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Lion's share of national chairs for UCT
12 June 2012
UCT is now home to 32 of the 154 SARChI chairs awarded thus far and now holds more than one-fifth of the national chairs. The next step will be for the university to prepare full proposals for these research chairs, and to determine who the holders will be.
The government has invested over R1.1 billion in the SARChI initiative since its inception in 2005. Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said special consideration had been given to the universities of technology, rural-based institutions and those who were not yet participants in the programme. Following the award of the 60 new chairs, 21 universities will now be hosting chairs instead of the previous 16.
Many of the new chairs support themes of national priority: job creation and sustainable livelihoods, education, health, rural development, and the fight against crime and corruption.
"The exceptional quality of the proposals that came from all over UCT in this round gave me renewed pride in the depth of our research," said the deputy vice-chancellor responsible for research, Professor Danie Visser. "And we will continue to seek ways to advance the important research agendas that have surfaced through this process."
