By Maina Waruru. The African Union is granting postgraduate scholarships to people with disabilities from across the continent – the first time that the continental body has tailored grants specifically for disadvantaged learners. More...

By Wagdy Sawahel. The president of Somaliland University of Technology in Hargeisa, capital city of the breakaway republic located on the gulf of Aden, has appealed to the international higher education community for help in strengthening universities. More...

By Alecia D McKenzie. The forum – which brought together academics, youth representatives, policy-makers, NGOs and United Nations agencies, among others – focused on global citizen education in the post-2015 development agenda and its role in building “peaceful and sustainable societies”. More...

By Gilbert Nganga. A TV exposé last week unearthed a certificate and diploma mill at one of Kenya’s leading aviation colleges. It also uncovered widespread rot in higher education institutions, many of which engage in academic malpractices and some of which are dishing out qualifications without requiring a person to step into a classroom or study. More...

In Africa Analysis, Janice McMillan in South Africa urges universities to rethink pedagogy and the complex relationship between knowledge, skills and values if they are to engage students as committed, thoughtful and civic-minded young citizens. Eric Fredua-Kwarteng and Francis Ahia maintain that Ghana’s plan to convert polytechnics into technical universities is misguided and panders to elitist views about universities.
In Africa Features, Alecia D McKenzie reports on the adoption by 16 African countries of a revised Arusha Convention on the recognition of qualifications.
Munyaradzi Makoni charts the year-long ordeal in prison of University of Alexandria chemistry and physics assistant professor Dr Mohamed Abdelhamid Kharaba after he fell foul of the Egyptian authorities, and Patrício Langa argues that a new higher education ministry in Mozambique should institutionalise practices and structures and promote a bottom-up approach with input from universities and other stakeholders.
In Commentary, Diana Jane Beech maintains that the recruitment process for researchers in Europe needs to be overhauled to ensure it is fair, transparent and open to all.
Igor Chirikov describes how students in Russia accept without question the poor quality of their universities. And in Ukraine, Sonja Knutson and Valentyna Kushnarenko find higher education reforms paving the way to a more international future – but ongoing hostilities in the east could affect hopes for change.
Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. More...

By Jon Spaull. In 2013 all 66 doctorates awarded by Kampala International University in the previous two years were declared invalid by the Uganda National Council for Higher Education. The council said they did not meet required academic standards, forcing the university to stop awarding PhDs and investigate the problem.
Private universities like Kampala International University (KIU) are mushrooming across East Africa. So was the slamming of these PhDs symptomatic of a large-scale dilution in academic quality as private sector education expands. More...

By Bongani Nkosi. South Africa's historically black universities will get government help to finally make their "backlog of underdevelopment" disappear.
A “backlog of underdevelopment” persists at the country’s historically black universities, and now the government hopes its new multimillion rand grant scheme will help turn things around. More...