The AESOP multidisciplinary and intersectorial Erasmus Mundus consortium co-coordinated by the University Paul Sabatier-Toulouse 3 (France) and the University of the Western Cape (South Africa) is composed of 11 European and 9 South African university partners, as well as six additional associate members. AESOP involves 8 thematic fields and encourages the collaboration between different sectors applied to cultural and natural heritage. It aims to contribute to the development of educational/academic networking and new skilled human resources in South Africa through academic training but also through the use of national symbols as vectors for sustainable partnership. The AESOP Consortium will implement 150 mobilities (109 South African applicants and 41 European applicants in Master, Doctorate and Staff) between 2013 and 2017 organised in 3 cohorts.AESOP will be encouraging double degree’s programmes between European and South African HEIs. All candidates will apply online in the website and the AESOP Selection Committee will guarantee that precise criteria based on merit have been considered during the evaluation of the fellows. After this stage, the Quality and Equity Committee will guarantee the equality of chances in the recruitment of the best fellows and the social or gender related matters. AESOP establishes quantitative indicators and assurance measures to monitor the project development and to guarantee a balanced distribution of mobility flows between all the partners. The AESOP cooperation mechanisms will give special attention to the partners with low rates of academic staff with doctorates.Through staff mobilities, AESOP will explore opportunities to draft a future European and South African proper joint training and research unit for the study and the awareness about European and South African heritages, unifying factors of both societies.