Pan African University extends call for 2021 applications

The Pan African University (PAU) has for the second time extended the deadline for scholarship applications for its 2020-21 academic year, citing a lack of applications from a number of countries, and low interest from others.

The continental graduate university has pushed the final date for receiving applications to 5 October, to allow for applications from the two island states of Seychelles and Cape Verde, and the Western Sahara state of Sahrawi from which no applications have been received.

According to a university statement, the first call opened on 10 July and was then scheduled to close on 10 September. It was then extended to 25 September in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in light of the lack of applications from Cape Verde, Sahrawi and Seychelles, it was extended to 5 October “for all the 55 countries of the African Union”.

The university, established by the African Union, said only a few applications had been submitted from the North African countries of Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, further justifying the extension.

“We strongly wish to encourage the nationals of these countries to apply more in order to benefit from this marvelous scholarship opportunity, but also to strengthen the Pan African spirit of our university,” the statement said.

It is not clear why Cape Verde, Sahrawi and Seychelles have not produced any applications, but it is likely that political, language and geographical factors may play a role.

The PAU offers full scholarships for both PhD and masters programmes. During the 2018-19 academic year, it received a record number of applications, 13,408, from across the continent. This was against an admission capacity of 418 students.