By Karen MacGregor. The fundamental issue of whether Africa’s future lies in manufacturing beneficiation or the knowledge economy will be key to deciding what kind of higher education system must be built, says Dr Blade Nzimande, South Africa’s higher education minister. Meanwhile regional integration is essential – but African universities are not collaborating with each other. Read more...
Why are students rising up around the world and is there a common thread?
By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. We launch the first in a global series of Special Reports on student movements and issues, aimed at deepening understanding and debate on what is transpiring across the student world. This week there are articles on student activism in Chile, Japan and India. Also, Rachel Brooks looks at what is driving the rise in student protest movements and why some are successful, and Nico Cloete investigates the vexing question of what proportions governments, business and individuals should contribute to higher education, and finds a ‘trilemma of trade-offs’.
On a similar theme, in our World Blog David Palfreyman says the funding of mass higher education is under-researched by academics but existing studies suggest that neither a free model nor one entirely funded by students is fair.
Going Global, the British Council’s flagship higher education conference, was held from 3-5 May in South Africa, with University World News as a media partner. Karen MacGregor reports on a British Council study which found that 75% of the more than 200 universities surveyed globally are involved with at least one social enterprise. And Munyaradzi Makoni says recent case studies from Ukraine, Morocco and Bahrain have highlighted the capacity of quality assurance in higher education to support nation-building in various ways.
And in our series on Transformative Leadership in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Marybeth Gasman suggests that widening participation requires that faculty take on innovative and challenging teaching methods to engage an increasingly diverse student population and the student-centred approach of Minority-Serving Institutions in the US provides a useful role model. Read more...
Going Global – Consensus, contradictions in African higher education
By Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. Going Global, the British Council’s flagship higher education conference, was held from 3-5 May in South Africa. One of several articles reports on a high-powered plenary that found consensus and contradictions in African higher education and a dismal lack of international collaboration between African universities.
Munyaradzi Makoni describes recent case studies from Ukraine, Morocco and Bahrain that highlighted the capacity of quality assurance in higher education to support nation-building in various ways, and he covered a preconference dialogue that called for a unified front in Africa around access to knowledge in order to tackle rising journal costs.
We launch the first in a global series of Special Reports on student movements and issues, aimed at deepening understanding and debate on what is transpiring across the student world. This week there are articles on student activism in Chile, Japan and India. Also, Rachel Brooks looks at what is driving the rise in student protest movements and why some are successful, and Nico Cloete investigates the vexing question of what proportions governments, business and individuals should contribute to higher education, and finds a ‘trilemma of trade-offs’.
In a series on Transformative Leadership, in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Marybeth Gasman suggests that widening participation requires that faculty take on innovative and challenging teaching methods to engage an increasingly diverse student population and the student-centred approach of Minority-Serving Institutions in the US provides a useful role model. Read more...
The knowledge economy is a myth. We don’t need more universities to feed it
. Most new jobs now do not require degree-level qualifications. Encouraging more young people to graduate will create only debt and disappointment. More...
Financial incentives could well make teaching sexy again
. There’s an old adage: ‘those who can’t do, teach’. More...
Raising the cap on tuition fees will fund innovative teaching
. One of the conditions for good teaching and learning is smaller classes, for improved staff-student ratios. Better education for all doesn’t come free. More...
Education is our right – we should be cutting tuition fees, not raising them
. English students already graduate with an average debt of £40,000. Lifting the tuition fees cap will deter even more working-class students. More...
The Guardian view on the higher education white paper: the customer is always ripe – for fleecing
. The government wants colleges and universities to work for the economy by filling the skills gap and for society by promoting social mobility. But it’s the student who is expected to pay. More...
What the experts make of the higher education white paper
By Chris Jutting. While research proposals are welcomed, there is concern about the regulation of new providers and help for disadvantaged students. More...
Higher education white paper: the big changes
By Mike Boxall. The sector will be shaken to the core if the government’s reforms go ahead. What would the new landscape look like. More...