Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme

Deadline: Jun 12, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

The Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme, a partnership project between the African Union and the European Union, is being implemented under the auspices of the Pan-African Programme (PanAf) created in 2014 as one of the instruments to support the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) adopted at the Lisbon Summit in December 2007.

The "Continental education strategy for Africa" (CESA 2016-2025) articulates the ambition of the African Union to build an integrated continent through a harmonised education system where intra-African mobility and skills portability are standard. Furthermore, it calls for a paradigm shift towards transformative education and training systems to meet the knowledge, competencies, skills, research, innovation and creativity required to nurture African core values and promote sustainable development. This demands strategic identification of fields of study for higher education and research, and promotion of mechanisms for intra-african academic collaboration.

Those priorities have also gradually come to the fore in the Africa-EU Partnership in recent years and African and European Heads of States and Governments committed during the 5th Africa-EU Summit of 2017 to further "invest in people" and to support "concrete initiatives in terms of recognition of qualifications, partnerships between institutions and mobility of young students, staff and researchers, in particular women and girls, and foster partnership between institutions, in order to develop and transfer knowledge and technology and to strengthen the ties between the two continents".

Based on the experience of the Intra-ACP Academic Mobility Scheme (2010-2013), the EU supported the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme under the Multiannual Indicative Programme 2014-2017 for the Pan-African Programme. Two calls for proposals were thus launched in 2016 and 2017 and fourteen projects were selected, involving universities from all regions in Africa.

Following the Africa-EU Summit of 2017, the EU decided to further support mobility of students and staff within Africa over the period 2018-20201. The present call is therefore the third one organised in that framework.

The programme is directly managed by the European Commission through the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (hereinafter referred as “the Agency”), under the supervision of the Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development and in collaboration with the African Union Commission Department for Human Resources, Science and Technology.

 

2. OBJECTIVE(S) – THEME(S) – PRIORITIES
The overall objective of the programme is to enhance human capital development in Africa,

while strengthening intra-African collaboration as called for by Agenda 2063. The programme's specific objectives are to:

• • increase the employability of students;

1 Commission implementing Decision C(2018) 3225, adopted on 22 May 2018

• improve the quality of higher education in Africa and its relevance to Africa's development vision;

• strengthen the modernisation and internationalisation of African higher education institutions, and promote the development of an African higher education and research space.

Mobility of students and staff between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is expected to help them acquire stronger knowledge and skills and contribute to improve the quality and relevance of teaching and learning through exchanges of practices. Within the African Union vision, this is also essential for developing higher education capacity to generate African solutions to African challenges and to build an African higher education and research space.

In addition, the scheme will contribute to strengthen the modernisation and internationalisation strategies of HEIs through the establishment of mechanisms to manage the mobility flows. This will in turn increase HEIs’ capacity to forge partnerships with other institutions to undertake joint collaboration and research.

Furthermore, the programme is bringing together HEIs from different regions which will have to set up adequate mechanisms to organise the exchanges, such as arrangements to compare curricula and recognise the study periods abroad. It is therefore expected that the programme will enhance harmonisation and standardisation of higher education in line with the African Union Strategy for Harmonisation of Higher Education. It will provide specific lessons for the implementation of the Pan African Quality and Accreditation Framework and make a substantial contribution to regional integration.

 

3. TIMETABLE

The indicative timetable for the present Call is as follows:

a) Publication of the Call

11 March 2019

b) Deadline for submitting applications

12 June 2019 – 12:00 (noon) Brussels time

c) Evaluation period

June-September 2019

d) Information to applicants

October 2019

e) Signature of grant agreement

November 2019

f) Estimated starting date of the action

1 December 2019

 

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at EUR 9.800.000 and should allow around 350 mobility flows.

Each grant will amount to between EUR 1.000.000 (minimum grant size) and EUR 1.400.000 (maximum grant size) depending on: i) the number of Higher Education

Institutions (HEIs) participating as lead applicant and co-applicants2, ii) the number, type and duration of the mobility flows to be implemented.

The Agency expects to fund 7-8 proposals.
The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications shall comply with the following requirements:

• they must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in Section 3 of the present Call for proposals;

• they must be submitted in type-writing (see Section 14 of the present Call for proposals) on the correct form (e-form). The e-form should be duly completed in all its parts and accompanied by its annexes. The application package and the electronic submission system are available at:

  https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/intra-africa/beneficiaries-space/intra-africa-academic-mobility- scheme-2019_en;

• they must be drafted in one of the EU official languages understood by all partners (and preferably in English or French);

Failure to comply with the above requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.

