Many countries across the world have made promises of “education for all” – providing quality education to all children of school-going age.
One approach being used to meet the education for all goal is community-based education, or community schools. These alternative education models, initiated by governments and non-governmental organisations, provide primary education in communities that generally lack school infrastructure. More...
How the humanities can equip students for the fourth industrial revolution
The term “fourth industrial revolution” is understood in various ways. Some people are excited about it. Others are cautious. Some assume it means that technology and robots will take over every human activity. And still others imagine that this “revolution” will lead only to joblessness and automation. More...
Rethinking university rankings: we need to talk about quality (and inequality) of teaching
Each year the release of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings generates a great deal of interest, excitement – and debate. This year all eyes are on China which, according to the 2018 rankings, “steps up its ascent” as “East closes in on West”. China’s Tsinghua University in 22nd place has overtaken all of its other Asian competitors. More...
Why it’s good news that Swahili is coming to South African schools
Kiswahili will, from 2020, become the latest language to be taught in South Africa’s classrooms. This East African lingua franca, which is also an official language of the African Union, will be an optional subject. More...
Bilingualism: how to get your child to speak your language – and why it matters
Humans have been migrating since prehistoric times – moving within and beyond geographical borders – in search of food, for survival or for better prospects in life. In the European Union alone, the latest figures show that in 2016 more than 4m people immigrated to an EU country, while at least 3m emigrated and left an EU member state. More...
Universities need to take note of the gap between expectations and experience
The student population at South African universities have changed dramatically in the last two decades. It’s now much more diverse in terms of age, race, culture, backgrounds, educational experience and academic potential. More...
Questions academics can ask to decolonise their classrooms
In South African universities, curriculum issues came to the fore during a series of nationwide student protests between 2015 and 2017. Students have argued that what’s being taught in university courses is imported from the global North and doesn’t draw enough on African-based research and the work of academics from the global South. More...
It’s time to take a new, more creative approach to career counselling
The problem is that career counselling hasn’t, for the most part, adapted to these new realities. In the developing world, traditional career counselling approaches are still the order of the day. Young people – usually in their second last or last year of secondary schooling, and who are able to afford such a service – consult a professional career counsellor. More...
South African universities shouldn’t be playing the global rankings game
Once again, Times Higher Education’s annual global university rankings have drawn a lot of attention from the media and in the higher education sector. In South Africa, this has focused on the four institutions from the country that made the top 500 on the 2019 list. More...
The cost of accessing academic research is way too high. This must change
In the last week of October each year, libraries and open access activists around the world celebrate Open Access Week. It’s a week dedicated to increasing access to knowledge resources hosted by libraries, such as online journals and academic books. More...