ACCI graduates should have:

• Creative leadership abilities and focused on impact;
  
• Determination to succeed;
  
• Problem-solving ability and dynamism ;
  
• The desire and capacity to "make a difference";
  
• A broad knowledge and understanding of African contextual issues;
  
• The capacity to be role models and good public speakers;
  
• Excellence in scientific English, both in writing and editing.

1st Year of Study, Foundation Year:

Students will take a series of selected undergraduate and postgraduate courses in their first year of study. They will take sufficient modules to obtain 64 credits in the first semester and 64 credits in the second semester, usually 4 x 16 credit modules per semester. As part of the standard requirements of these modules, all students will write examinations at the end of the first and second semesters (in June and November). Students will need to pass all courses, and to achieve an overall mark of at least 60% in order to continue with their studies. Students who do not achieve this standard will not return for Year Two, but will be given a Certificate of Performance.

Students will also take other courses, such as one on Grantsmanship (i.e., how to write funding proposals and to manage donor funds) during the July vacation, as well as various computer literacy courses (e.g. PowerPoint)

During their first year, all students will write a detailed literature review on their chosen crop.

Students will all return home for the Christmas vacation period at the end of the first year.

The ACCI is currently funded by a grant from AGRA, a joint venture of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who administer the funds. Initially in Phase I, some forty students, arrived in cohorts of eight per annum, received support from the Rockefeller Foundation for their studies. Further funding is being sought from other funding agencies for expansion and long-term sustainability.

Rockefeller Foundation for initial fund and project support in-country.

Cornell University for internet-based, live lectures and collaboration, distance library support and project designs.

CGIAR organisations, such as ICRISAT, CIMMYT, IITA, IRRI, WARDA, CIAT, CIP, ICARDA for genetic resources and provision of international lecturers and co-supervisors.

National agricultural research institutions in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso.

UOFS, UCT, University of Pretoria, Dept. Science and Technology, EcoBio, PlantBio and BioAfrica.

UN FAO, IPR-Netherlands, Weizmann Institute for international lecturers.