In order to submit an application, lead applicants and co-applicants must provide their Participant Identification Code (PIC) in the application form. The PIC can be obtained by the applicant by registering the organisation in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) hosted in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal3. The Unique Registration Facility is a tool shared by other services of the European Commission. If a lead applicant or a co-applicant already has a PIC that has been used for other programmes (for example the Research programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present Call for proposals. Lead applicants and co-applicants should verify first whether they already have this code before creating a new one in order to avoid duplicates and delays at subsequent stages.

The Participant Portal allows lead applicants and co-applicants to upload or update the information related to their legal status and attach the requested legal and financial documents.

See Section 14.2 for more information.

2 For the purpose of this Call, “lead applicant” refers to the coordinating institution and “co-applicants” to partner HEIs from Africa and to the EU technical partner (see details in the section 6.1.)
 

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Only applications that fulfil the eligibility criteria will be subject of an in-depth evaluation. If an application is deemed ineligible, a letter indicating the reasons will be sent to the applicant.

6.1. Eligible applicants, partnerships and individuals

The present Call is open to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as lead applicant and co- applicants. Other types of organisations can be involved in the proposals as associated partners. Individuals will benefit from the mobility activities planned by these HEIs.

Only applications submitted by HEIs established in Africa (as lead applicant) are eligible.

6.1.1. Lead Applicant

The lead applicant must:

1. (a)  Be a legal person ("legal entity"): in order to demonstrate its existence as a legal person, the applicant must be legally established for more than 3 years and must provide a Legal Entity Form, duly completed, signed, and accompanied by the relevant documents4; and

2. (b)  Be a Higher Education Institution (private or public). In order to be eligible as a Higher Education Institution, applicants must provide courses at the post graduate level (masters level and/or doctoral degree) of higher education leading to a qualification recognised by the competent authorities in their own country5; they may be called a “University” or bear other relevant name (e.g. “Polytechnic”, “College”, “Institute”, etc); they must be accredited by relevant national authorities; and

3. (c)  Be registered in Africa. Branches or subsidiaries of HEIs from outside the African continent are not eligible6.

In order to assess the lead applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested:

1. (1)  private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required),

2. (2)  public entity: copy of law, decree, resolution or decision establishing the public body, or other official document establishing the public-law entity.

4The Legal Entity form is enclosed as Annex 6 to the application form (i.e. Annex 1 of this Call) and can be downloaded from the following website: https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/legal-entities_en.
5 International Standard Classification of Education ISCED 2011, at least level 7- Master or equivalent (ISCED 2011 level 6 - bachelor or equivalent education, is not eligible).
6 Any legal entity whose statutes have not been established in Africa (see Section 6.1.2) cannot be considered eligible, even if its statutes are registered or a "Memorandum of Understanding" has been concluded in Africa.

 

 

6.1.2. Partnership

The partnership will be composed of the lead applicant, the co-applicants (partner HEIs and an EU technical partner) and the associated partners where relevant.

The partnership must be constituted of a minimum of four (4) HEIs (including the lead applicant) from Africa and one technical partner from an EU member state.

The maximum size of the partnership is limited to six (6) HEIs (including the lead applicant) from Africa and one technical partner from an EU member state.

In each partnership, no more than two (2) HEIs (including the lead applicant) from the same country are allowed to participate .

HEIs from a minimum of three (3) African regions must participate in any partnership (taking into account the lead applicant).

The regions (African Union classification) are presented in the table below:

Regions of Africa

Countries

North

Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Tunisia

West

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

Central

Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé-and-Príncipe

East

Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

South

Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, eSwatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe

A same HEI can be involved in several proposals which are submitted under the present Call, either as a lead applicant, co-applicant or associated partner. Only one project where this HEI is a lead applicant can be selected under the same call however. This provision does not apply when a HEI is participating as a co-applicant (including EU technical partner) or as associated partner in several projects. In this case it is possible for several projects involving the same HEI to be selected.

