10 June 2021  Issue No: 317

A total of 31 African universities are on a list of 1,300 universities in the world that have been ranked in the QS World University Rankings based on indicators including academic reputation, citations per faculty, employer reputation, faculty to student ratio, ratio of international faculty members and the ratio of international students.

The establishment of data policy units at national, sub-regional and regional levels across Africa has been mooted as a strategy to generate comparable higher education data critical for policy formulation and debate on a continental scale. This was the focus of one of a series of workshops hosted by the Association of African Universities ahead of its general conference in July.

South African student voices have largely remained unheard in formal discussions around COVID-19. A pandemic that should not be put to waste, COVID-19, on some podiums, is seen as laying the groundwork for the germination of seeds of change. A book with 15 stories written by students grew from this crisis and forms part of an effort to decolonise higher education.

Whether it is juggling between raising a child, getting an education, or keeping up the walls of a crumbling apartment, Algerian students clutch onto free education like the air they breathe with surprising tenacity – so much so that it is no surprise that some give up midway to keep up with the harsh flow of life.

A training programme for lecturers to design courses, teach and assess online has snowballed into a display of solidarity and social responsibility as lecturers volunteered to train their colleagues. As a result, several African universities have, amid funding needs, tapped into internal resources to build capacity and move programmes online.

Sustainability is the buzzword in international higher education. But we must aspire to do more and focus on regeneration through all aspects of the educational process. Sustainability strives to uphold the status quo – a regenerative mindset looks to heal and invest, rather than merely prevent.

An analysis of a project in Brunei on digital literacy for underserved communities shows how the arts, humanities and social sciences contribute to ensuring that, post-COVID, no one gets left behind when it comes to digital learning.

After China targeted academics and a research centre in Europe for its first ever sanctions against foreign researchers in March 2021, many feared it would have a wide scholarly impact. But at a webinar this week, researchers said their work has hardly been impacted, since it had previously already been hampered by unofficial restrictions and harassment.