4 February 2021  Issue No: 299

Sub-Saharan Africa’s small island states of Mauritius, Cape Verde and Seychelles are way ahead of inland countries in the race to expand access to and participation in tertiary education. This is part of a continental enrolment growth pattern that remains highly uneven, according to a new report.

The perception that there is a schism between scientists and the greater public is not new. While some may hold the view that this gap is widening, one man in South Africa is bucking the trend, according to one of the country’s leading science communicators. In fact, Professor Salim Abdool Karim has joined an elite group of experts across the world who are skilled in sharing information with ordinary people.

The departure of former University of the Witwatersrand vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib, who has just taken up the position of director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, leaves a yawning gap in thought leadership in South Africa. This gap is not confined to the university sector, but to South African society as a whole.

The University of Pretoria’s civic engagement unit is working with the department of family medicine to provide shelter and therapies to homeless people, recovering drug abusers and elderly people in communities hit by high rates of crime and deprivation on the university’s doorstep.

International higher education has reached a tipping point. Western institutions need to urgently address the inequality to which they are currently contributing and promote ethical internationalisation and sustainable development, educating our next generation of global citizens to be committed to working towards change.

There are many ways for universities to improve their social impact, but the key is listening to communities, learning from them, understanding their needs and working together to find solutions, speakers told a University World News webinar held in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

COVID-19 has accelerated the move to online higher education, but we should use this as an opportunity to question what we put online: it should not be about just teaching of knowledge, which may go out of date fast, but about active learning.

Wide-scale investment in upskilling has the potential to boost global GDP by US$6.5 trillion by 2030 and lead to the creation of 5.3 million net new jobs globally by 2030, according to a new World Education Forum report. But what role should higher education play?

The abrogation of the accord on the right of the military to enter the University of the Philippines marks an attack on academic freedom, given the university’s history as a place of sanctuary for indigenous communities protesting against authoritarian regimes, say members of its community.