By Eric Fredua-Kwarteng and Samuel Kwaku Ofosu. Over the past three decades, governments in developing countries, particularly in Africa, have realised the significant value of higher education for national development. Accordingly, many governments in those countries have invested substantially in higher education expansion and have enacted liberalisation policies to allow private entrepreneurs to participate in the higher education sector. More...

By Fiona Crooks – Editor. In Africa Analysis, Eric Fredua-Kwarteng and Samuel Kwaku Ofosu say the National Accreditation Board of Ghana needs massive capacity building to function effectively as a state-sponsored quality assurance agency and perform its vital role in improving higher education.
   In Africa Features, Patrick Swanzy reports on a lecture delivered in Cape Town by Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai about the implications of changes in higher education, such as rapid growth in student numbers, for the quality of teaching and learning.
   In Africa News, Wadgy Sawahel reports that a female student’s death at sea during an illegal migration throws the spotlight on Morocco’s inadequate higher education policies; and Wadgy Sawahel also writes on reactions to the Mauritanian government’s shutdown of two Islamic higher education institutions. Also in News, Alex Abutu reports on academics rejecting proposals to significantly increase the number of public universities in Nigeria, when existing institutions are being neglected.
   In a Special Report, Wachira Kigotho reports from the eLearning Africa conference in Kigali, Rwanda, on calls for African leaders to work towards ‘digital parity’ to enable the continent to participate equally in both digital and material contexts; and Rodrigue Rwirahira writes about calls for African universities to adopt brain-gain, facilitated by e-learning programmes.
   In another Special Report, Sharon Dell writes about the 2018 South African Technology Network International Conference in Durban, South Africa, where the role of universities in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) was explored. In another story, Sharon Dell interviewed Sampan Silapanad, vice-president of Western Digital in Thailand, on the value of industry-university collaboration for producing graduates with skills for the 4IR.
   In a continuation of our Special Report on the Publishing Crisis, Philip G Altbach and Hans de Wit reiterate the need for differentiation of institutions and in academic publishing, without which the knowledge distribution system will remain dysfunctional and ridden with inefficiencies and corruption. More...