By Sharon Dell. After establishing itself as a central player in the South African higher education policy sector in the late 1990s, the Centre for Higher Education Trust or CHET has broadened its horizons, moving into the area of African institutional development with an emphasis on research. Read more...
By Sharon Dell. As an area of study, higher education is still relatively young, with research-based contributions having emerged only in the late 1960s and early 1970s while more systematic and comparative studies emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. Read more...
By Karen MacGregor. The notion of ‘Africa Rising’ has found traction in recent years, although the ascent is very uneven, says Nico Cloete, coordinator of HERANA – the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa. Read more...
By Karen MacGregor. Recent data from Norway’s statistical office revealed that 50% of all jobs will require a masters degree in the next 10 years, while unskilled jobs will shrink to 5%. This means universities will have a growing impact on development, argues Peter Maassen of Norway's University of Oslo – and that ensuring their success will become increasingly important. Read more...
Research by the Higher Education, Research and Advocacy Network in Africa, or HERANA, has produced data on flagship universities in eight African countries over a 15-year period. One outcome has been to improve data collection at the universities involved. Read more...
By Brendan O'Malley. The first six words of the Supreme Council of Universities’ mission statement say it endeavours to achieve autonomy for Egypt’s universities. Read more...
Le 6 décembre 2016, trente professionnels du Service public régional de l’orientation du bassin Nazairien se sont retrouvés pour une journée d’interconnaissance socio-économique du territoire. Pôle emploi a évoqué les besoins de recrutement dans l’aéronautique, la navale, et les énergies marines renouvelables. L’Insee a ensuite présenté l’économie productive et résidentielle dans les intercommunalités du bassin Nazairien. Un échange de pratiques à permis d’aborder l’utilisation de l’outillage socio-économique et l’accompagnement des publics dans la prise en compte de ces données dans leur projet d’orientation. Voir l'article...
By Tonderayi Mukeredzi. A fiscally constrained Zimbabwe government has allocated a meagre US$23.2 million to both kick-start new and complete existing infrastructure projects at its burgeoning universities. Read more...
By Tunde Fatunde. A recent series of investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission or EFCC into allegations of corruption against high-level university staff is challenging the traditional autonomy of university governing councils. Read more...
By Sharon Dell – Africa Editor. In this first edition of 2017, Jens Jungblut argues that South African students should push for both free higher education and matching increases in public spending, or risk incentivising government to take the easy way out and compromise higher education quality.
In Africa Features Wagdy Sawahel interviews higher education experts in North Africa and the Arab world about expected trends for 2017.
In our Africa Special Report on the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa, HERANA, meeting held in Franschhoek near Cape Town from 20-24 November 2016, Karen MacGregor reports on indications that Africa’s flagship universities are showing upward trends in a number of areas. In a blog forming part of the special report, Robert Tijssen and Erika Kraemer-Mbula argue that African science “can and should take the concept of excellence more literally”, while Sharon Dell reports on the challenges of planned institutional reform from a European perspective and provides some impressions of a Festschrift written for Norwegian higher education expert Peter Maassen and launched at the HERANA meeting. Seven university presentations made at the meeting containing comprehensive research-related institutional data are also part of the report.
In Africa News, Tunde Fatunde writes about a string of recent investigations led by a state agency against high-level university administrators and the implications for governing council autonomy, while Tonderayi Mukeredzi reports on the lack of adequate funding to support the Zimbabwean government’s ambitious plans for university sector expansion.
The Global Special Report examines the usefulness and accuracy of global university rankings. Among other articles, Philip G Altbach and Ellen Hazelkorn suggest that rankings are a losing game for most mid-range universities as they are not worth the resources required nor the changes in mission. Ranking experts counter some of the arguments, including Ben Sowter of QS who says criticism should be evidence-based and take the positive and negative into account.
This is the first Africa edition since my editorship became official on 1 January 2017. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my predecessor Karen MacGregor for her exceptional editorial leadership of University World News, and the Africa edition in particular. We wish her well in her new role as director of University World News – Africa. Read more...
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