The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is supporting the establishment of a new Centre of African Excellence for the energy transition in South Africa. With the African-German Centre for Just Energy Transition, the Technical University of Munich and four South African partner universities are providing targeted support for research, teaching and knowledge transfer for a socially just energy transition as part of the ENERGISE project. Funding for the period 2026 to 2030 amounts to around four million euros and comes from the Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the Federal Ministry Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).

Starting in January 2026, the DAAD will use the new centre to support projects that provide further training for young scientists in the division of the so-called Just Energy Transition. The centre aims to contribute to the transfer of research results into practice in business, politics and civil society in southern Africa. It is being established as part of the "ENERGISE" project of the Technical University of Munich in cooperation with its four South African partner universities: University of the Witwatersrand, University of Johannesburg, Tshwane University of Technology and University of Venda. In joint teaching and research projects, young scientists in particular will develop solutions for a sustainable and socially balanced energy future – for example, for the integration of renewable energies, the design of new labour markets or the energy supply of rural regions.

Successful model: Centre of African Excellence

The new centre of excellence is a joint project of the DAAD, the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. It stems from the German government's round table on "Internationalisation of Education, Science and Research" with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The Federal Foreign Office finances the basic training components of the new centre of excellence, while the Federal Ministry Research, Technology and Space supports doctoral students and postdocs from Germany and South Africa.

The DAAD's "Centres of African Excellence" funding programme has been in existence since 2008. It strengthens the education and training of specialists and managers in selected disciplines for science, society and the economy, promotes the development of research capacities and supports networking between African and German universities. Since the programme was launched, 14 centres of expertise in 13 African countries have been funded – eight are currently receiving funding and six have already been successfully completed.