Co-applicants
- Partners

Partners must:

1. (a)  Be a legal person ("legal entity"): in order to demonstrate its existence as a legal person, the Partner must be legally established for more than 3 years; and

2. (b)  Be a Higher Education Institution (private or public). In order to be eligible as a Higher Education Institution, partners must provide courses at the post graduate level (masters level and/or doctoral degree) of higher education leading to a qualification recognised by the competent authorities in their own country7; they may be called a “University” or bear other relevant name (e.g. “Polytechnic”, “College”, “Institute”, etc.); they must be accredited by relevant national authorities in an eligible country (see Section 6.1 above); and

3. (c) Be registered in Africa (see Section 6.1 above). Branches or subsidiaries of HEIs from outside the African continent are not eligible.

- EU technical partner
The partnerships must involve one HEI established in one of the EU Member States8 and

having been awarded an Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, as technical partner.

The technical partner should provide support in the management of the partnership and in the organisation and implementation of the mobility. For that reason, the technical partner must have a strong experience in the management of international mobility flows.

Proposals should clearly state the tasks and responsibilities of the technical partner as well as the nature of the services to be provided.

Costs for the participation of the technical partner in the project shall be included in the costs related to the organisation of the mobility managed by the partnership (see Section 11.2.1). However, the technical partner can neither host nor send students or/and staff for mobility.

The lead applicant must submit mandates9 signed with each co-applicant (including the EU technical partner), confirming that they grant power of attorney to the lead applicant, to act on their behalf and for their account in signing the eventual grant agreement and its possible subsequent riders with the Agency.

By signing the mandate, the co-applicants accept all the provisions of the above mentioned grant agreement and agrees to provide the documents or information that may be required.

Due to the fact that the expenditure made by the co-applicants is also eligible, insofar as it is reflected in the project accounts and in the accounts of the co-applicants and respects all other rules on eligibility of costs, audits and controls might be directed not only to the lead applicant, but also to the co-applicants.

The mandate should be signed by the legal representative (rector, vice-rector, president or vice-president, chancellor or vice-chancellor) of the co-applicant. It will be an Annex to the Grant Agreement and has therefore legal force. The model mandate provided by the Agency with the application form must be used in all cases without any modifications or adjustments.

Co-applicants for whom the mandate does not fulfil the formal requirements of the model mandate are not eligible for participation. An ineligible co-applicant may render the whole partnership ineligible.

7 International Standard Classification of Education ISCED 2011, at least level 7- Master or equivalent (ISCED 2011 level 6 - bachelor or equivalent education, is not eligible).
8 For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British co-applicants continue to be eligible, the co-applicant will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article II.16.3.1(a) of the grant agreement.

 

Associated partners

HEIs and other types of organisations from Africa can be involved in the project as associated partners. Such associated partners shall play an active role in project implementation. However, they can neither host nor send students or/and staff, but can receive students for placements periods (e.g. internships, research activities).

The associated partners do not have the status of co-applicants and do not have to meet the lead applicant and co-applicants' eligibility criteria. These organisations are not considered as beneficiaries and cannot receive funding from the grant. As such, they will not be accounted for in the calculation of the lump sum contribution granted to cover the costs for the organisation of the mobility (See Section 11.2)

The associated partners have to be mentioned in the application, and the role they play in the context of the proposed project has to be described. It is expected that they contribute to the transfer of knowledge and results and assist in the promotion, implementation, evaluation and sustainable development of the project.

Types of associated partners which could be particularly relevant for the objectives and activities of this programme are: other HEIs, university associations, research centres, enterprises, chambers of industry and commerce, local, regional or national public entities, etc.

6.1.3. Individuals

Students

To be eligible for a scholarship (i.e. financial support to third parties), master students as well as doctoral candidates referred to as “students” must comply with the below criteria at the time of the application for a scholarship:

(a) Being nationals of a member state of the African Union and being resident in Africa

and

2. (b)  Being registered/admitted in or having obtained a HEI degree (or equivalent) from:

   • –  one of the HEIs involved in the partnership (including the lead applicant) (Target Group I);

     or

   • –  a HEI not involved in the partnership but established in Africa (Target Group II)

     and

3. (c)  Have sufficient knowledge of the language of the courses in the host countries.

Students can only benefit from one scholarship under the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme (regardless the type of mobility or the funding project).

