​The F’SATI initiative was launched early in 1994 after a visit by President Nelson Mandela to France. The Chamber of Commerce and industry of Paris (CCIP) arranged the visit with the objective of developing a training institute in Electronics in South Africa.

The establishment of F’SATI (formerly known as F’SATIE, the French South African Institute in Electronics) at the former Technikon Pretoria, now Tshwane University of Technology, was history in the making. It was the first institute of its kind to be established on South African soil. It followed an extended period of negotiations as well as the signing of a number of cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding. F”SATI currently operates within the framework of the Graduate School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a joint partnership with the Department of Electrical Engineering at TUT. On 29 February 2008, a new node was opened at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).

On 16 November 2009, the collaboration took another step forward with the opening of the Centre for Satellite Systems Engineering at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) by the then Deputy Minister of Sciences & Technology Dr Hanekom.