24 September 2020  Issue No: 284

African countries would benefit from following the implementation of India’s recently announced National Education Policy 2020 which contains several proposals of potential relevance for African higher education.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a wake-up call and an opportunity to put technology at the heart of policies and plans for improving higher education in Africa, according to the findings of a continent-wide survey conducted by the eLearning Africa and EdTech Hub networks.

Student leaders say they are living in fear after the Zimbabwe government recently arrested a number of students, including a prominent student union leader, and was accused of being behind the abduction and torture of another.

The African Leadership University or ALU made headlines when it announced it planned to produce three million ethical and entrepreneurial African leaders by 2035. University World News spoke to Christopher Williams, president of the ALU, about these and other plans.

Should we look at COVID-19 as merely about intellectual loss or as a period of movement towards a way of educating people for a more sustainable world? The lessons learned could shape a generation of students, teachers, researchers, institutions and society as well.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are reports of rising student distress and suicide, but mental health issues may go unseen in online fora. International students are particularly affected. Universities must step up to meet their duty of care to this increasingly vulnerable population.

International student mobility has been caught up in geopolitics as the United States government seeks to restrict Chinese students’ and academics’ access to the country. This presents academics, who rely on a free exchange of ideas, with a dilemma that hinders their quest for knowledge.

The disruption in international student mobility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not made a major dent in the aspirations of school-leavers in India and Nepal to study abroad, but generational changes in attitudes coupled with opportunities within India mean universities overseas cannot just sit back and expect that their international reputation will draw students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented spurt in global research collaboration in the quest to find a vaccine. Over two weeks, University World News examines the phenomenon that has so far allowed for more than 200 clinical trials to be launched within months of the virus spreading across borders.