Afrique

By Tunde Fatunde. University leaders and stakeholders have expressed unhappiness over the introduction of lower tertiary education admission criteria by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board or JAMB – the agency responsible for rules and regulations governing prospective candidates’ admission into tertiary institutions – accusing the board of sabotaging educational quality. More...

By Wagdy Sawahel. An increasing number of cyber attacks targeting African higher education institutions and universities points to the need for more effective security and greater emphasis on university-based education and research, according to experts. More...

By Karen MacGregor. A small group of African scholarly publishers has launched a network for collaboration, experience-sharing and advocacy – and they have invited other publishers of scholarly monographs across Africa to join. Work has already begun on initial projects including building a shared database of peer reviewers and developing peer review standards. More...

By Thierry Luescher and François van Schalkwyk. Scholarly book publishing is in trouble. Two contrary developments can be observed internationally. On the one hand, there are perceptions in academia of ‘robber capitalism’ on the part of the large commercial publishers as they protect their oligopoly in the face of dissolving spatial barriers and diminishing value add. More...

By Damtew Teferra. Flagship universities in Africa are the most important higher learning institutions in their respective countries. In a number of cases these institutions are also prominent in their respective sub-regions. More...

By Christabel Ligami. Tanzania’s flagship University of Dar es Salaam is under investigation by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee for the mismanagement of university funds. More...

By Kudzai Mashininga. Zimbabwe’s Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has lost his Constitutional Court bid to overturn his arrest on charges of allegedly misappropriating around US$450,000 from a manpower development fund that finances students, among other activities. More...

By Sharon Dell – Africa Editor. As part of our Special Report on African scholarly publishing, Thierry Luescher and François van Schalkwyk argue that African university presses have an important mission and a unique contribution to make to the African knowledge base and would benefit from a greater will to innovate, relearn and adopt new technologies, while Karen MacGregor reports on the launch in Johannesburg by a small group of African scholarly publishers of a network for collaboration, experience-sharing and advocacy.
   This special report kicks off a new section on African Scholarly Publishing that will carry regular articles on developments in the academic book and journal publishing sector on the continent.
   In Africa Analysis, Zachariah Mushawatu highlights the potential threats to academic freedom and student activism in Zimbabwe posed by a proposed new bill on cyber security, while Damtew Teferra contends that the best way to elevate universities in Africa to world-class, research-oriented institutions would be to strategically consolidate the existing flagship universities.
   In Africa Features, Gilbert Nakweya writes about growing recognition of the need to integrate STEM and humanities subjects at university level in order to produce graduates capable of dealing with the world’s multi-dimensional challenges.
   In News from around the continent, Kudzai Mashininga reports that the Constitutional Court in Zimbabwe has paved the way for the prosecution of the higher education minister on charges relating to the misuse of funds intended for students, while Rodrigue Rwirahira reports on concerns over further restructuring of the University of Rwanda, already the product of a multi-institutional merger. More...