The UoM is one of the four participating institutions where sites of innovation around scholarly communication are being created in the context of SCAP. The other institutions are the Universities of Botswana, Namibia and Cape Town. The programme is funded by the International Development Research Centre and hosted by the Centre for Educational Technology and the Research Office at the University of Cape Town.

At the launching ceremony, the Minister of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology stated that in a bid to further research in the country, discussions are being held between his ministry and the Mauritius Research Council for the setting up of five centres for applied research. These centres will study and address national issues such as water, health, transportation, human resources and sustainable development.

Dr Jeetah also announced that three national research chairs tenable at the University of Mauritius and/or University of technology will soon be appointed. The objectives of chairs are to stimulate strategic research in areas of national and international importance and, retain and attract the best qualified research scientists to the two Universities.

For her part, the SCAP Programme Director, Ms Gray, said that with regards to the opportunities of greater scholarly interaction made possible by greater internet connectivity at lower cost, SCAP provides a platform to increase visibility of good quality academic journals and other forms of scholarly communication produced in Africa. According to Ms Gray, in engaging in SCAP, countries can gain significantly in addressing development challenges by taking advantages of economies of scale through cross-border collaboration.