Southern Africa – Pretoria
This Team Finland Knowledge region covers all the member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda. Work is most active in South Africa, a global key player in science and geopolitics and the most common partner country for Finnish higher education institutions on the African continent. In Finland, the Team Finland Knowledge specialist explains why Southern Africa matters for Finnish organisations and highlights the opportunities in the region. In Southern Africa, the specialist helps Finnish higher education institutions, their affiliated companies and national research institutes find partners and build cooperation.
veera.virmasalo(a)gov.fi – join the Southern Africa Team Finland Knowledge mailing list or ask me about our activities!
Veera Virmasalo on LinkedIn
TFK activities in Southern Africa on LinkedIn
Website of the Embassy in Pretoria
Southern Africa, South Africa and Finland
Africa plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and politics. South Africa is one of the continent’s most influential countries and a gateway to the wider Southern African region. Finland already trades substantially with South Africa, which is the only African country designated as a priority country for Team Finland export promotion. By placing a Team Finland Knowledge specialist at the Embassy, Finland ensures that this growing attention also benefits the higher education and research sector.
Cooperation and funding opportunities
Southern Africa offers strong opportunities for partnerships in research, education and training, and innovation. There is already an extensive amount of cooperation. The main source of funding is the EU: all countries in the region can apply for Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ funding as part of international consortia. The Finnish National Agency for Education manages the Team Finland Knowledge project funding. It supports joint development in higher education and student and staff mobility. It is also a key tool for building new partnerships. Additionally, South Africa in particular provides national funding for international cooperation.
Team Finland Knowledge helps identify other international funding channels, commercial collaboration opportunities and potential partners for project calls. It also raises awareness of Finnish higher education and research in the region. The focus areas are based on the interests and needs of Finnish higher education institutions. The Team Finland Knowledge specialist welcomes your suggestions, so please get in touch.
Sharing Finnish knowledge and meeting skills needs
Some Finnish organisations already provide educational services in Southern Africa. However, this is a challenging market due to limited public funding, slow public procurement processes, a small customer base in the private education sector, and strong national and international competition. Local organisations are especially interested in Finland’s high-quality education system and its strong links to the world of work. They value Finnish teacher education and efforts to build STEM skills. They also look for digital and other technological solutions that raise cost-efficiency and reliability. These solutions help build skills in areas such as energy production, healthcare, water services and mining. Vocational education and training increasingly values short, modular and labour‑market‑oriented training solutions. Studying in Finland is of great interest, but tuition fees and living costs remain too high for most.
Features of higher education and research
The higher education and research landscape in the region is divided. South Africa’s leading universities rank higher in global comparisons than most Finnish universities. They carry out internationally recognised research especially in astronomy and space science, health sciences, biodiversity and ecology, geosciences and mining. At the same time, the region has universities with far fewer resources. These are shaped by the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, and focused mainly on teaching and applied research.
Why Southern Africa matters for Finland higher education and research?
Partnerships with organisations in Southern Africa provide access to unique research environments and data. They create opportunities to develop knowledge and innovations with major economic potential and social benefits worldwide. The region’s population, urbanisation, energy production and use of natural resources are growing rapidly. The ways in which these developments are addressed through education, research and technology will also affect Europe. It is therefore important for Finland to build long‑term, reciprocal partnerships with African countries, grounded in personal contacts. African countries will play an increasingly significant role in the global labour force, markets and decision-making.