8 June 2023  Issue No: 409

Ongoing attacks on infrastructure since the start of the armed conflict in Sudan in mid-April, including on universities, hospitals, libraries and research centres, have intensified calls from academic and human rights circles for the need to safeguard higher education institutions during military clashes and to rebuild the sector in war-torn areas.

The implementation of the second phase of the African Continental Qualifications Framework has commenced as part of a grand plan to support the comparability, quality and recognition of qualifications between countries – including higher education qualifications. But the sustained commitment of stakeholders will be essential.

During a vibrant two years of regional collaboration around the masters programme in climate change and sustainable development for Southern Africa, a key take-away was the urgent need for a transdisciplinary and collaborative approach for the region to effectively address climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Universities are in a unique position to provide innovative solutions to challenges facing the African continent, but if universities are to be the engine of development, research must be approached in a trans-disciplinary manner, according to Sharon Fonn, professor of public health at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Many Rwandan lecturers struggle to teach the young about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. As the 100-day period during which a million people were killed is commemorated, experts consider the importance of education and how best to integrate the history into teaching and learning at university level.

Two universities in Africa are included in the overall top 100 of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023, which are geared to assessing institutions’ contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and two placed first globally for their contributions to individual SDGs.

A relentless attempt to curtail access to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programming is not a marker of bold leadership nourishing a robust democracy. On the contrary, it is indicative of a deep fear of the transformative potential of inclusive and equitable education.

Organisational change networks – including those that weave in and between colleges and universities of all types – exemplify the idea that so-called ‘weak’ connections between individuals who share a commitment to the transformative potential of undergraduate education can be major drivers of organisational change.

ABET, the global accreditor of more than 4,000 college and university programmes worldwide, has agreed a three-year partnership with University World News to support its coverage of higher education’s contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on education for sustainable development.

In the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023, which are geared to assessing institutions’ contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Australian and Canadian universities dominate the top 10 of the overall category, but Australia takes first place in seven of the individual 17 SDGs.