24 June 2021  Issue No: 319

With an increase in the number of African countries included in the global top 100 start-up ecosystems, the continent’s universities should use this as an engine of job creation and economic growth. Universities could extend a helping hand to local and regional start-ups through tech-specific initiatives such as incubators and accelerators, as well as entrepreneurship courses within the curriculum.

Universities on the continent are calling for the establishment of a Higher Education Fund for Africa, to aid in the strengthening of teaching capacity in the institutions. They argue that such a fund would also help to boost the number of women faculty and researchers engaged in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as STEM fields, in higher learning institutions.

Higher education policy leaders in Africa require a radical shift in their mindset and to view scholars in the diaspora as significant collaborators and partners who can play a critical role in helping to revitalise higher education in Africa. The contribution of the diaspora will also be explored during the Association of African Universities upcoming general conference.

Heads of universities in collaboration with governments need to know that the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution or 4IR on students is huge. If what students learn is not relevant to what the outside world needs, then they are left outside the folds of the labour market. Universities and the government need to provide an environment in which students can learn how to use the tools of 4IR.

A non-profit organisation that aims to equip one million African youths in technology skills has, as its partner, a growing education platform that has millions of learners enrolled in courses ranging from blockchain and cryptocurrency to artificial intelligence. As a largely free platform, this could bolster efforts to upskill unemployed youth.

The delayed Magna Charter Universitatum 2020, signed for the first time earlier this week at an event attended by hundreds of university leaders, updates the original and emphasises the responsibilities of institutions to civil society, to global networks as well as local communities and social justice.

The next president of the International Association of University Presidents or IAUP, Fernando León García, talks to University World News about the challenges facing university leaders in addressing the pandemic and its aftermath and IAUP’s key priorities in the next three years: recovery and transformation, innovation and inclusion.