26 August 2021  Issue No: 325

In a road less travelled, selected universities and some tertiary institutions in Nigeria will be allocated public resources to train a large number of skilled professionals for overseas jobs. This comes amid growing concern across the continent about educated young people unable to find meaningful work in their home countries.

Internationalisation of higher education in Africa must assume a critical analysis of past and present inequalities and injustices against Africans and other marginalised groups and place South Africa and Africa at the centre of teaching, learning and research, integrating critical, anti-racist and anti-hegemonic learning about the world in order to enhance the quality of education.

The university must be literally grounded in the challenges confronting the community, the region, the nation and beyond. The engaged university is all about encouraging and liberating human agency. This is what the pandemic has shown us. None of the wider societal challenges can be solved without our ability to co-create, cooperate and collaborate.

It is 17:10 as Jackson Mbarushimana enters the gates of a blood transfusion centre located in the Huye district in the Southern Province of Rwanda. Clad in street clothes and holding a computer bag from the University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences, Mbarushimana has just completed a continuous assessment test. “Let me just put on a uniform and take over from my colleague,” he says.

Although work is being done in the higher education sector to curb predatory publishing practices, academics and students have to recognise that they have a responsibility to ensure that their own research and publication practices comply with the highest standards of quality and integrity in scientific research.

A policy change to doctoral education in Vietnam, specifically the withdrawal of a stipulation for PhD students to publish in international journals, seems to mark a U-turn by the government and has generated considerable debate. Under the old policy, for three years Vietnam’s publication of articles in prestigious international journals grew by 39% a year.

After 18 months of global disruption by COVID-19, including of higher education, it is time to shine light and reflect upon two active areas of response – educational technologies and innovation. How have these pre-existing spheres evolved since institutions shifted online? What’s happening? How might they help tackle inequalities in the sector locally and globally? How might they shape teaching and learning, and higher education’s future? These are some of the questions probed in two Special Reports, published this week and last week.

Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries are opening up to students fleeing the conflict-torn country after the Taliban take-over, amid fears that disruption and uncertainty could make it difficult for them to continue higher education in Afghanistan.