Sasol's R250 Million Drive to Secure Scientific Skills Pool at Universities

Sasol will invest almost R250 million over the next eight years to establish teaching and research capacity in chemistry and chemical engineering at selected South African universities. The group is also establishing advisory boards for research and development (R&D) in analytical technology, as well as in coal and gasification disciplines.

"The realisation that our South African universities may not be able to fully provide Sasol's future manpower needs has resulted in us helping build strategic capacity through a university collaboration programme," says Sasol executive director Nolitha Fakude.

The main objective is to establish world-class teaching and research capacity, thus ensuring that in the longer term Sasol Technology has adequate access to highly skilled chemists and chemical engineers to employ in R&D.

A secondary objective is to establish academic centers of excellence through which Sasol can leverage its own focused research and development activities.

"Access to the best human resources, as well as the ability to support in-house research programmes through longer-term academic collaborations, are essential in keeping R&D institutions competitive. While primarily designed to protect Sasol's competitive edge, the programme will obviously also have significant spin-offs that will benefit the country as a whole," says Fakude.

Sasol's university collaboration initiative is aligned with government's National System of Innovation programme that is also geared to achieve world-class academic excellence at institutes of higher learning.

The advisory boards will include internationally recognised science and engineering experts. They will assist both Sasol Technology R&D, as well as institutes of higher learning in building and enhancing capacity.

"These experts have already added significant value to our research programmes. Besides their knowledge and research excellence, they also have access to large international networks that are crucial for competitive research and development," says Dr. Chris Reinecke, MD of Sasol Technology R&D.

Reinecke believes that the advisory boards will assist academic collaborators in establishing strategic pockets of excellence. Assessments emanating from these boards will enable Sasol to effectively audit progress towards academic excellence at universities where the group's funds are invested, he says.