By Munyaradzi Makoni. Graduate unemployment rates have spiralled across Sub-Saharan Africa as too few graduates gain the skills needed to find work. In many countries employers complain of a lack of basic, technical and transferable skills, says a new report by the British Council. Read more...

By Wachira Kigotho. Unequal access to university education is likely to persist in most countries globally despite concerted attempts to expand opportunities by 2030, according to a UNESCO Position Paper on Education Post-2015.
It warns that the problem will not be limited to scarcity of places: there will also be a knowledge divide caused by lack of chances to acquire skills in technology.
Notably, considerable disparities will be experienced in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where the total number of entrants to education declines steeply as students move from primary to higher levels of education, in comparison to other regions of the world.
The crux of the matter, says the position paper, is that the quality of schooling in many countries has continued to suffer from limited learning resources, teacher shortages, teacher absenteeism, and distance and safety to travel to and from school. Read more...

An ‘American-style' university campus near Tunis is being planned under a Tunisian-French partnership. The 40-hectare Cité du Savoir – City of Knowledge – will teach students skills to meet the needs of the Tunisian economy and businesses operating in different sectors, reported La Presse of Tunis. Read more...

By Moses Magadza. The University of Namibia has admitted its first batch of students into a new masters degree programme in gender and development studies, kindling hope of new solutions to gender-related problems that include violence in which scores of women have been murdered. Read more...

By Wagdy Sawahel. A network for Sudanese women researchers has been formed, to highlight the successes of women in science and to enhance their contribution to innovation and economic growth.
The Sudanese women’s network for research and innovation was launched during the second Arab Women in Science and Technology for Sustainable Development conference held in the country’s capital Khartoum from 5-7 May. Read more...

By Wagdy Sawahel. A cooperation plan was agreed at the First Turkish-Arab Congress on Higher Education held in Istanbul late last month. It includes setting up an Arab Turkish universities network, mutual recognition of degrees and enhanced student and staff mobility. Read more...

By Yojana Sharma. Women are still under-represented in higher education in Afghanistan because of a lack of political commitment, in particular to ensuring a safe and secure environment in the strife-torn country that would enable women to make their way to universities, according to Fawzia Koofi, vice-president of the National Assembly – the first woman to hold that post. Read more...

By Peta Lee. There is a growing trend towards professional doctorates in management, with the majority being offered in Europe (42%), North America (28%) and Asia (22%). Interestingly, most of the PhDs have been founded in the past 10 years, with more than half of them in Europe. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Danish universities are preparing for extensive changes now that the Productivity Commission and the Quality Commission have delivered their reports. Higher Education and Science Minister Sofie Carsten Nielsen told higher education officials that among other things she wants a focus on quality, new ways of teaching using new technology and more employable graduates. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Two reports, on the status of higher education and on research, were discussed at a sector conference last Wednesday held by Norway’s Ministry of Education and Research. Minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen said he was encouraged by an increase in investment and 12,000 more researchers than a decade ago – but universities needed to produce globally-rated research. Read more...