Students having benefitted from scholarship(s) under the previous Intra-ACP Academic Mobility Scheme cannot receive scholarships under the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme.

 

Academic and Administrative Staff10

In order to be eligible for a scholarship, (i.e. financial support to third parties), academic and administrative staff, hereafter referred to as "staff", must comply with the below criteria at the time of the application for a scholarship:

• Being nationals of a member state of the African Union and being resident in Africa and
• Working for a HEI involved in the partnership (including the lead applicant)

 

6.2.Eligible activities

6.2.1.General provisions

The project will entail: (i) the organisation and implementation of student in high quality master level and doctoral programmes as well as the provision of education/training and other services to foreign students, (ii) the organisation and implementation of staff mobility from the countries covered by the project with the provision of teaching/training, research assignments and other services..

Mobility must take place only in Africa. Only HEIs from Africa involved as lead applicant or co-applicant can host mobility of students and staff.

The duration of the projects must be 60 months. In general, the first six months shall be dedicated to preparatory activities related to the organisation of mobility (see below "Organisation of mobility").

Eligible activities, including preparatory activities, may start as from 1st December 2019 (start of the eligibility period), provided that the grant agreement has been signed between the Agency and the lead applicant. Mobility of students and staff may not start before a selection process has been completed by the partners, on the basis of the selection procedures set up for this purpose.

All activities must take place within the eligibility period as defined when signing the grant agreement with the Agency. However, if during the implementation of the project it becomes impossible for the beneficiary, for justified reasons, to complete the activities within the scheduled period, an extension to the agreed eligibility period may be granted (i.e. a maximum extension of 12 months).

 

6.2.2. Thematic fields of study

This Call for proposals is open to the following thematic fields of study defined according to the international standard classification of education 2013 (ISCED-F 2013)11:

01- Education

011 Education
018 Inter-disciplinary programmes and qualifications involving education

02- Arts and Humanities

023 Languages

05- Natural sciences

052 Environment
058 Inter-disciplinary programmes and qualifications involving

natural sciences, mathematics and statistics

07- Engineering, manufacturing and construction

0712 Environmental protection and technology 0713 Electricity and energy
0721 Food processing

078 Inter-disciplinary programmes and qualifications involving engineering, manufacturing and construction

08- Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary

081 Agriculture
082 Forestry
083 Fisheries
084 Veterinary
088 Inter-disciplinary programmes and qualifications involving agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary
089 Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary not elsewhere classified

Whereas the above fields of study encompass a wide range of subjects, the applicants should describe in the project proposal how the chosen subject(s) is/are linked to the priority of "inclusive growth and sustainable development" of the AU-EU partnership, as well as to the AU continental frameworks, particularly Agenda 2063.

Proposals shall provide an indicative list of accredited high quality master level courses and doctoral programmes offered by the HEIs from Africa (involved as a lead applicant or a co- applicant) in one or more of the above fields of study and in which all mobility flows shall take place. Both lead applicant and co-applicants will be requested to commit that all student mobility flows will be implemented only in accredited academic programmes linked to the thematic fields. A proof of accreditation may be asked by the Agency for all the programmes indicated in the application during project implementation.

The quality of the academic programmes offered by the partnerships shall be ensured in order to maximise the benefit for the students. Moreover, it is advisable to focus on a limited number of thematic fields and academic programmes in order to enhance coherence and quality of the proposal.

 

6.2.3. Organisation and implementation of mobility

Activities related to the organisation and the implementation of mobility aim at creating optimal conditions, through quality support measures, for students and staff to undertake periods of study/teaching/research/ training at a host HEI established a country different than the one of nationality and residence.

In order to achieve this, the partnerships should:

1. a)  Draw up a Memorandum of Understanding among the partnership members with the objective to reach sound management of the partnership and address all the aspects linked to the organisation of the mobility scheme. The Memorandum of Understanding shall identify/establish:

   1. the role of the partnership HEIs and their individual involvement in the organisational activities (visibility activities, communication strategy, preparatory academic activities, selection process, recognition of study periods, project quality assurance and academic follow-up, institutional services, etc.);

   2. procedures and criteria for the selection of candidates. These mechanisms will take into account the different criteria to be applied for different target groups;

   3. commitment by all partnership HEIs that all student mobility flows will be implemented only in accredited academic programmes linked to the thematic fields;

   4. specific academic arrangements (e.g. for students: agreed examination criteria, academic recognition of study periods abroad; for staff: the inclusion of courses taught in the regular programme of the host HEI; arrangements for student and course assessment, training programmes etc.);

   5. financial arrangements between partnership HEIs, including the use of the budget for the organisation of mobility, as well as rules and procedures to be followed during the organisation of mobility and related to the scholarship payment to students and staff.

