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By Karen MacGregor. People from across the world have been collaborating to develop policies and actions that will chart the future for higher education, says Professor Mandla Makhanya, vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa. A high-level policy forum at next month’s conference of the International Council for Open and Distance Education, or ICDE, will apply regional lenses to help forge the way ahead for online, open and flexible learning. Read more...

By Jane Marshall. A new academy of sciences and technologies of Algeria will be opened this month, Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research Tahar Hadjar has announced. He also stressed the importance of the role of universities within the economy. Read more...

By Wagdy Sawahel. The Centre d’Orientation et de Reconversion Professionnelle, or CORP, opened on 1 September and is seen as a step in implementing Tunisia’s 10-year higher education and research reforms, which focus on improving graduate employability and revitalising research. Read more...

By Wagdy Sawahel. Although Sub-Saharan African countries have allocated large shares of government spending to education, the region’s university enrolment rates are among the lowest in the world and a severe mismatch still exists between the skills young Africans have and those employers need, according to a new ‘State of Education in Africa’ report. Read more...

By Gilbert Nganga. Under its recently launched African Diaspora Support to African Universities initiative, CODESRIA has invited African scholars in the diaspora to submit proposals for visiting professorships to the continent’s universities. Read more...

By Munyaradzi Makoni. The study of how people process and document the human experience in order to understand and record the world is set for growth with a new ‘flagship’ programme in humanities at the University of the Western Cape. The ‘flagship’ is a new institutional form aimed at responding to gaps in the framework of higher education in South Africa. Read more...

By Wachira Kigotho. The African Academy of Sciences and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development have launched the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa, or AESA, with the ambition to raise the quality and quantity of the continent’s research output. Read more...

By Karen MacGregor – Africa Editor. In a Special Report ahead of next month’s conference of the International Council for Open and Distance Education, we interview Professor Mandla Makhanya – vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa, which is hosting the event – about global developments in this transforming field of higher education and the challenges and prospects for African universities.
In News, Wachira Kigotho attends the launch of the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa, a major initiative that will help drive efforts to boost the quality and quantity of research on the continent.
Geoff Maslen reports in Africa Features on last week’s revelation by a global team of researchers of the discovery of ancient human relative Homo naledi, and a record number of fossilised bones, in a cave in South Africa. Munyaradzi Makoni covers a Leadership Dialogue on Global Trends in Technology and e-Learning, where vice-chancellors agreed the need for further investigation and more data to support efforts to drive effective online learning practices.
In Commentary, Lynn Davies contends that legislation against terrorism and political dissent can cause such dissent to withdraw to unsupervised spaces and could make us less safe – it is better to educate against extremism. Angel Calderon warns higher education institutions to prepare for a range of new scenarios as the next 25 years could see a shift in cross-border mobility of students, academics, skills and ideas. And Jane Knight and John McNamara report that a major survey on transnational education paints an overall positive picture of its impact in host countries, especially in providing increased access for local students. Read more...