A regional fund for study and innovation grants for Africa has been established by three African governments and a collective of business leaders under the World Bank’s Partnership for Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, or PASET.
The aim of PASET is to speed up the creation of a qualified and high quality workforce to support Africa’s socio-economic transition. Read more...
Evangelical Church to establish technology university
The first stone has been laid in Douala of UTEC, the Université de Technologies du Cinquantenaire, a new technology university being built at a cost of XAF25 billion (US$42.7 million) by the Cameroon Evangelical Church. Read more...
Facing hard challenges – A tale of two universities
By Sheldon G Weeks. The old University of Botswana and the new Botswana International University of Science and Technology, both public institutions, have been experiencing a time of turmoil. At one university the vice-chancellor has faced challenges. The other’s leader resigned after only 17 months and left the country. Read more...
US firm to build student hostels in US$11 million project
By Gilbert Nganga. Kenyatta University – Kenya’s largest institution by student numbers – has teamed up with New York-based private equity firm Integras to build hostels with a total of 10,000 beds. The US$11 million project is to be executed under a public-private partnership. Read more...
‘Nollywood’ attracts educated audiences, comes of age
By Wachira Kigotho. Nollywood, Nigeria’s vibrant film industry, has come of age by attracting tertiary educated audiences and can be used effectively as an integration tool in West Africa and beyond, says Dr Oluyemi Oyenike Fayomi, a senior lecturer at Covenant University in Nigeria.
Addressing more than 500 delegates at the 14th General Assembly of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa – CODESRIA – held in Dakar from June 8-12, Fayomi said Nollywood productions were rapidly gaining continental acceptance. Read more...
Rapid higher education expansion in development drive
By Wachira Kigotho. Tanzania has made progress in expanding access to higher education in order to gear young people towards a middle-income economy by 2025, according to a World Bank report. It provides a snapshot of how the East African country is catching up with tertiary education growth trends in neighbouring states such as Kenya and Uganda. Read more...
African universities need improved peer review, an academic freedom charter
By Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. In Africa Analysis, Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua argues, based on a study he conducted, that it is time for African academics to draft an academic freedom charter. While this will be difficult, the cost of not doing so will be great for universities and countries.
Muhammad Mehmood-Ul-Hassan and Jan De Leeuw contend in an article for the African Academy of Sciences that strengthening peer review would help to improve the quality of science and the skills of African scientists. In Africa Features, Munyaradzi Makoni reports on a study suggesting that banishing widespread plagiarism could help Mozambique nurture the original thinkers needed for development.
In Commentary, Simon Marginson asks if higher education is responsible for the growth of socio-economic inequality, and examines how even elite universities can address barriers to social mobility. Nader Habibi maintains that Saudi Arabia should curb annual enrolment to universities because of graduate joblessness.
Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera outlines how US visa policies are hampering academic freedom by discriminating against scholars from Latin America, Asia, Africa and majority Muslim nations.
In India, Pushkar in Commentary and Yojana Sharma in News investigate the stormy relationship between Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Sen exits the chancellorship of Nalanda University. And in World Blog, John K Wilson writes that when controversial scholars such as Steven Salaita are sanctioned for having offensive views, it has a chilling effect throughout academia. Read more...
Research in the social sciences on the rise in Africa – CODESRIA
By Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. At the 14th General Assembly of CODESRIA – the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa – there was excitement over the high level of reflections and more than 100 full papers. Wachira Kigotho reports on a warning that quality in universities must further improve to reduce an increased risk of brain drain stemming from internationalisation.
In Africa Analysis, Sheldon G Weeks details major challenges facing Botswana’s oldest and newest public universities. And in Africa Features Elizia Volkmann finds the private sector stepping in to provide higher education in information technology in Morocco and Wachira Kigotho charts the rapid expansion of higher education in Tanzania as outlined in a World Bank study.
In Global Features, Brendan O’Malley unpacks a new report from Scholars at Risk, which documents how militant groups and state forces in many countries are using violence, imprisonment and intimidation to silence students and academics.
In Commentary, we offer opposing points of view on the proposed academic boycott of Israel. John Kelly argues that a total boycott could ensure that Israeli academics and students force their government to ease restrictions on Palestinian universities; while David Newman contends that the activities of the boycott movement serve only to weaken the chances of Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement.
Also in Commentary, Peter Tindemans says we should think in novel ways to reshape doctoral training given that growing numbers of PhDs will end up in non-research positions. Read more...
L’Afrique révolutionne sa diplomatie universitaire : la France doit se positionner
Ethiopia's higher-education boom built on shoddy foundations
By George West. The country desperately needs new universities to drive development, but most of the 30 built in the last 15 years fall woefully short. More...