Are universities prepared for the digitally advanced Generation Z?

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Tom White encourages education professionals to remain ahead of the curve in embracing the digital revolution in preparation for the digitally advanced Generation Z. Matthew Piscioneri and Fay Patel say there has been much hype about building ‘global citizens’ who are able to move around easily in the global marketplace, but shouldn’t we be aspiring to something higher, focusing rather on producing ‘good citizens’?
Other Commentaries focus on Canada, Indonesia, South Africa and Argentina. Karen McBride laments that the increase in inbound students to Canada is not mirrored in the outbound student population and suggests ways to expand international education for Canadian students. Defta Oktafiga suggests that three types of higher education are needed in Indonesia, focusing respectively on preparing world-leading researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals. Yolande X Harley, Esmari Huysamen, Carlette Hlungwani and Tania Douglas suggest a revision of the model used by the South African government to award research subsidies to universities as the current system may inadvertently be penalising high-citation articles.
In our World Blog, Christian Noumi and Grace Karram Stephenson say it is unlikely that the Ghanaian government’s attempts to pass the cost of university utilities bills to students will succeed as the government will not risk student protests with a general election coming up.
In a series on ‘Transformative Leadership’ looking at the barriers to social justice and ways to overcome them through education, in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Brendan O'Malley reports on how an innovative higher education programme has brought hope in Dadaab in Kenya, the world’s biggest refugee camp.
Lastly, in Features, Simon Marginson provides details on the rapid growth in scientific output and investment in Asia and also in tertiary level enrolments, saying China’s investment in research and development will soon pass that of the United States. Read more...