22 June 2023  Issue No: 411

The African Research Universities Alliance and the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities have announced the launch of 17 joint Clusters of Research Excellence, each co-led by leading universities from each continent in an initiative set to transform the nature of collaborative research, foregrounding equity as a precondition for excellent and impactful research.

Professor Debra Roberts is one of the four nominees for chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC. If selected, Roberts will be the first climate scientist from Africa and the first woman to steer the panel, which, through its reports, provides a science-based lifeline to policy decision-makers about climate change.

The University of Johannesburg in South Africa has been named as the institution that makes the greatest contribution in the world towards Sustainable Development Goal or SDG 1, aimed at ending poverty in all its forms by 2030. What is the institution doing strategically and practically to pursue this goal?

While there are an increasing number of female students who choose to study at private institutions in Ethiopia, the number of females involved in teaching and leadership positions is either meagre or non-existent. Understanding the causes of and addressing this anomaly is necessary.

The time has come for the African research community to begin conducting more demand-driven research that can inform policy-making and create an impact on society. A shift towards impactful research that supports decision-making is especially urgent in view of limited funding to do research in Africa, noted experts at a recent webinar.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s critics will admit that he has proved to be a man on a mission. Within two weeks of assuming duty, he signed into law the Student Loan Bill, legislation that intends to help struggling students access higher education. But access is not the only problem that should be tackled in the system.

The case is increasingly being made for putting generative artificial intelligence to positive use in education. Higher education institutions should embrace AI through trial and error and put it to positive use, also rethinking the education they provide to students, delegates at a recent conference heard.

The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, or KNUST, in Ghana has been named as the institution that makes the greatest contribution in the world towards Sustainable Development Goal 4, which focuses on quality education. How did the university achieve this?

Sustainable development and sustainability are flawed concepts, but they have wide currency, and it is nevertheless better for tertiary education to engage with the notion than not to engage. As such, academics must grapple with the concepts, contest and advocate for better versions.

A new book which marks the 10th anniversary of the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation in Italy opens up opportunities for a meaningful conversation on the role of internationalisation of higher education as an intrinsic part of university practice and responsibility towards society.

More mainland Chinese students are opting to study in Asia rather than the West. While the trend is driven by relatively lower costs, experts say high failure rates among those sitting entrance examinations for higher degrees at China’s universities are also a factor.