14 October 2021  Issue No: 332

Universities currently negotiate a marked tension between market orientation and addressing community needs. But there is growing concern that, if universities do not work for the benefit of society or in response to community needs, the inequities that plague the current generation will be more readily reproduced in the next.

Universities are the single most influential institutions in societies all over the world. But as such they also have the potential to perpetuate inequalities and social injustice, Ira Harkavay of the University of Pennsylvania told the second Universities South Africa national higher education conference.

A recent Constitutional Court decision on the use of Afrikaans in a South African university raises questions about what and who the language represents and about language policies in universities in a multilingual society where English dominates.

Egerton University in Kenya has played a vital role in my entrepreneurship journey. A business plan competition set the process in motion and the execution of the plan was made possible through training in financial management, human resource management, digital marketing and business planning and pitching, among others.

Zimbabwean scientist and researcher Prince Matova often received prizes for science in high school but, more than two decades later, he has landed a prestigious international award: the Young Scientist Award 2021, in recognition of his work in the mutation breeding of cowpea and maize over the past 10 years.

The human right to quality education for all is vital and must be ensured, whether under conditions we may naively have considered normal or under emergency circumstances. But to understand what kind of education we need and what quality means, we first need to ask what kind of society we want.

Higher education needs to take bullying and harassment more seriously. Universities must stop enabling leaders to get away with atrocious behaviour that perpetuates a bullying culture, and must tackle workplace environments that provide fertile ground for harassment to flourish.

Structures that keep teaching and learning as discreet acts, themselves divided from research and from ‘social impact’ beyond academic walls, mean little to the young generation of scholars who attended last week’s conference of the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities, a global coalition of 417 universities in 79 countries. The students’ motto is “integrate, integrate, integrate” and their call is for universities and the academy to push beyond traditional silos.

The Singapore parliament this week passed legislation to counter foreign interference that could threaten its national security and sovereignty, amid growing concerns globally about the use of digital tools and campaigns by foreigners to advance their national interests abroad. But critics said the law could impact on free speech and academic freedom and academics are calling for more safeguards for free and open inquiry and research.