8 July 2021  Issue No: 321

The Association of African Universities has launched an initiative with a private partner to provide universities, academics and students on the continent with access to a low-data online learning management system that could provide support amid the ongoing migration, due to COVID-19, to a blended and online learning environment.

African universities face a dicey future due to shrinking financing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could trigger campus closures, drastic job cuts and sloppy quality of learning, educationalists have warned.

In 2050 when Africa will have an estimated 2.5 billion people, 25.5% of the world’s population, quality and transformative higher education, enabled by leadership and partnerships, will be indispensable to turn this explosive growth into a demographic dividend rather than a disaster for Africa and the world, according to a presentation at the virtual general conference of the Association of African Universities.

Several studies in Africa and elsewhere have found that nomophobia, an addiction to smartphones, can negatively affect students’ sleeping patterns, levels of energy, eating habits, weight and exercise. The most concerning finding, however, is the adverse effect on academic performance.

Given the combination of the technology revolution and a COVID-related recession, graduates face a difficult labour market. They need a different type of careers education at universities that encourages new, more entrepreneurial skills and is better suited to a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.

The past year has seen a spate of unethical behaviour in higher education leadership. Is there a reason for this or are we just getting better at reporting some cases of abuse – and will cuts targeting the humanities have an impact on ethical accountability?

Many of the almost 160,000 Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities in 2020 were ‘self-censoring’ to avoid threats and harassment from their Chinese classmates, and because they fear being ‘reported on’ to the authorities back home, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.