The Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU)

NUFU supports institutional cooperation and projects between Norwegian universities/specialised universities/university colleges and their partner institutions in the South, directed towards building sustainable capacity and competence in research and research-based education in universities in the South.

Goal
The goal of the NUFU-programme is to support the development of sustainable capacity and competence for research and research-based higher education in developing countries relevant to national development and poverty reduction, and to contribute to enhanced academic collaboration in the South and between South and North.

Institutional commitment and responsibility
The NUFU-programme is built on a decentralised model for initiation, implementation, monitoring and reporting. Even if NUFU-supported projects are initiated by a group of researchers from two or more institutions, the cooperation should be anchored in and committed by the leadership of the participating institutions. The selected areas of cooperation should reflect key areas in the institutions’ strategic plans and priorities.

Activities
Eligible project activities include joint research projects, education of Master’s and Ph.D.-candidates, development of Masters or Ph.D.-programmes in the South, training of technical and administrative staff and publication and dissemination of research results. NUFU supports bilateral projects, regional network projects and supportive activities with an aim to contribute to the development of the institutions in the South.

Administration and economy
The programme is financed by Norad and administrated by SIU. The total budget frame for the current programme period (2007-2011) is NOK 300 million.