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26 November 2020 Issue No: 293
AFRICA
Tonderayi Mukeredzi
 COVID-19 is taking its toll on libraries since teaching and learning moved online earlier this year. Shortages of textbooks and other printed material, exorbitant textbook prices and copyright problems have proved especially challenging.
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AFRICA
Tunde Fatunde, Eve Ruwoko, Wilson Odhiambo While the strike action of academic staff in Nigeria has entered its eighth month, rumblings of discontent from faculty and students in other countries have been emerging and growing louder amid increasing financial difficulties in the higher education sector. |
AFRICA
Wagdy Sawahel African universities are starting to join the movement towards digital game-based learning or DGBL and are recognising its potential in developing skills and enhancing motivation. DGBL increases enjoyment and engagement, especially during COVID-19 containment measures, but as a learning pedagogy also faces significant challenges. |
GLOBAL-SOUTH AFRICA
Sue Segar
KENYA
Gilbert Nganga
 Kenya has revived plans to increase fees for students enrolled at public universities from next year. Private institutions are considering similar plans, spelling doom for students who could be paying at least double the current charges next year.
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RWANDA
Jean d’Amour Mbonyinshuti
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AFRICA-CHINA
Wachira Kigotho
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AFRICA
Munyaradzi Makoni
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AFRICA
Wagdy Sawahel
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ZIMBABWE
Prince Gora
 The Zimbabwean student activist Prince Gora was recently jailed for 10 days. Gora, a fourth-year chemical engineering student at the Harare Institute of Technology, is also a University World News journalist. He is one of several student activists who have been detained this year.
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ETHIOPIA
Wondwosen Tamrat Today’s young graduates are confronted with the huge challenge of unemployment because of the fast-changing world of work and the limited and competitive opportunities available. |
CHINA-AFRICA
Eric Fredua-Kwarteng China has been increasing its influence on the higher education sector in Africa, with some arguing that partnerships are based on mutual respect, equality and honesty. African higher education leaders should take care and join forces to protect their interests and to oppose any Chinese colonialism. |
AFRICA
Munyaradzi Makoni
 The COVID-19 pandemic has increased inequality in African higher education but, where universities have had successes in adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, they can build on their experience to deal with the challenge, the third World Access to Higher Education Day was told.
SOUTH AFRICA
Kaya Nocanda
GLOBAL
Paul Rigg
 Sixteen university presidents from 14 countries met to discuss post-pandemic and Brexit perspectives for ‘reinventing higher education’ and the question of whether mobility of academic and student talent can return to pre-pandemic levels, in a Zoom event organised by IE University, Spain.
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UNITED STATES
Mary Beth Marklein
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CHINA-HONG KONG
Yojana Sharma
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GLOBAL
Brendan O’Malley
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ASIA
Kalinga Seneviratne
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LATIN AMERICA-CARIBBEAN
María Elena Hurtado
EUROPE
Elena Cirlan and Tia Loukkola
 Micro-credentials are growing more and more popular. Higher education institutions should pay attention to the discussion around them – especially on the need for more clarity about what they mean and transparency – and about the development of a European approach to micro-credentials.
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GLOBAL
Marguerite J Dennis
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GLOBAL
Andrew Wigley
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UNITED STATES
Dan Kent
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VIETNAM
Quan-Hoang Vuong and Hiep Pham
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| Transformative Leadership: Social Impact and Civic Engagement |
INDIA
Monika Maini
 The sudden switch to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic does not seem to be a temporary one, yet it has caused rising inequality and has highlighted the lack of a student voice in India’s higher education system, particularly for the most disadvantaged students.
| Transformative Leadership: Webinar on Social Impact |
GLOBAL
 On 27 January 2021 University World News, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, will be bringing together experts and practitioners from the International Association of Universities, the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities and the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program in an online webinar on how universities can improve their social impact.
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