NAIROBI, Kenya August 26 – Scholars pursuing Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 11 African countries are set to benefit from the Sh59.95 billion scholarship that has been developed by African governments.
The fund, known as Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF), aims to strengthen higher institutions of learning capacity for quality and sustainable doctoral training, research, and innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“RSIF aims to train a critical mass of African researchers in the applied sciences, engineering and technology space (ASET) to increase the contribution of science to Africa’s economic development as well as respond to African challenges,” said Moses Osiru, the RSIF Project manager.
The partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering & Technology (PASET) countries has already raised over 10 per cent of the Sh59.95 billion funds that they target to raise.
The states contributing to the scholarship include Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Senegal and have been boosted by support from Korea, European Union, and The World Bank.
Mozambique has already made an initial contribution of Sh719.4 million, Nigeria has contributed Sh479.6 million and the rest have contributed Sh239.8 million with exception of two which are still at the final stages of the initial contribution.
Already, RSIF has awarded 258 scholarships, 37 per cent of it going to women and a total of 5 going to the alma maters in addition to the 33 research and innovation grants awarded across 15 African Host Universities (AHUs) that led to the publication of 82 dissertations.
The scholarship which is managed by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) will be awarded to PhD students in Kenya, Rwanda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Nigeria and Uganda, even though Uganda and Nigeria are on the final stages of registration as members.
RSIF intends to bring more women on board as it has noted that they are fewer women at postgraduate as they account for less than 25 per cent of teaching staff in Sub-African universities who are holders of a PhD.
RSIF project Manager Moses Osiru noted that sending African students for PhD training is not only expensive for the students but also denies the African Universities an opportunity to enhance and better their capacities in Doctoral training.
“It is the case that training students abroad denies African universities the opportunity to develop the capacity to offer high-quality PhD programs themselves and build sustained research capacity,” said Osiru.
