14 September 2023  Issue No: 420

Academics in Libya are calling for those in power to pay more heed to scientific advice as it emerged that research published last year contained warnings about the possibility of flooding caused by a lack of dam maintenance in the area devastated by Storm Daniel.

The scrapping of the visa requirement for Congolese nationals travelling to Kenya or Tanzania, part of the benefits of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s East African Community membership, has been welcomed by Congolese students enrolled in higher education programmes in those two countries.

If higher education quality and better governance are the purposes of Ethiopia’s new regulation which allows for public universities to become autonomous institutions, appointing politicians to head the transition and the semi-privatisation of the country’s premier public higher institution is not the answer.

The student protests which called for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa between 2015 and 2017 were the focus of a recent two-day colloquium that explored the legacy of the ‘Fallism’ movement and its significance for the nature, orientation and composition of the African university.

We cannot afford to ignore the potential that AI offers the world, but especially in Africa. With the right investments and policies, African countries can leverage AI to drive growth and development in a number of sectors, from healthcare to agriculture and beyond.

A scientific team led by a fashion design and marketing lecturer is developing packaging using bio-waste. As well as saving the planet and providing jobs, a key part of the project – an affordable eco-friendly sanitary towel – will help African girls and women.

Suspending academic collaboration with China out of hand is unproductive and leads to mutual isolation. An open, mutually respectful and productive academic relationship between China and the West is vital to confront the severe geopolitical, climate, energy and healthcare challenges our world faces.

A former seasonal application reader urges universities in the United States to pay extra careful attention to admission processes and the way they are communicated to the public, particularly in the wake of the Operation Varsity Blues scandal and the more recent Supreme Court affirmative action ruling.

Poland has been chosen to host the upcoming Magna Charta Observatory anniversary conference to allow delegates to learn first-hand how Polish universities and society were responsive to the crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, exemplifying the principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum.