26 September 2021  Issue No: 661

Turkish academics have been arrested, detained, dismissed, imprisoned and tortured and Turkey’s president has seized total control of rector appointments as part of an existential battle to reshape the Turkish state – but at the cost of dismantling the freedom to think, question and share ideas.

African universities, especially given their resource-constrained settings, have a multifaceted responsibility in public health preparedness and response. They have risen to the challenge of COVID-19 through harnessing partnerships nationally, regionally and internationally to fight the pandemic and prepare for future threats to public health.

In what is being seen as a highly political move, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan this week replaced a renowned PhD scholar as chancellor of Afghanistan’s premier Kabul University with one of their own, sparking outrage in the country’s academic community and threats to resign.

Entrepreneurship education needs to be embedded in the Indian higher education curriculum so that young people can help create jobs that drive a more sustainable world. It is a powerful means of reducing poverty, stimulating infrastructural growth, boosting innovation and enhancing social and environmental sustainability.

Amid growing demands for help from scholars facing displacement, the Institute of International Education is stepping up support for Afghan students and academics, but it needs more help.

Competition for the recruitment of Nigerian students who are seeking high-quality university education in foreign destinations has increased in the past few years because of their ability to pay higher tuition fees in comparison to their counterparts from other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.