If you are not aware, the Africa Unit shall be hosting a workshop session entitled ‘Hit or Myth: UK/Africa FE Partnerships supporting Skills Development’ at ‘Going Global 4: The UK’s International Education Conference’, hosted by the British Council from 24-26 March 2010, in London, UK. The Africa Unit’s ‘Hit or myth’ session will take place on the 2nd day of the conference at 9 am with presentations followed by a chaired discussion. This session will provide an opportunity to discuss how Further Education partnerships can act as a vehicle for promoting knowledge and sharing experience and related issues. It will comprise of two short presentations, one from an African FE perspective and one from a UK perspective, and then develop into an interactive discussion forum. The overall objective is to allow participants to share knowledge and experience about the potential value of such partnerships for skills development, and to help bridge the knowledge gap and build a dialogue between FE institutions in the UK and Africa. The session Chair of the workshop shall be Professor Myles Wickstead, Senior Advisor at the Africa Unit, ACU. And there will be two speakers, Dr George Afeti, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA), and Paul Head, Principal & Chief Executive of the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London.

Education Partnerships in Africa (EPA) is a programme launched by the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), formerly the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS). The main aim of the scheme is to encourage English FE and HE institutions to engage in partnership with sub-Saharan African universities and education and training institutions to build institutional capacity to deliver employability skills, in collaboration with local employers and social enterprises. DIUS will be investing £4.5 million in this new partnership programme between 2008-2011. EPA is managed by the British Council.

The Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) is a programme funded by the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID). DelPHE will run for a 7 year period, from June 2006 to March 2013. £3 million a year is being invested in the programme. DelPHE aims to provide funding to support partnerships between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) working on collaborative activity linked to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is anticipated that around 200 partnerships will be funded during the lifetime of the scheme. HEIs will be eligible to apply for funding from DFID’s 22 bilateral focus countries which includes some of the world's lowest income countries. DelPHE is also managed by the British Council. The deadline for applications for round five vary in each country, with the earliest in January 2010. There is a full list of round five local deadline dates available on the DelPHE website.