University of Pretoria Celebrates Ongoing Partnership with Absa

July 16, 2014 - Johannesburg, South Africa – The University of Pretoria (UP) formally marked its historic partnership with Absa (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Barclays Africa Group). This is a partnership in which the two institutions have continued to play a joint role in furthering research and education within an African context over the past five decades.

Absa and UP partnered on numerous projects during this period, ranging from the sponsorship and facilitation of community outreach programmes to academic scholarships. Both parties are committed to playing a central role in realising the full potential of the African continent and creating high-level home-grown, world-class human capital that meets Africa's development needs.

The recent establishment of the Barclays Africa Chair in Banking Law and the Barclays Africa Chair in Actuarial Science has allowed Absa and UP to support ground-breaking research that extends beyond the borders of South Africa. Through this partnership, UP and Absa have played a joint role in reaching out to the continent as well as to the local community through engagement projects at UP's Mamelodi campus.

Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Cheryl de la Rey says Barclays Africa is one of the country's leading financial institutions striving to make an impact on the African continent.

'Significant funding from Absa has enabled us to produce high-quality postgraduate students in the fields of accounting, actuarial science, auditing, agriculture, banking law and entrepreneurship. In addition to human capital development, our partnership will support research that will seek and generate solutions … [to] key questions not only in the interest of the University and Absa, but also in the interest of the future African development agenda for the people of Africa,' explains Prof De la Rey.

Barclays Africa Corporate Vice-Chairman Dr Theunie Lategan added that the University has played a pioneering role in offering quality higher education across the continent: 'Our know-how as a bank, combined with UP's expertise as a high-quality institution of learning, can help ensure that the momentum of change not only continues, but [that it also] delivers an even brighter future for all the countries on the continent.'

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The University of Pretoria came into existence in 1908 as the Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College and become a recognised tertiary education provider in 1930. The campus has nine facilities of education and a business school.