Rhodes University has been awarded an SKA Research Chair, and has used it as a base for the new Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies (RATT). Minister Naledi Pandor opened the centre on 27 August 2012 in Grahamstown as part of celebrating South Africa's successful SKA bid.

The new centre will see top postgraduate students in mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics and electronics applying their minds to the real-world challenges of processing the massive amounts of data that will go through the SKA.

Here's what some of the students had to say about RATT:

"I'm pleased to have been selected for a PhD Scholarship programme at Rhodes. It is such a wonderful initiative not only for the country South Africa, but for the whole African continent. This is a field of study where the research is complex and challenging and researchers are very few." – Atemkeng Teufack Marcellin, PhD student, Cameroon

"The SKA Project, being the world's biggest scientific project, definitely involves the work of a big team of professors, post-doctoral students, postgraduate students and undergraduate students. RATT will prove to be very beneficial towards sharing the workload." – Nunhokee Chuneeta Devi, MSc student, Mauritius

"I count this event as a really great achievement. This will facilitate the work of research students and provide direct, 'on the spot' experiences of the phenomena of the sky. It is fascinating. Congratulations!" – Emmanuel Gazoya, PhD student, Ghana