10 February 2022  Issue No: 346

Ahead of the African Union and European Union summit on 17-18 February a network of leading research universities spanning both continents have reiterated a recent call on governments to foreground research and innovation capacity in Africa as a fundamental pillar for future geopolitical cooperation.

Student affairs directorates within universities have unique roles to play in ensuring quality in higher education by maximising opportunities for students to graduate equipped with a high level of success and holistic development and allowing them to acquire essential graduate attributes.

As a new leader, everything you do and say matters and is closely watched. You are in a perpetual fishbowl. The impressions you create and form in the first few weeks after taking on a top job often last for the duration of your tenure.

It is with sadness that University World News reports the death of Tunde Fatunde, a Nigerian professor of Francophone studies at Lagos State University and one of our longest-standing correspondents. Fatunde was an interesting and insightful man, friendly yet fiery about his beliefs, his defence of humanity and his love of Africa.

COVID-19 has dampened academic research productivity even though virtual conferences and webinars have become an antidote for visa denials and a shortage of travel funding. Where academic publishing is concerned, there may be solutions to promote development in African countries, as well as increase international support.

The African student community has expressed concern over the negative impact of coups in the West Africa region on the delivery of quality education as well as on the welfare of students, and they have appealed to the Economic Community of West African States to step up its commitments to the protection of democracy.

African academic researchers have been urged to stop writing long, dry and complex research papers that are meant for other scholars only, but to also consider best practices of sharing their research with lay audiences to increase their use in policy- and decision-making agendas.

Higher education in Africa has become a frequently researched topic from 2000 onwards, but the systems in 45 out of 54 countries on the continent have barely been studied and 20 countries lack internal higher education expertise. This is a matter of concern, states a new study.

While the European Students’ Union welcomes some of the recent proposals on European higher education strategy, it wants to see stakeholders, including students, represented within the High-Level Group on Education and Training, and to see students involved at the national level, shaping governments’ positions on European Education Area issues.

Many universities in the United States have started the semester online due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID. They need to think sensitively about the support they offer to international students, many of whom are fearing for their health and their finances.

Universities need to look beyond the traditional source countries when deciding how best to target international student recruitment. But diversification strategies also need to create more inclusive campuses, say experts behind a new study into the next frontiers for diversifying student recruitment.