By Ishmael Munene. There were high hopes for Kenya’s public universities after the country gained independence from Britain in 1963. Universities were meant to become instruments of national integration. Sadly, 53 years on, that dream appears well and truly dashed. Ethnic tension is a daily reality on the country’s campuses. More...

By Melissa Tandiwe Myambo. The real world is often overwhelmingly complicated. Literature can help. This is true at universities too: courses in comparative literature offer students new insights into their chosen disciplines by unlocking new, varied perspectives. More...

By Damtew Teferra. Africa has the lowest university enrolment rates in the world. In the past two decades, though, virtually all the continent’s higher education systems have recorded massive growth. More...

By Emanuela Carleschi. Know your students and where they come from. This, in my opinion – and research confirms it – is one of the key ingredients for an enabling teaching and learning environment. More...

By Walter Baets. Employers love business school graduates. That’s not just a wild claim: 96% of employers globally polled by the Graduate Management Admission Council in January 2016 said that hiring such graduates creates value for their companies. More...

By Joleen Steyn Kotze. Some people are astonished that this is happening nearly 22 years after the end of formal apartheid and that such clashes often involve the so-called “born frees” – young South Africans who were born after apartheid ended in 1994. But the country is undergoing a massive transformation. Race lies at the heart of this process, just as it lay at the heart of the apartheid state. More...

By Helen Hanna. Children are often at the forefront of working out what it means to be a new arrival in a different country. They feel the anxiety that comes with being the new girl or boy at school. More...

By Thelma Kathleen Buchholz Mort. Molofo and Bulewani are training as teachers at a university in one of South Africa’s largest cities, Cape Town. Both young men come from rural backgrounds and English is not their first language. Their experiences of moving from a rural area to a city, and of becoming English speakers, offer a fascinating insight into how language development and social transition are intertwined. More...

By Elisabet le Roux. Lady Gaga’s performance of Til it happens to you at the 2016 Academy Awards drew worldwide attention to sexual violence, and specifically the recent increase in sexual assault on American university campuses. More...