South African, American, and British educators and policy makers gathered in Cape Town recently for a two-day workshop led by Kresge Foundation program officers to discuss the broad challenges facing South African universities.

In partnership with Inyathelo, the South African Institute for Advancement, the foundation launched a five-year, $10 million Special Initiative in South Africa in 2005 that seeks to build a strong base of local private giving at three universities and a hospital using challenge grants. In the past year, the foundation has expanded the scope of its activities beyond challenge grants to support program expansion, retaining and recruiting staff, staff development, research and development, creating new markets, and acquiring new knowledge.

The conference's eighteen participants identified four areas that merit additional Kresge support, which the foundation's board will consider in the fall: improving learning and teaching by connecting older university faculty with today's modern, more diverse student body; increasing the quality and quantity of locally produced research by nurturing the next generation of university researchers; shoring up university management by preparing and supporting vice chancellors for the challenges of running highly complex institutions; and establishing an innovation fund to encourage higher-education experimentation, including developing "third stream" financial support for higher education such as public-private partnerships and private philanthropy.

"South Africa is really the world in microcosm and reflects many pervasive global concerns," said Bill Moses, who heads Kresge's international efforts in South Africa and Mexico. "These recommendations reflect Kresge's re-visioning of its grantmaking from its long-time focus on challenge grants for buildings to its new emphasis on using a broad array of grant making tools to address society's needs in a more holistic way."