19 January 2023  Issue No: 389

Academics based in 70 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia will be able to have their primary research published Gold Open Access by a selection of Nature journals – at no cost – thus enabling their work to be permanently and freely available online for anyone to read.

Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, the vice-chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, survived an apparent assassination attempt earlier in January. He remains determined to stay at the institution, but is deeply frustrated about the lack of action from the authorities despite evidence relating to alleged corruption.

Nigeria has 37 fully accredited medical schools – not enough to accommodate the number of hopeful prospective students. In one instance, 4,500 students applied for 150 slots. This forces Nigerian students to study abroad. When they come back, the arduous process of being allowed to practise in Nigeria starts.

There is a growing need to leverage human capital and invest in green skills among African youths as they are an essential component of building climate-resilient economies. This was the message during the launch of a climate change entrepreneurship centre at Ba Isago University in Botswana.

Managing ethnic diversity in Ethiopian public universities is not an easy task, but it is worth investing in because the benefit of managing diversity goes beyond higher education and contributes to the political and social stability of a country that has been gripped, in recent times, by internal strife.

Labour unions down tools to improve their conditions of service, but when university staff went on strike from 17 October to 14 December in Ghana’s public university sector, they did not only exert pressure on the government. The strikers, themselves – and students – were negatively affected.

Professor Ernest Aryeetey, a consummate academic, researcher, lecturer and former vice-chancellor, believes there is a need to get politics out of universities. The secretary general of the African Research Universities Alliance also hopes that universities, through their research, will increasingly persuade governments to see them as partners in policy-making.

Late last year, the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand initiated a process to eliminate 170 academic jobs to cut costs. The Employment Relations Authority found that the university’s approach breached its collective employment agreement with staff and their union, and ordered it to withdraw the termination notices.

United Kingdom international higher education faces strong challenges in the new year from a government that appears keen to reduce dependant visas and cap student numbers, despite the economic benefits international students bring, to a housing crisis that deprives students of a first-class experience and damages the reputation of UK universities.

Last month’s abduction of marine biologist Volodymyr Vorovka marks the continuation of Russia’s brutal and criminal campaign against Ukrainian intellectuals and civic leaders that predates the 24 February 2022 invasion and recalls the active destruction of Ukraine’s intelligentsia by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s.

Elections can profoundly impact on universities and colleges. New leaders and parties have new political agendas, and higher education is frequently prominent on their lists, with implications for funding, teaching and research, staff and students, and interactions with society and the economy. For two weeks University World News investigates recent elections and higher education in countries the world over.