In April 2026 South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Google to deliver AI and digital skills training across public universities, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and Community Education and Training (CET) colleges. The agreement includes an initial 10,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships; AI teacher training via programmes such as Generative AI for Educators; a train-the-trainer model; and curriculum and product support, including Google assistance with AI curriculum development and localisation. The partnership is positioned as a complement to the draft National AI Policy’s skills-and-education workstream. Rollout begins in 2026.
Who it affects: Staff and learners at South African public universities, TVET colleges and CET colleges; educators participating in Generative AI for Educators; DHET policy teams; Google’s South Africa programmes office as delivery partner.
What is notably missing: The arrangement is an MoU rather than statute; there is no legal entitlement to scholarships or training beyond the agreement’s term. Dependency on a single global vendor raises pedagogical neutrality and data-governance questions. The 10,000-scholarship cap is modest relative to South Africa’s millions of post-school learners. The train-the-trainer component is described but specific numbers, timelines and assessment standards are not published.