Institutional partnerships and collaborations are essential for connecting institutions in an increasingly internationalised world and for sharing and spreading knowledge and expertise.

Modern universities increasingly depend on partnerships in order to realise many of their goals. It is clear that solutions to global challenges are unlikely to be found by one university or a single researcher, but teams of people working together and bringing their multiple perspectives to work on the challenges.

Government and government agencies as well as industry, business and foundations help make these partnerships financially viable and sustainable through grants and donations.

UCT is considered, by many rating systems, to be a leader in the global knowledge economy. To maintain this level of excellence and scholarship, UCT has to meet international standards. This is done by establishing partnerships with universities and institutions globally via research and other kinds of partnerships.

Some of UCT's partnership programmes include the following:

African Academic Links (AAL) incorporating the USHEPiA Programme
The African Academic Linkages section in UCT's International Academic Programmes Office (IAPO) aims is to strengthen UCT's academic integration with the rest of Africa. This includes the University Science Humanities and Engineering Partnerships in Africa (USHEPiA) which brings 8 South and East African universities (including UCT) together.

Worldwide Universities Network (WUN)
The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) joins 18-leading research institutions from around the world together to meet global needs and challenges.