Higher education trapped in ‘magical thinking which fetishes competition’

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. Presenting last week’s 2016 Worldviews Annual Lecture on Media and Higher Education, Rajani Naidoo disputed the idea that competition can be unthinkingly applied to answer all of the unsolved problems of higher education.
In the first part of a six-month series on “Transformative Leadership” in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Chris Roche describes the term ‘transformative leadership' – where the actions of broad-based social movements bring about greater social justice – and discusses the role of universities in this process. Also in this series, the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, in his opening speech to the European University Association’s conference, affirms the role of the university in enabling citizens to develop the intellectual tools to address the great challenges of our time.
In Commentary, Goolam Mohamedbhai says a recent meeting of experts in Washington and its outcomes should be considered the start of a larger global venture addressing the serious issue of corruption in higher education.
In our World Blog this week, Christine Arnold and Grace Karram Stephenson say a good credit transfer system is important for student progression and social equity, and describe the refinement of the system in Canada’s Ontario province.
In a section on Africa, Stephen Coan covers Universities South Africa’s recent Research and Innovation Dialogue. Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said the time for talk was over and transformation had to be tackled, while Anastassios Pouris proposed funding instruments to raise South Africa’s competitiveness in science and technology. Also on the topic of financing, Wachira Kigotho reports on funding models for African universities proposed at a recent gathering of experts in Kenya, including tapping Africa’s growing number of billionaires. Read more...