By Wagdy Sawahel. Tunisia is to host a US$100 million American university that will be completely operational by 2020 and will be the first of its kind in the Arab Maghreb region, which comprises the North African countries of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
A partnership agreement on the university’s creation, between Tunisia’s private Université Montplaisir Tunis, or UMT, and a number of United States universities, including Clayton State, was signed on 27 January in Tunis, according to a press report. More...

By Alecia D McKenzie. The forum – which brought together academics, youth representatives, policy-makers, NGOs and United Nations agencies, among others – focused on global citizen education in the post-2015 development agenda and its role in building “peaceful and sustainable societies”. More...

By Gilbert Nganga. A TV exposé last week unearthed a certificate and diploma mill at one of Kenya’s leading aviation colleges. It also uncovered widespread rot in higher education institutions, many of which engage in academic malpractices and some of which are dishing out qualifications without requiring a person to step into a classroom or study. More...

In Africa Analysis, Janice McMillan in South Africa urges universities to rethink pedagogy and the complex relationship between knowledge, skills and values if they are to engage students as committed, thoughtful and civic-minded young citizens. Eric Fredua-Kwarteng and Francis Ahia maintain that Ghana’s plan to convert polytechnics into technical universities is misguided and panders to elitist views about universities.
In Africa Features, Alecia D McKenzie reports on the adoption by 16 African countries of a revised Arusha Convention on the recognition of qualifications.
Munyaradzi Makoni charts the year-long ordeal in prison of University of Alexandria chemistry and physics assistant professor Dr Mohamed Abdelhamid Kharaba after he fell foul of the Egyptian authorities, and Patrício Langa argues that a new higher education ministry in Mozambique should institutionalise practices and structures and promote a bottom-up approach with input from universities and other stakeholders.
In Commentary, Diana Jane Beech maintains that the recruitment process for researchers in Europe needs to be overhauled to ensure it is fair, transparent and open to all.
Igor Chirikov describes how students in Russia accept without question the poor quality of their universities. And in Ukraine, Sonja Knutson and Valentyna Kushnarenko find higher education reforms paving the way to a more international future – but ongoing hostilities in the east could affect hopes for change.
Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. More...

Several hundred protesters delayed by more than an hour the start of a speech Thursday of Marine Le Pen at the University of Oxford, The Guardian reported. Le Pen is leader of the National Front in France and regularly criticizes Muslims in her country. Read more...