The future for Africa's scientific research, including radio astronomy, looks bright – that is if SKA (Square Kilometre Array) African Partner Countries make good on commitments to education and human capital development (HCD) as stipulated during the 2nd Ministerial Meeting held on 25 March 2015 in Pretoria.

The meeting was organised to discuss and finalise the SKA African Partner Countries MoU, as well as its Readiness Strategy and Joint Implementation Plan.

Underlining the strategy and plans promulgated is the opportunity to tap into big data and to contribute towards HCD.

Member states have agreed to collaborate on the Big Data Africa Programme for Radio Astronomy to build capacity and skills that will position Africa for opportunities in the big data revolution.

The parties also agreed to work on the human capital development programme, which is aimed at developing the requisite scientific and engineering skills for the SKA and AVN (African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network) projects.

South Africa's Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor said in addition to bursaries for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, the country's government is also funding research chairs, including five in the area of radio astronomy. "Since 2006 we have spent a total of over R29 million on bursaries in engineering, astrophysics and astronomy for students from our African partner countries."

In her presentation to delegates representing eight member countries, including Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia, the Minister said the aim is to identify and develop 200 African universities to constitute a hub of excellence relevant to the needs of African development by 2063.

"South Africa has also been assigned the rights to host the Pan African University's Institute for Space Science, where astronomy will be one of the several foci. We are currently investigating an appropriate model for hosting this important component of the PAU, one of the African Union's flagship initiatives, which will benefit the continent and help develop the research capacity in space science and astronomy on the continent," she added.

At the meeting officials made reference to the UK-South Africa Newton Fund, a research and training partnership promoting science, technology and innovation established in September 2014. Local and international media reports have referred to a pledge made by both countries to provide the equivalent of R500m over four years.

At the time of signing the MoU, Minister Pandor said the Fund prioritises HCD and capacity-building via training – which stakeholders in the SKA and AVN projects have described as critical to help establish and equip Africa's next generation of scientists and engineers.

Project directors also emphasised the goal to help build Africa's scientific and technical research capacity by training scholars. The idea, they said, is to train school leavers throughout their tertiary education, into post-graduate and graduate levels, to emerge as senior scientific researchers and analysts.

They reminded the audience that there is a great demand for data researchers across Africa.