The limits of a market-driven agenda in building sustainable universities

By Sharon Dell – Editor. In Africa Features, Wachira Kigotho discusses the deleterious effects of marketisation on universities in Kenya, while Gilbert Nganga focuses on the austerity measures introduced in the country’s flagship university in Nairobi.
   The concept of ‘The African university’ is taken further in our Africa Analysis by Mahmood Mamdani who traces some of the colonial origins of universities in Africa and suggests possible ways in which to “theorise our own reality” and to “strike the right balance between the local and the global as we do so”. In another analysis, Mia Perry and Deepa Pullanikkatil suggest some “necessary” changes to the traditional methodologies of collaboration between the Global North and South.
   In news from around the African continent, Wagdy Sawahel reports on the recent exposure of a masters-for-money scandal in Morocco, and Esther Nakkazi writes about the launch of a new masters course in machine intelligence in Rwanda to be funded by Facebook and Google.
   In a special report on work-integrated learning and cooperative education, Sharon Dell provides highlights of a recent conference held near Durban, South Africa, which discussed some of the current challenges to the efficient implementation of work-integrated learning in South African institutions.
   In our World Blog this week, William Leonard suggests that the many smaller US colleges that admit students who are not ready for higher education and often drop out after their first year, should reduce their enrolment to achieve sustainability. More...