AFRICA NEWS
MOROCCO
One person arrested in masters-for-money scandal
Wagdy Sawahel
A person has been arrested and a senior member of Transparency Maroc has been suspended from the association in the wake of allegations that students were being asked to pay over US$4,000 to guarantee a place on a university masters course in Morocco.
AFRICA-RWANDA
New masters to boost machine intelligence talent pool
Esther Nakkazi
A new African masters in machine intelligence funded by Google and Facebook seeks to create a community of machine intelligence practitioners in Africa to reduce the technology gap, build Africa’s economies and ultimately promote better governance.
SOUTH AFRICA-UNITED STATES
Global network to boost HE capacity and PhD numbers
Primarashni Gower
A higher education network that entails American and South African universities working together will strengthen various aspects of the South African higher education system, including the expansion of the PhD graduate pipeline.
AFRICA
SADC approves new university to boost industrialisation
Kudzai Mashininga
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region has approved the establishment of the SADC University of Transformation to train citizens in innovation to facilitate industrialisation in the region.
ZIMBABWE
Government launches national qualifications framework
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe has started implementing a new national qualifications framework which the government says will increase the accessibility, efficiency and relevance of its higher education sector within and outside the country.
AFRICA
Universities mourn death of statesman Kofi Annan
The Association of African Universities has expressed its profound shock and sadness at the death of former United Nations secretary general, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former University of Ghana chancellor Kofi Annan.
AFRICA
Upcoming African Universities Week to focus on youth
The Association of African Universities has called on all higher education institutions in Africa to join in and celebrate the 2018 African Universities Week from 12-16 November, which is aimed at highlighting the achievements, challenges and opportunities of the sector and attracting increased support.
KENYA
Qualifications database falters over lack of funds
Gilbert Nganga
Kenya’s bid to set up a national platform for graduate information has hit a snag over lack of funds, setting back the bid to crack down on the proliferation of sub-standard qualifications in the higher education sector.
ZIMBABWE
President suspends vice-chancellor over Grace Mugabe PhD
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has suspended University of Zimbabwe Vice-chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura for allegedly awarding former first lady Grace Mugabe a doctor of philosophy degree ‘corruptly’ in 2014.
SOUTH AFRICA
Concern over student loan scheme as chair steps down
Sharon Dell
The resignation of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme board chairperson has raised further concerns about instability in the scheme which came under excessive pressure after the announcement last December of free higher education for poor students in South Africa.
AFRICA
PAU appeals for patience as applications flood in
Maina Waruru
The Pan African University (PAU) has appealed to applicants for patience after it received over 13,000 applications for its 400 places in its various thematic institutes located in Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon and Algeria for the upcoming academic year of 2018-19. The total of 13,048 applications is the highest number since the institution became operational in 2012.
AFRICA ANALYSIS
AFRICA
The African university
Mahmood Mamdani
The alternative to simply applying Western theory in African universities is to theorise our own reality, and to strike the right balance between the local and the global as we do so.
AFRICA
A new approach to global research partnerships
Mia Perry and Deepa Pullanikkatil
Changes to the traditional methodologies of collaboration between the Global North and South are necessary. That means engaging with communities in ways that allow them to contribute their traditional knowledge and co-design the research agenda.
ETHIOPIA
Should a degree be compulsory for parliamentarians?
Damtew Teferra
Ethiopian parliamentarians are involved in the enactment of legislation and other complex issues of national importance. Should they have at least a bachelor degree in order to qualify as parliamentarians or is that notion fundamentally elitist and undemocratic?
AFRICA FEATURES
KENYA
Universities feel the brunt of a market-driven agenda
Wachira Kigotho
A quarter of a century ago, Uganda’s Makerere University embarked on an academic journey hitherto undreamt of in Sub-Saharan Africa: the intensive marketisation of higher education.
KENYA
Top university adopts austerity measures to stem decline
Gilbert Nganga
The University of Nairobi, Kenya’s oldest and most decorated public university, has announced several austerity measures to manage a biting financial crunch and tame a huge deficit that promises to bring down the university. This has been made worse by rapidly declining student numbers, especially in respect of its former cash-cow: the self-sponsored student programme.
AFRICA
Scholarship programme supports youth with big dreams
Esther Nakkazi
A scholarship programme targeting bright but disadvantaged young people is giving them a chance not only to succeed academically and professionally, but play a long-term role in uplifting their own communities.
WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING CONFERENCE
The Southern African Society for Cooperative Education’s third Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Conference took place near Durban, South Africa, from 18-20 July 2018 co-hosted by a range of universities of technology and technical and vocational education and training institutions. This year’s theme was ‘WIL: Policy to Implementation’ and focused on challenges facing the implementation of WIL, employability of graduates and curriculum issues including assessment and decolonisation of education.
SOUTH AFRICA
Making work-integrated learning actually work
Sharon Dell
Work-integrated learning in the higher education space may be considered a 'silver bullet' when it comes to effectively combating societal inequality by enhancing graduate employability, but when it comes to its implementation, the concept continues to be the subject of some wrangling among stakeholders.
SOUTH AFRICA
Work-integrated learning – Challenging the ivory tower
Sharon Dell
Work-integrated learning has become a “social, economic and educational imperative”, which deserves greater support than it currently receives from all stakeholders, including higher education institutions, government and industry, says Carva Pop, president of the Southern African Society for Cooperative Education.
