Prof Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju (UMP), Prof Alexander Brem (FAU), Vice-Chancellor, Prof Thoko Mayekiso (right).
On 20 and 21 March 2018, a delegation from the University of Mpumalanga, visited the Friedrich-Alexander-University School of Business and Economics, in Erlangen-Nuremberg. The UMP delegation comprising of Vice-Chancellor, Prof Thoko Mayekiso and Prof Lukhele-Olorunju, who together with the Chair for Technology Management at FAU, Prof Alexander Brem, discussed the possibilities of study and research in Nuremberg, and the options of closer cooperation between the two institutions.
FAU’s was founded in 1743 and is one of the largest universities in Germany, with 39.780 students, 265-degree programmes, 4,000 academic staff (including over 579 professors), 177,6 million euros (2016) third-party funding. The university's two campuses, based in the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg, are located at the heart of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region. Both Erlangen and Nuremberg are a mixture of academia, innovative companies, art and culture, which makes the region the perfect place for creative minds. These cities are sequentially the former home of the Huguenots and a key location for Siemens. FAU has a rich history as a strong research university with an international perspective and 500 partnerships with universities all over the world.
As an institution whose primary academic focus is on Commerce, Development, Education and Life Sciences, the UMP’s partnerships with international institutions such FAU are essential in positioning the university as a world-class, research and training driven institution, that strikes a perfect balance between a theoretical approach and practical application. The anticipation is that the establishment of a closer relationship between the two institutions will be a catalyst in the development of Masters and PhD programmes at UMP.