About RCCPII

Since 2010 RCCP I and RCCP II have been working with stakeholders to bring Internet connectivity to various higher education and research sites around South Africa. The project is a collaboration between DHET, USAF, TENET, and others.

The Rural Campuses Connection Project (RCCP) was undertaken to provide high-bandwidth connections for rural university campuses to the South African National Research Network (SANReN). The then HESA received a grant of R28 million from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) for the project in 2010, and appointed the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa (TENET) as the implementing agency.

In 2015 the DHET approved a new grant of R71 million to HESA for the program proposed under RCCP II. The proposal envisaged a more rounded and coherent intervention that would aim not only to deploy technology but also to augment the capacity to use that technology for educational purposes. Thus a significant training component was included in the RCCP II proposal - not merely for formal technical skill building but also for more complex capacity problems such as policy and process development capabilities. RCCP II aims to build upon the achievements of, and lessons learned in RCCP I.

All reports are available online.