Professor Eugene Cloete, co-leader of the SERA Water Task Team.

With the recent announcement by government of the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), education and skills development is again under the national spotlight. With this having been a main driver for SERA activities since the Alliance's inception in 1999, the SERA Water Task Team has now taken capacity-building within the SET environment a step further through an international collaboration initiative.

In a drive headed up by Water Task Team leader, Prof Eugene Cloete, the University of Pretoria (UP) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) are establishing a world class, interdisciplinary graduate education and technology transfer Institute. The Institute aims to support the sustained development of African engineers and scientists to address global and African challenges in natural and energy resources, economic development, climate variability and change, food security and public health.

The African continent is the poorest in the world, yet also one of the most resource rich. There is a marked lack of skills in natural sciences in general, and resource management in particular. In fact, African countries have on average only 18 scientists and engineers per million people, compared with 69 in southern Asia, 273 in Latin America, and 903 in eastern Asia - according to a report published in January 2005 by Jeffrey Sachs, an adviser to the United Nations secretary-general.

It is the goal of UP and Georgia Tech to change this landscape by building on their complementary experience and academic strengths through this new Institute. UP has established itself as the leading water research facility in South Africa. In collaboration with the Centre for Environmental Studies, the institution offers MSc and PhD degrees in Water Resources Management, and has graduated over 40 students in the past five years. This in addition to an active research programme in natural resources management; including SERA-led projects such as the development of a master plan for the Okavango Delta.

The GWRI (Georgia Water Resources Institute) at Georgia Tech has been training African Water managers and engineers through hands-on training workshops in Africa, one- and two-semester traineeships in the US, and full enrolment in Georgia Tech's Graduate Water Programme.

According to Prof Cloete, the planning and management of water and energy resources is key to African development and there needs to be a permanent mechanism for the creation of technical professionals. The purpose of the new institute is to contribute to this by supporting the immediate and long-term educational and professional needs of African nations. It will also develop and adopt formal degree programs and graduation procedures.

Moreover, the Institute's founding partners will be actively seeking the partnership and participation of more African Universities. In light of recent collaborations, universities in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt are among the first potential partner institutions.

Courses and training activities of the Institute will focus on the Nile River Basin and will be made available to students and engineers at all partner institutions through distance learning technology. Faculty exchange programmes would enable extended visits of faculty to campuses to other participating institutions to engage in collaborative research activities, advise graduate students, and teach on-site and distance learning courses.

With the establishment of the new Institute, will come a lasting mechanism for the continuous development of technical professionals, facilitated by the provision of valuable services, the generation of new knowledge and the creation of human resources needed for government agencies, regional and national water resources centres, industry and academia.

For more information, contact Prof Eugene Cloete on +27 12 420 3717.