By Ochieng’ O Benny. Cancer has become one of the most serious disease burdens choking Africa’s fragile and inadequate health infrastructure. While health systems are poorly equipped to deal with a rising number of cases, most shocking is the lack of cancer experts to conduct research, diagnosis, prevention and treatment across the vast continent. Read more...

By Ochieng’ O Benny. The increasing cancer burden in Africa has prompted efforts in higher education to tackle a scarcity of oncologists. This month sees the launch of a fellowship initiative by the University of Nairobi and German-based pharmaceutical Merck Group, to train experts across Africa. Read more...

By Shadreck Chirikure. If you want to learn about Africa, there’s no need to go to Algeria, Mali, Zambia or anywhere else on the continent. Instead, you’ll need to visit – at great cost – institutions in the global North like Johns Hopkins University or the School of Oriental and African Studies. Places like these host a wealth of African knowledge databases. Read more...

By Tunde Fatunde. About a decade ago, Clifford Tagoe was just weeks into his new position as vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana when he made a radical proposal. Read more...

By Brennan Weiss. About a decade ago, Clifford Tagoe was just weeks into his new position as vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana when he made a radical proposal. Read more...

By Angel Calderon. QS’s 13th edition of its world university rankings will be remembered by universities for the gains or losses it brought. Three universities dropped from the top 50; four dropped from the 51-100 band and another four dropped out of the top 200. Read more...

By John Richard Schrock. A recent announcement by the European Commission calls for all research to be freely available online by 2020, a system called ‘open access’. Where there are no widespread library paper archives, this action threatens to undermine science research. Read more...

By Dennis Tourish. Many of us seem to believe that whatever problems society faces can be solved by ‘more leadership’. Invariably, this means that a ‘strong’ leader is required. Such leaders have a superhuman ability to diagnose problems and develop a vision for fixing them. They are ‘decisive’, not easily swayed by contrary opinion and are determined to the point of implacability. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. The Lars Løkke Rasmussen government is moving to cut funding for universities and the student financing system and increase political control over higher education institutions. Read more...

By Michael Gardner. As support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policy plummets, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, or NRW, has announced extra funding for the integration of refugees in higher education. Read more...