University of Johannesburg secures R100 million grant for international research collaboration and student opportunities

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has secured significant funding to expand its international research collaboration, offering students more opportunities to study at one of Europe’s most prestigious business schools.

On Friday, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) Fellowship Centre, under the University Partnerships Knowledge and Innovation Programme (KPI), announced a multimillion-rand grant to UJ and two other leading universities in Africa.

The project, known as the Africa, Business, and Society (ABS) initiative, is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark. Running from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2030, the project is valued at DKK 35.9 million (approximately R100m), with Copenhagen Business School (CBS) serving as the contracting partner. The bulk of the funding will be allocated to student scholarships, with DKK 3 million earmarked for UJ’s research-based teaching collaborations.

Launched in June 2025, the ABS project supports partnerships designed to address shared global challenges from diverse perspectives, while promoting student mobility between Africa and Denmark. The initiative focuses on building collaborative, equitable, and mutually transformative partnerships, grounded in joint networks of learning and innovation.

In addition to UJ, the University of Nairobi and the University of Ghana Business School are also partners in this programme. Selected students from these African institutions will have the opportunity to complete a two-year, fully funded, in-person study in the Business and the Global South Master’s Degree at CBS. Like UJ, CBS is renowned for its academic excellence and real-world relevance.

UJ’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Professor Refilwe Phaswana-Mafuya, said the funding will create new pathways for postgraduate study in Europe and foster deeper cross-continental research cooperation. "Through ABS, UJ scholars and students will work within a global academic network that integrates research, teaching, and societal engagement to address complex challenges shared across continents,” she said. “This is a welcome intervention that will strengthen our research capacity aimed at shaping Africa’s future within a global context and ultimately, contribute towards societal impact and sustainability.”

The ABS programme offers selected students from African partner institutions the chance to complete a fully funded, two-year in-person study in the Business and the Global South Master’s Degree at CBS. Benefits for these students will include full tuition coverage at CBS, travel, visa, insurance, housing, and living expenses. They will also receive support from the ABS faculty and CBS administration team for both practical and intellectual needs, including joint supervision for their Master’s theses by faculty at both CBS and UJ.

Professor Tankiso Moloi, Executive Dean of the College of Business and Economics (CBE) at UJ, explained that the project will be led by a team from UJ’s School of Economics. “They will partake in joint research, teaching, and supervision, including guest lecturing across the four universities,” he said. Prof Moloi noted: “This partnership creates a platform for students and academics to engage across academic disciplines and contexts. It enables co-production in research and teaching, and builds an intellectual community that extends well beyond the duration of the project.”