2. b)  Develop a clear promotion and visibility strategy for the partnership including, in particular, a dedicated partnership website referring explicitly to the "Intra-Africa academic mobility scheme" and providing all necessary information about the partnership from the academic, financial and administrative points of view. This must include a solid promotion strategy reaching as many potential applicants as possible on the African continent.

3. c)  Put in place a centralised mechanism for the selection of students and staff that guarantees the transparency of the selection process and an equitable treatment of the individual applications.

   Partnerships are expected to set up procedures and criteria for the selection of students and staff to take part in the individual mobility activities. These selection criteria should take into account the admission criteria as defined by each host university. Moreover, selection of individuals for mobility must follow the eligibility criteria as indicated in Section 6.1.3 of this Call.

   The scholarship application procedure and deadline should be designed in such a way to provide the candidates with all the necessary information well in advance and with enough time to prepare and submit their application. A sufficient duration (e.g. 45 days) following the launch of the call for scholarship applications has to be granted to students/staff to submit their applications.

4. d)  Cross-cutting issues including equal opportunities and the participation of disadvantaged groups must be tackled. Participation of disadvantaged groups (students with disabilities, socio-economically disadvantaged students) and the participation of students and staff from fragile and conflict-affected states and regions within a country should be also addressed.

   Moreover, in order to foster gender balance and to close the gap in the participation of women, the partnerships are expected to put in place initiatives and measures while promoting the scholarship opportunities and selecting the candidates.

   This should be explicitly laid out in both the advertising of the scholarships and selection criteria. In cases of equal merit, the partnership is encouraged to select the more socio- economically disadvantaged candidate.

5. e)  Provide adequate linguistic support to students and staff in mobility.

6. f)  Offer the necessary services and facilities to scholarship holders (e.g. welcoming, housing, coaching, assistance before and during mobility, support for visas and residence permits, language courses, etc.), including where necessary services for family members of scholarship holders and for scholarship holders with special needs.

7. g)  Put in place an insurance scheme that guarantees that students and staff are adequately covered in case of accident, injury, illness, etc. during their mobility, in accordance with the minimum requirements for insurance of the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme12.

8. h)  Set up student agreements outlining the scholarship conditions, type of mobility, period and duration, the rights and obligations, including commitment to attend courses and undertake exams.

9. i)  Set up learning agreements/research plans with students on an individual work programme and workload required to pass examinations or other forms of assessment.

10. j)  Facilitate academic recognition of periods of study, training, research and teaching through agreed mechanisms between home and host HEIs with a view to favouring the creation of an African Higher Education and Research Space. In this sense, it is a minimum requirement for all partners to consider the study period abroad as an integral part of the study programme. Full academic recognition shall be given by the home HEI for the study period (including examinations or other forms of assessment) spent in the host HEIs. At the end of the period of study abroad, the host HEI will provide the incoming student as well as the home HEI with a diploma and/or transcript of records with the study results confirming that the programme has been completed. Where relevant, delivery of a diploma supplement is also recommended.

11. k)  Draw up mobility agreements with academic/administrative staff on scholarship conditions, rights and obligations, as well as on the activity plan during the mobility, e.g. lectures to be delivered (that should form part of the courses of a degree/diploma offered by the host institution), research, training and capacity building activities, etc.

12. l)  Foresee arrangements for academic monitoring of scholarship holders.

13. m)Set up internal, and where possible external, quality assurance mechanisms and tools to assess the overall project implementation, including management and cooperation arrangements, application and selection processes, institutional services and support provided before and during mobility, post-mobility periods, etc. These mechanisms should allow also assessing/measuring the impact of the project at individual, institutional and national/regional level.

14. n) Develop a sustainability strategy explaining in which way these mobility exchanges can favour the creation of durable links among the institutions, ensure the financial and operational continuation of the collaboration beyond EU funding and how they can respond to the social, economic and political needs of their countries.

 

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