By Ousman Tall. The official programme marking World Food Day takes place today at the Universal Exposition in Milan, under the theme, “Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty”. More...
Major HE expansion to proceed despite economic woes
Zambia has resolved to undertake major university infrastructure projects. The government is seeking to operationalise new higher education institutions and finish incomplete construction projects in 2016, in an initiative that involves around 12 universities and colleges. Read more...
Free higher education in South Africa – The poor, rich and ‘missing middle’
By Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. In Africa Analysis, Nico Cloete argues in response to South Africa’s #FeesMustFall student movement that free higher education in a developing country is financially impossible and morally wrong as it privileges the rich – ‘Affordable higher education for all’ should be the rallying cry.
Reuben Kyama interviews Reeta Roy, president and CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, following the inaugural Young Africa Works Summit in Cape Town, and finds her inspired by the ideas and commitment of Africa’s future leaders.
In Africa Features, Wachira Kigotho learns that the revitalisation of African higher education is being eroded by under-funding and the rise of ethnically-based universities.
University World News attended the South African Technology Network’s Eighth Annual International Conference and, in the first of two Special Reports, unpacks discussions around the theme of “Entrepreneurship Education for Economic Renewal.”
In World Blog, Rahul Choudaha writes that the last thing any well-intentioned institution wants to do is treat international students as ‘cash cows’ – they need rather to investigate and invest in international student success.
In Commentary, Jeremy Rappleye and Edward Vickers examine scenarios for Japan’s Super Global Universities programme, saying that segregation of international faculty and students will not lead to successful internationalisation. Nita Temmerman contends that a major challenge for online learning in developing countries is that learners and teachers are separated from each other, in societies that place high value on social contact. And Ruwayshid Alruwaili expresses concerns that merging the ministries of higher education and education represents policy drift in Saudi Arabia. Read more...
Africa produces just 1.1% of global scientific knowledge - but change is coming
By Tom Kariuki. There are just 79 scientists per million Africans, compared to 4,500 per million people in the United States. More...
Africa’s ‘teaching shops’: the rise of private universities
By Chris Havergal. Are the continent’s for-profits exploiting students or have they helped to widen access?, asks Chris Havergal. More...
Africa needs education, not exploitation
The case for developmental universities
By Eric Fredua-Kwarteng. Over the decades, African universities, particularly the publicly funded ones, have played a significant role in developing human resources for state bureaucracies including ministries, departments, boards and agencies, the education sector and the professional class, such as lawyers, bankers, judges, engineers, doctors, accountants and managers. Read more...
174 ‘non-viable’ higher education institutions closed
Théophile Mbemba, higher education and universities minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has closed 174 higher education institutions that have been judged ‘non-viable’. Read more...
South African students – From #RhodesMustFall to #FeesMustFall to free HE?
By Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. In Africa News, Sharon Dell reports on a tumultuous week for South African higher education. Massive countrywide student protests closed universities and culminated in the government freezing fees at current levels.
A Special Report provides follow-on coverage of the 26th International Council for Open and Distance Education World Conference held in South Africa from 14 to 16 October.
In Africa Features, Wachira Kigotho attends a workshop in Nairobi of CODESRIA – Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa – where diaspora and African scholars heard that neglect of the humanities and social sciences had dangerously narrowed Sub-Saharan Africa’s view on development.
In Africa Analysis, Nico Jooste and Savo Heleta argue for a ‘global commons’ for internationalisation of higher education, to neutralise the global North’s dominance of debate and encourage collaboration. Chika Sehoole and James Otieno Jowi report on this month’s African Network for Internationalization of Education annual conference, which called on African universities to contribute to meeting the new Sustainable Development Goals.
In Commentary, Ellen Hazelkorn calls for citizens to be continually educated about science so they can participate in knowledge- and science-based decision-making and innovation.
In Australia, Bob Kinnaird argues that education policies should target wealthier foreign students as poorer students are exploited as temporary workers. Ly Tran and Cate Gribble focus on the benefits of international students to the country.
And in Global Features, Yojana Sharma asks International Association of Universities President Dzulkifli Abdul Razak about his concept of higher education for a single planet. Read more...
Zimbabwe’s import duty on books alarms universities
By Chris Havergal. Fears that 40 per cent levy could leave academics and students unable to access new research. More...