16 September 2021  Issue No: 328

An ambitious action plan has been proposed to connect African universities and other post-secondary education institutions on the continent to high-speed internet at a cost of US$52 billion, an expense that would also provide laptops to 15 million students and 500,000 teaching staff in the next five years.

Five African business schools are among 286 institutions globally that offer the world’s best Master of Business Administration degree programmes, according to QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a major ranking provider of analytics and other insights on the higher education sector worldwide.

The African Research Universities Alliance recognises the importance of postdoctoral research fellowships as a means to increase PhD graduates. What are some of the approaches, systems and structures that an institution can establish to advance this form of mentorship?

Being admitted to university and getting a scholarship is a great pleasure for every high school graduate. The government covers your tuition fees, and it provides you with a monthly allowance to cover the basics. Studying and getting paid monthly? I thought that managing my own money was going to change my lifestyle.

With the high prevalence of first adolescent pregnancy, Sub-Saharan African universities should join the comprehensive sex education movement to equip students with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values relevant to the African context to help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3 aimed at ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all.

Decolonising the curriculum is a necessary endeavour for universities. Far from ‘cancelling’ history and authors, it adds knowledge, embracing histories that have been erased in dominant interpretations of the past, and shows the interconnected nature of many historical events, allowing us to see them through new eyes.

The global economy is witnessing the emergence of a war for talent. With Chinese universities expected to produce nearly twice as many science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM PhD graduates by 2025 as their United States counterparts, what are the long-term implications for US economic and national security?