7 April 2019  Issue No: 240

University authorities in central Mozambique are reporting that at least 20,000 students are still unable to resume their education in the region, following serious damage caused to their institutions by Cyclone Idai, which devastated the country’s major northern port Beira over two days last month.

In a mineral-rich country such as Botswana, the introduction of a new department of chemical engineering at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology holds the potential to transform the country’s economy and bring global recognition to the university.

The Higher Education Students' Financing Board in Uganda said this month it was exploring the feasibility of instituting a fund similar to the Ghana Education Trust Fund, which would allow it to mobilise more monies to finance more students, after a deficit last year of UGX5 billion (US$1.3 million) threatened the admission of new students into the higher education sector.

Because they will be the most affected, the youth of South Africa need to champion the fourth industrial revolution, but they need some serious support and investment from the government, and the rest of society.

China’s higher education system is changing and China is now active in international higher education. For those countries and institutions which have come to rely on the recruitment of Chinese students – among them the United States, United Kingdom and Australia – this will create serious problems.

There is a growing trend for universities to talk about educating students for global citizenship and about being global institutions. This claim is worth investigating. But how do we judge if a university really is global and not just international?

Refugees are an important part of international higher education. By studying transformative approaches to how refugees are integrated into education and wider society, we can ensure that they achieve their potential and that higher education institutions fulfil their humanitarian duties.

The world’s first university impact ranking, published by Times Higher Education World University Rankings, has revealed a new hierarchy of global institutions based on universities’ work towards many of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, including those for gender equality, climate action and sustainable cities and communities.