21 April 2022  Issue No: 356

Representatives of Education International member organisations in Africa have called upon governments on the continent to combat the growing privatisation and commercialisation in and of education provisioning, to make tertiary education free as envisaged by Sustainable Development Goal 4 and to increase their investment in the public sector.

African higher education institutions are steadily scaling the academic ladder as 23 university departments in three countries were among the world’s 100 best places to study subjects they offer, according to the 12th edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022.

A training programme offered by Ain Shams University in Egypt, aimed at encouraging university students to participate in activities focused on climate change, raise youth awareness of critical environmental issues and foster their engagement with relevant stakeholders at national, regional and global levels, intends to reach 1,600 students in various regions in Africa.

If they are not to be condemned to irrelevance, universities in Africa must strengthen their research and teaching and adopt a proactive stance in responding to the institutional and development demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, according to Paul Zeleza, academic, higher education commentator and former vice-chancellor.

Given their importance, it can no longer be assumed that students’ social-emotional skills, traditionally emphasised by primary and secondary schools, are sufficient. Universities need to make social-emotional learning part of their operations if they want to keep students engaged, thriving and learning.

Book reviewing should be recognised by academic auditors as an actual measurable output, labour that is a direct, symbolic and critical investment in the scholarly community as a whole. Reviewing can also become a building block in developing a career, a portfolio and a global network.

When the boat that students Joseph Nguthiru and Charles Kinyua were travelling on got stuck in water hyacinth during a field trip on Kenya’s Lake Naivasha in June 2021, little did they know it would set them on the path to becoming global engineering award winners.

In the absence of state budget allocations and a national policy on nanotechnology research, Nigeria is missing out on the potential benefits of this burgeoning field, according to a new study. In comparison, during the period studied, South Africa has made huge strides.

The different ways of forging knowledge and understanding issues which are being produced in response to African realities are increasingly re-influencing academic thinking in the Global North, according to Madeleine Arnot, professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge.

A recent study shows that despite a shared belief in the importance of scholarly collaborations, geopolitical tensions between the China and the United States have made international collaboration between the two countries less worthwhile and, in some cases, risky for scientists.

An analysis of Russian speculative fiction reveals the role of popular literature in the production of a ‘social imaginary’ which contains traces of the trauma associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union and informs the current invasion and attempted subjugation of Ukraine.