Independent statutory body the National Research Foundation (NRF) has signed two agreements with French higher education organisation Campus France and electricity and energy multinational Schneider Electric, which build on the countries' long-standing bilateral research and education collaboration.

The NRF concluded the agreements at the Embassy of France on June 19 during a visit by French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna.

The Cross Mobility Programme agreement with Campus France expands the bilateral France-South Africa Protea Programme. The expansion of the programme into the new Protea Cross Mobility Programme (CMP) will support 50 South African Master's and PhD students each year for reciprocal exchanges for long-term institutional research partnerships.

The Protea CMP forms part of the NRF’s Global Knowledge Partnerships Framework for early career researchers as an integral component of the NRF’s strategic goal to create an internationally competitive, transformed and representative researcher cohort, the research organisation said.

For the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Protea CMP forms part of the cross-mobility programme with the African continent, which was conceptualised following the Africa-France Summit in 2021.

Further, the partnership with Schneider Electric is aimed at building training, research and innovation capacity within South African universities for practical training in the fields of energy generation and sustainability. A large number of training and innovation development opportunities will be provided to students across South Africa through this partnership.

The partnership also seeks to identify opportunities for research in the field of energy and to enhance curriculum development by universities in accordance with industry requirements.

"The partnership between the NRF and Schneider Electric will play a key role in providing direction and facilitating collaboration between industry and academia in order to increase socioeconomic impact and the development of critical human capacity, aligned with the NRF’s Industry Partnership Strategy," the NRF said.