13 February 2020  Issue No: 259

Kenya’s second president, Daniel Toroitich arap Moi (1924-2020), who died on 4 February in Nairobi, oversaw a kleptocracy that looted the economy for 24 years and persecuted a generation of dissenting academics and students. But he also introduced free primary education, built many secondary schools for girls and presided over an increase in the number of fully-fledged public universities in Kenya from one to six.

The Ethiopian government’s recent move towards liberalising the telecommunications market may contribute to an improvement of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the creation of a digital society – with a range of positive implications for the higher education sector.

The sanctions for plagiarism at Rwandan universities are tough. But with the aid of plagiarism-checking software, some universities are tackling the problem head-on and winning. University World News conducted a survey among some universities to find out what they were doing to curb the problem.

The Ugandan government is to come up with a multi-sectoral plan involving the ministries of health, education and foreign affairs to ensure that Ugandan students affected by the coronavirus lockdown in Wuhan in China are assisted, but an outright evacuation plan is not yet on the cards.

In a special report on the Forum on the Role of the African Diaspora in the Revitalisation of Higher Education in Africa, held in Ethiopia from 13-14 November 2019, University World News interviews some of the participants and provides an overview of the gathering organised by the Institute of African Studies at Canada's Carleton University, the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate of the African Union and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Ethiopia's higher education sector has been characterised by a remarkable expansion over the last 25 years. Education in general and the country’s 51 public universities in particular are among key priority sectors of public investment, attracting the highest spending allocation in this year’s federal budget. Nevertheless, the sector faces challenges, which call for new approaches.

Debts accrued as a result of student loans and difficulties finding graduate-level jobs in Ghana create a disincentive to go to university, especially for students who genuinely need loans. The system needs reforming so that loans encourage students into programmes which lead to graduate-level jobs.

What are the geographies of internationalisation? Who do we think of when we say ‘international student’? How does this affect how we teach? There are many examples of how internationalisation is embedded in and increases global inequalities and these should be critically examined.

Teodor Shanin, one of Britain’s leading sociologists and the founder of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences in Russia, has died, aged 89.