|
In 1996 the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) was approached by the Institute for Social Studies Advisory Service (ISSAS) in the Netherlands to act as one of two partnership institutes in Africa to assist in compiling a directory of advanced training opportunities at education and training institutions in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (the ACP countries). The first version of this directory was launched at the HRSC in Pretoria on 24 July 1997. The directory has been prepared at the request of the European Union as a means of fostering South-South cooperation in the field of human resources development. South Africa joined the Lomé Convention earlier this year and the DTOACP represents the first example of an ACP-related project in South Africa. The first edition of the directory covers 96 training institutions and 845 programmes in English, French and Portuguese-speaking ACP countries. Last year the HSRC conducted a questionnaire involving all South African technikons and universities in order to determine which courses they offer in the fields of communications, transport, human resources development and rural development – fields regarded as particularly vital in the ACP countries. The aim was also to gather information on relevant programmes and courses to which foreign students (i.e. from Africa) could be admitted for further study at South African institutions. The DTOACP project is being implemented by the Institute of Social Studies Advisory Service (ISSAS, The Hague) in cooperation with the Development Research Institute (IVO, Tilburg) and the Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC, The Hague). Mr João de Deus Pinheiro, European Commissioner for external relations with Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP), writes in the preface of the DTOACP that the EU has decided to produce this directory because "the necessity of enhancing human development resources, of ensuring that people themselves take part in the economic and social development of their country, is nowadays recognised as one of the most important factors of development. From this perspective, the European Union strives to give education and training the place they deserve in its policy of cooperation with the Least-Developed Countries."
|
