Racial attacks – Will African students think twice about India?

By Sharon Dell – Africa Editor. In Africa Features, Maina Waruru raises concern that African students seeking overseas study destinations might shun India following last month’s attack on Nigerian students near New Delhi, amid an increase in violent incidents targeting Africans; Tunde Fatunde highlights the role of the academic community in preventing a recent bid to change the constitution in Benin; while Munyaradzi Makoni interviews the interim head of the African Academy of Sciences on the critical role of science in Africa.
   In our special report on the Harvard Conference on the Role of the Diaspora in the Revitalization of African Higher Education, Sarah Sweeney highlights, among a range of issues, a call for less state meddling in university affairs in Africa, and the way in which maintaining connections with African scholars in the diaspora can offer a key to enhanced African development.
   In Africa Analysis, Sioux McKenna unpacks dominant conceptualisations of the doctoral degree and argues that collaboration and compassion are central to the doctoral journey.
   In Africa News, Kudzai Mashininga reports on a new bill which aims to turn Zimbabwean universities into industrial hubs; Christabel Ligami writes about a call made at a recent World Bank forum for greater private sector support in building skills in Africa; and Gilbert Nganga reports on developments in Kenya which will see universities regaining the right to offer diplomas and certificate courses and to appoint non-PhD holders as lecturers. Read more...