28 October 2021  Issue No: 334

As the world returns to ‘real’ new normal post-COVID, the higher education sector must make the time to understand the unintended consequences of online learning, ranging from the Zoom-bombing of lectures to the danger of lecturers becoming deepfakes. Institutional policies about privacy also matter.

Kenyan public universities have been dealt a big blow after the High Court in Nairobi barred institutions from increasing tuition fees. The court ruled the formula used to make the changes was unconstitutional as it was not subject to public consultation.

All university employees and students working and learning face-to-face, virtually, or in a hybrid format must make a deliberate effort to understand how the virtual workplace has been affecting work practice and productivity, and the morale of faculty, staff and students.

She is arguably Africa’s youngest university student, and she is studying medicine at the University of Malawi College of Medicine. Zimbabwean student Taida Mapara enrolled at university at the tender age of 14 but, due to COVID-19, she had to delay her studies until February 2021. She recently turned 16.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising rate of unemployment in Kenya make the phrase ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ a reality for many highly educated people when even having a PhD does not seem to carry much value.

This year’s Nobel laureates show the importance of international science and of investment in fundamental research. But all the winners are affiliated to universities in only three countries and all are men. Expanding path-breaking basic research globally would diversify themes and people.

India produces large numbers of engineers, but many don’t have the skills required by industry. The way the subject is taught needs reform, with more emphasis on learning by doing and dropping the nationwide curriculum to allow universities to adapt to associated industries’ requirements.

The gender gap in student enrolment in the United States has reversed so strongly since the 1970s that it now raises questions about whether the education system is biased against young men and what the implications are for men’s employment in the knowledge economy and for society at large.