31 August 2023  Issue No: 418

A total of 104 government and private higher education institutions in Sudan, as well as research centres and the National Fund for Student Welfare have been damaged and vandalised since April when the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces became embroiled in a war.

The Southern African Regional Universities Association will be driving the ‘Engaged University’ initiative that calls for the use of participatory approaches towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs at higher education institutions within the Southern African Development Community.

Zimbabwe has made great strides in the fight against HIV/AIDS and is one of five countries in Africa to have reached the 95-95-95 target, according to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2023 report. Researchers at the University of Zimbabwe are playing a key role in the success.

Vice-chancellors must champion the advancement portfolio, position the universities they lead and build networks that sustain the institution. Instead, the advancement portfolio is often undervalued by the executive management, and staff in this portfolio are excluded from strategic planning at the highest level.

Before we entrust more power to artificial intelligence in higher education, we must remember that AI tools and platforms propagate the biases, bigotry and epistemic injustices that have plagued higher education worldwide since the European colonial conquest and which continue to this day.

Despite the huge untapped potential for a knowledge-driven economy, the African academic and research community is missing out on the numerous opportunities that come with the open-access publishing of books.

The deportation of South African researchers and British academic Stephen Chan ahead of the 23 August election in Zimbabwe suggests that academic freedom, which includes the freedom to conduct research, is not guaranteed. It has been used as an intimidation tool since colonial times.

It is now or never for Kenya as its government banks on technical and vocational education and training or TVET institutions to ready the country for the future. The pace of industrialisation and technological advancements has signalled to countries keen on growth that they no longer have the luxury of time.

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.

Countries like China and Vietnam have responded to globalisation with nationalist political programming in higher education. But that puts them in opposition to growing internationalisation efforts among the universities themselves which seek to compete with each other and make their mark in global rankings.

Educators will need more than ever to understand the unique value of a human and to perceive large language models as legitimate and useful sources of ideas rather than shortcuts and avenues for cheating, according to tech-focused educational entrepreneur and author Priten Shah.

While the United Kingdom played a critical role in helping to shape global and European higher education, at a time when adherence to internationalisation, collaboration and scientific exchange is so badly needed, the UK appears to have decided to exit the world stage.

Interest is soaring in degree and graduate apprenticeships which are expected to be listed alongside university degrees on the United Kingdom’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service or UCAS website from 2024, but experts point to a gap between the positive rhetoric and hard government policy.