Upon arrival in South Africa, our first visit is with a friendly face, Dr. Kaluke Mawila (PhD ’09) who now serves as the executive director of institutional engagement and partnership development at the National Research Foundation (NRF), located in Pretoria.

At NRF, Kaluke and her colleagues describe South Africa’s overarching research priorities, NRF’s role within that context, and samples of how this work is currently accomplished (human capital development, technology transfer, etc).

They also share how NRF interfaces with higher education institutions, including some successes and challenges in NRF’s efforts to promote research standards across multiple institution types within South Africa.