More North-South research cooperation

The University of Cape Town (UCT) this term: UiB has collaborated with the University of Western Cape on several previous occasions. Foto: Sile Gripsrud

For many years, the University of Bergen has cooperated closely with the University of the Western Cape (UWC ) in South Africa. In order to reinforce and promote the excellent cooperation that exists between these two institutions, the University of Bergen and UWC have established a centre for cooperation in education and research (SANORD ) between Scandinavia and Southern Africa. They have been joined by a number of other universities and research institutions from all the Scandinavian countries, and from Malawi, South Africa and Zambia in the Southern Africa region.

SANORD is a meeting place in which institutions can launch new cooperative projects and mobilise research resources efficiently. The centre will help institutions to make contact with relevant donors and strengthen the ability of researchers to draw up good project applications. One important task for the centre will be to provide experts and institutions with a survey of all current research projects and
inter-institutional agreements. To this end, SANORD has set up an internet site that features a wideranging overview of collaborative activities, and every other year it organises a major conference at which researchers from all the educational institutions involved come together.

Via SANORD , we have established several research networks that cover such global challenges as climate For many years, the University of Bergen has cooperated closely with the University of the Western Cape (UWC ) in South Africa. In order to reinforce and promote the excellent cooperation that exists between these two institutions, the University of Bergen and UWC have established a centre for cooperation in education and research (SANORD ) between Scandinavia and Southern Africa. They have been joined by a number of other universities and research institutions from all the Scandinavian countries, and from Malawi, South
Africa and Zambia in the Southern Africa region.

The SANORD cooperative programme is unique in the sense that institutions of higher education and research themselves took the initiative that led to the
founding of the centre. The activities of the centre are based on such values as democracy, social identity and academic involvement, and they build on the
strong mutual trust that has been built up over many years between the two regions.

The article is published in Features 2009/2010