The Partnership for Africa's Next Generation of Academics (PANGeA), a network consisting of eight leading African universities focused on strengthening and advancing doctoral training and 
scholarship in the arts, humanities and social sciences on the continent, has launched a new training and skills development programme, PANGeA-Ed.
The ceremony to launch the programme was held at Makerere University on 27th September, 2016. It was graced by among others, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Germany Embassy in Uganda, Mrs Petra Koechendoerfer, the Chair of the Executive Board of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, Dr Michael Hanssler, and PANGeA board members from Ghana, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Cameroon.
With financial support from the Robert Bosch and Gerda Henkel foundations, PANGeA-Ed will over the next five years offer a total of 50 high-quality short courses and workshops in research and skills development across the eight partner Campuses. The programme will focus on various soft skills development such as academic writing, guidelines for funding and/or research proposals, and integrity and ethics in research to more specialised research training, including quantitative and qualitative data analysis; (critical) discourse analysis; mixed methods research; social surveys; and ethnographic research. The first three-day workshops focusing on academic writing skills and discourse analysis commenced yesterday and are taking place at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“The PANGeA network has recognized the need not only to generate doctoral graduates but to address the shortage of skills and make a meaningful investment in human capital within this intellectually diverse network. This programme is another means to build and retain African talent and human capital,” said Prof. Edward Kirumira, in a press statement issued by the PANGeA Secretariat at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Prof. Kirumira is the Principal, College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Makerere University and Chair of the Board of the PANGeA Network.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, Prof. Bernard Bashaasha on behalf of the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, thanked the PANGeA network for coming up with an initiative aimed at advancing doctoral training in the humanities and social sciences. “Investment in the humanities and social sciences in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be over-emphasized as there will be increased need to have the human factor at the centre stage of African countries ownership of the development drivers,” he explained.
He also expressed gratitude to the Bosch and the Gerda Henkel Foundations for the support towards the initiative. “I want to assure the Foundations’ representatives here present that Makerere University Administration is fully supportive of PANGeA. Your support to the College will be leveraged with internally generated funds, government support to the University as well as support from other partners.” Prof. Bashasha is the Principal, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Makerere University.
PANGeA was founded in 2010 by the University of Botswana, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Malawi, the University of Nairobi in Kenya and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Four years later, the University of Ghana and the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon joined the consortium. The network aims to strengthen the development of higher education in Africa by creating opportunities for collaborative research and exchange among partner institutions, full-time doctoral study and, in the longer term, the establishment of joint doctoral degree programmes specifically in the arts, humanities and social sciences. For the last seven years, various students from across Africa as well as academics based at PANGeA partner universities have been able to pursue full-time doctoral degrees via the PANGeA doctoral scholarship programme housed at the Graduate School of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University. Since the doctoral scholarship programme commenced in 2010, a total of 66 candidates have been nominated by PANGeA partners and enrolled for a PhD at Stellenbosch University. To date, 36 have completed their studies and resumed their academic positions at their home university, 81% of whom graduated in three years or less.
PANGeA's strategy is to build and sustain world-class doctoral programmes and scholarship communities through partnership and collaboration with leading African Universities, focusing on the arts, humanities and social sciences.
See pictorial of the launch event below