CANADA-SOUTH AFRICA
Cooperative education – A win-win solution for society
Sharon Dell
Far more than a philanthropic exercise, work-integrated learning offers a win-win situation for students, universities, industry and society. In addition to boosting the employment rate of students, it offers a path towards sustainable development, nurturing the “brilliant minds” needed to produce “revolutionary solutions” to global challenges.
AFRICA BRIEFS
ANGOLA
HE minister calls for more emphasis on science
Minister for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Maria do Rosário Sambo has said Angola should strengthen its teaching of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and all sciences contributing to technological knowledge, throughout the education system.
MADAGASCAR
Ministry to evict illegal residents in student housing
Madagascar's Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Marie Monique Rasoazananera has expressed her determination to evict those individuals who have no right to live in official student accommodation and who are causing serious overcrowding.
SENEGAL
Lecturers look forward to ‘decent’ pensions
After a long campaign, higher education and research unions have concluded an agreement with the government of Senegal to secure a ‘decent’ retirement pension for their members which will entail academics working an extra hour a week.
NEWS – Our correspondents worldwide report
AUSTRALIA
Call for sweeping changes in tertiary education system
Geoff Maslen
The Australian government should assume responsibility for all tertiary education and training while the differences in funding between universities and technical colleges should be abolished, a new report says. The radical proposals are among a sweeping set of recommendations by the multinational professional service company, KPMG.
NEW ZEALAND
Visa rules reformed to attract more foreign students
John Gerritsen
All international students in higher education in New Zealand will be eligible for three-year work visas under reforms of post-study work rights, aimed at attracting more enrolments and stamping out abuse by unscrupulous employers who have been misusing employer-assisted visas to trap students in underpaid work.
INDIA
Revamp of university regulatory body faces opposition
Shuriah Niazi
The Indian government's move to replace the higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission, with a new body to improve quality and allow institutions more autonomy faces opposition in parliament and criticism that it would increase government control and politicisation of education.
GLOBAL
China, US lead on gains in ARWU university ranking
Brendan O'Malley
China and the United States are the biggest gainers in the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), with respectively six and four more universities in the top 500, but there is no movement at the very top with Harvard University leading for the 16th year running.
GERMANY
Marked progress in students taking less time to graduate
Michael Gardner
More students in Germany are obtaining degrees within a reasonable time than in the early years of the Bologna reforms, with traditional universities making the most marked progress, particularly in mathematics, education science and civil and environmental engineering departments, a new survey shows.
NORWAY
Rectors support campaign for deported student’s appeal
Jan Petter Myklebust
University leaders have rallied to support Professor Anne Husebekk, rector of the University of Tromsø in Norway, who has been criticised for organising a campaign to raise funds for an appeal against a decision to reject a student’s residence visa application.
COMMENTARY
AUSTRALIA
Universities – The creators of the new wealth of nations
Ian Jacobs
Universities make an enormous contribution to the economic and social wealth of nations through education and research, but have failed to communicate their value clearly to the public and that is contributing to the current climate of criticism.
CHINA
What do the international HE programme closures mean?
Futao Huang
Why did the Chinese government recently terminate more than 200 internationally collaborative academic programmes and five internationally collaborative institutions and what does this mean for overseas institutions looking to partner with China?
EUROPE
Why the Bologna Process works for higher education
Anne Corbett
The Bologna Process has made progress because of the nature of its structure, stakeholders and members, including the European Commission, and an emphasis on support over sanctions. Due to resource issues, the commission holds the power of life and death over the Bologna Process.
GLOBAL
Can we measure education quality in global rankings?
Philip G Altbach and Ellen Hazelkorn
The race is on to establish a global teaching ranking, but experience shows that without due care the choice of ranking indicators can lead to unintended consequences. Currently, it is just not possible to adequately assess education quality for purposes of international comparisons.
EUROPE
Towards a global hub of collaborative research
Thomas Ekman Jørgensen
Brexit could prove an interesting test case for research-intensive countries outside the European Union that wish to contribute to the region’s research programme, showing if and how the balancing act between contribution and influence can be reached.
WORLD BLOG
UNITED STATES
Admitting students who later drop out is harmful
William Leonard
Too many colleges in the United States are tuition-fee dependent and admit students who are not ready for higher education, many of whom require remedial support and drop out after their first year. The solution is counter intuitive: they need to reduce their enrolment to achieve sustainability.
SCIENCE SCENE
UNITED STATES
Russian trolls stoke public discord on vaccine science
Brendan O'Malley
Twitter bots and Russian trolls have spread disinformation and pushed the public to question the science behind vaccine campaigns – and in some cases the messages were sent from accounts used to interfere in the 2016 United States presidential election, a new study reveals.
FEATURES
CHINA
Overseas China scholars face self-censorship dilemma
Yojana Sharma
As China combines internal censorship and a crackdown in its Xinjiang region, with aggressive verbal attacks and informal pressure on overseas academics, the self-censorship dilemma is becoming acute for overseas scholars who comment on China’s human rights, Tibet, Taiwan independence and other sensitive topics.
UNITED STATES
University of California nears funding tipping point
Brendan O’Malley
After years of declining funding and rising enrolment, the University of California system is nearing a ‘tipping point’ where it cannot continue to grow with California’s population and labour needs without seeking new revenues and state reinvestment, according to a new report.
