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...

By Wachira Kigotho. The quality of education in African universities must be urgently improved in order to stem the brain drain and reduce risks stemming from the internationalisation of higher education, delegates at the 14th General Assembly of CODESRIA – the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa – were told. Read more...

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...

By Wachira Kigotho. In a report published this month, EY’s Attractiveness Survey Africa 2015 – Making Choices, human resources managers called on African governments to reshape tertiary education to ensure that it meets labour market needs. Read more...

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...

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...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In News, Mary Beth Marklein reports on the fallout from the finding of an independent investigator that the officials of the American Psychological Association changed its ethics code in collusion with Defense Department officials to allow its members to use “enhanced” interrogation techniques without violating the guidelines.
In Commentary, Simon Marginson asks if higher education is responsible for the growth of socio-economic inequality in the UK and US and elsewhere, and examines how even elite universities can address barriers to social mobility.
Nader Habibi argues that Saudi Arabia should curb annual enrolment to universities because too many graduates are unable to find a job to make use of their skills. And 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 Features, Brendan O’Malley unpicks the Victoria government’s strategy for opening a new frontier in the growing competition for incoming Asian university students by attracting younger students – to the state’s schools. And Munyaradzi Makoni says banishing plagiarism could help Mozambique nurture the original thinkers needed to develop the country.
In our World Blog, John K Wilson says when controversial scholars, such as Steven Salaita, are sanctioned for having offensive views, it has a chilling effect throughout academia. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Sultan Barakat and Sansom Milton argue that rebuilding higher education in the aftermath of conflict is a top priority that requires collective national and international effort.
Jamil Khader contends that the magnitude of the attack on academic freedom in the occupied Palestinian territories has been underestimated. Carolina Guzmán-Valenzuela writes that student protests in Chile have impoverished higher education quality and could produce a generation with a strong political formation but without a robust academic background.
Abi Mandelbaum describes how colleges in America are using virtual reality and augmented reality to attract students and create a community. In World Blog, Margaret Andrews makes the case for marketing universities in ways that reflect a strong, unique identity rather than making them all look the same.
In Features, Nic Mitchell outlines a report from the European Students’ Union warning that patchy implementation of the Bologna process could render it obsolete. Suvendrini Kakuchi finds a new era of university-industry collaboration in Japan, and Munyaradzi Makoni looks at university involvement in innovation and inclusive development in marginalised African communities. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In a worrying week for academic freedom, in Features, Andrew Green reports on allegations in Burundi that students are being targeted with harassment, including death threats, by security forces, amid fears that the embattled government has put educated young people on its list of perceived enemies. In News, Yojana Sharma reports on fears that a new law in China will bring the activities of foreign higher education partners under the remit of China’s national security authorities. And in Commentary, Rachael Jolley, editor of the Index on Censorship magazine, says threats to academic freedom are looming large across the world from the USA to India, even in democratic societies.
Also, in Commentary, Martin Cohen says the Greek government is being led by academics and asks if its seemingly reckless negotiating strategy is informed by Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’s ‘game theory’ analysis of the ‘incredible threat’. And Daniel Obst examines the potential opportunities for collaboration arising from the recent meeting of US and Iranian higher education leaders in Iran.
In our World Blog Martin Ince says if there is one lesson to be learned from Nobel Prize winner Sir Tim Hunt’s life-altering blunder which led to his resignation from his honorary professorship at University College London, it is the need for even stellar academics to have media awareness training.
In Features Brendan O’Malley looks at who the winners were when the European Research Council announced its €445 million (US$493 million) worth of advanced grant awards going to 190 researchers for ground-breaking ideas. And Karen MacGregor reports on the World Bank’s US$150 million programme to strengthen Africa’s 19 centres of excellence. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Features, Brendan O’Malley outlines a new report from Scholars at Risk, which documents how not only militant groups but state forces in many countries are using violence, imprisonment and intimidation to silence students and academics and close down the space in which alternative ideas or critical thinking can emerge.
In News, Yojana Sharma reports on the fears being raised over the upholding of academic freedom on foreign campuses in China in the wake of its ideological tightening of freedoms in its own universities.
In Commentary, we offer two opposing points of view on the proposed academic boycott of Israel. John Kelly argues that a total boycott could ensure Israeli academics and students force their government to ease restrictions on Palestinian universities; while David Newman argues that the activities of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement serve only to weaken the chances of Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement.
Also in Commentary, Peter Tindemans says we should think in novel ways about reshaping doctoral training to cope with the reality that many doctorate holders will end up in non-research positions.
In World Blog, William Patrick Leonard says international students looking to study in South Korea should shop around to find the institutions which run courses in English at their level, because some institutions are better prepared than others to offer them.
In our Special Report on the 14th General Assembly of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, Wachira Kigotho hears a warning that the quality of education in African universities must be improved to reduce the increased risk of brain drain stemming from internationalisation. Read more...