on the higher education and development nexus of SPU in Kimberley and the Northern Cape.
The MoU centres on four initial broad themes:
• urban and regional development and higher education as a ‘growth pole’;
• community engagement;
• linking popular culture, industry linkages, higher education well-being, the student experience; and
• public understanding of science and innovation, and the SKA.
The HSRC will support SPU’s emerging research identity to:
• develop research infrastructure;
• link SPU academics to HSRC researchers;
• link the HSRC to SPU’s developing postgraduate programmes through co-supervision arrangements and, where possible, with internships for postgraduate students;
• consider mutual formal secondary affiliations of HSRC staff to SPU and SPU staff as fellows to the HSRC; and
• collaboratively raise funding for the proposed research programme and in the process, build SPU capacity among emerging researchers/academics to raise funds in the future.
Research projects will impact on the teaching and learning function of the university curriculum development, infuse research into the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum and keep the curriculum cutting edge and relevant by being research engaged.