To pursue the regional higher education agenda and to continue to attract funding for regional capacity development programmes.
Although SARUA has motivated to the SADC Ministers for government support in 2017, such a decision has not yet been forthcoming. SARUA therefore relies on membership contributions to underwrite its operational costs. SARUA operates with a small, but sufficiently capacitated internal team.
SARUA membership fees are calculated using a fair and equitable fee formula based on student numbers (headcount enrolments) and the World Bank’s Classification of Countries according to GNI per Capita, as agreed by members at the SARUA Triennial General Meeting.
Categorisation of SADC Countries according to GNI
The Classification of SADC countries follows the method used by the World Bank which identifies four country bands according to the Gross National Income per Capita:
Country Band
Country Band
SADC Countries
Band 4
Seychelles
High Income Countries
Band 3
Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia South Africa
Upper Middle Income Countries
Band 2
Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Tanzania, Zimbabwe
Lower Middle Income Countries
Band 1
Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia