24 August 2023  Issue No: 417

Learning loss, an opportunity gap, polarisation and environmental and climate justice have in common systems of practices and policies that are pervasive and intentionally exclusionary. They reflect system failures. As educators, we must ask how we are contributing to the problem or solutions.

Zimbabwe’s government has deported British academic Professor Stephen Chan, accusing him of plotting to destabilise the country after the general elections on 23 August. Chan, a professor of world politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, has been doing community work in Africa.

The massive growth in student numbers has exacerbated a dire shortage of quality, affordable student housing in Africa. It has become one of the major challenges facing the higher education sector on the continent. The crisis is affecting the academic success of students who have shared their experiences with University World News. Apart from a few plans and public-private partnerships, governments and institutions appear to lack the appetite to act.

In Ethiopia, higher education stakeholders should discuss the emerging trend to award honorary degrees based on ethnic affiliations, in particular to persons who are part of ethnic groups in the area where the awarding university is geographically located. This has drawn criticism and has negative consequences for a society where national unity is a challenge.

A new study highlights the need for the training of research ethics committees in Sub-Saharan Africa tasked with reviewing data-intense research protocols where data protection and data sharing are important. This is to better handle the ethical, legal and social implications of big data-related research, which are inadequately supported by legislative and enforcement frameworks.

A group of students who staged a protest in front of the Mauritanian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research on 14 August about the lack of transparency in the awarding of foreign scholarships was dispersed by the riot police, leading to the hospitalisation of three students and the arrest of another two.

Globalisation is prompting democratic governments in Asia to introduce nationalist courses in universities. However, when the nationalist values such courses espouse are not embodied by government leaders, students may be more likely to question them.

In the rush to adopt new technologies, universities are at risk of compromising the most human of skills such as compassion and emotional intelligence. But it is precisely those values that hold the key to helping machine learning technology serve educators better.

The South Korean government’s new plan to attract 300,000 international students by 2027 will include the easing of visa rules and broadening of permissible language tests. The plan is geared towards addressing the country’s declining student population while also securing high-tech talent.