The Human Dynamics led project to provide support to a dialogue facility between the European Union and South Africa is making solid progress, with a dialogue meeting on the Education Sector. In the last 26 years, the number of university graduates in South Africa has sky-rocketed. In particular, the number of black South Africans graduating with degrees has increased exponentially. Hendrink van Broekhuizen, an economist from Stellenbosch University, maintains that ‘the number of black graduates has increased more than sixteenfold, from about 3400 in 1986 to more than 63 000 in recent years. The EU-SA diloague meeting on education discussed ways to take advanatge of this new availiability of skilled graduates in the country– and other means to enhance interaction, coordination and collaboration in order to produce more professional graduates in South Africa.
The Dialogue Facility contributes to the strengthening of relations between the European Union (EU) and South Africa (SA). Its purpose is to facilitate the implementation of priority aspects of the SA-EU Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) and the Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan (SP-JAP) and raise awareness of the special relationship between the EU and SA. The TDCA and the SP-JAP also encourage cooperation between equal partners in a number of areas in the economic, social and cultural fields. The facility’s overall aims are to increase awareness, improve sectorial policy dialogue between the EU and SA, where possible supporting the creation of synergy among the various discussions, and to increase institutional capacity to help implement the areas of cooperation in the TOCA, Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan and the SADC EPA.