5 October 2023  Issue No: 423

As the fighting of the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces enters its sixth month, the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences has appealed to national, regional and international academic institutions to help university staff and students who have been displaced in the country’s armed conflict.

The need to strengthen the capacity of leaders in higher education so that they can drive much-needed change in the sector was high on the agenda at a three-day workshop of Higher Education Reform Experts South Africa held in Johannesburg from 2-4 October.

As the global community races to meet the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, universities continue to play a leading role in upholding sustainability practices and policies through knowledge co-production, community engagement and research in many activities and operations.

Academics, professionals and business leaders commonly acknowledge that science, technology and innovation are the most influential forces behind economic growth in societies. How, then, should universities approach innovation, entrepreneurship, social development and educational reforms in the requisite transdisciplinary manner – and in support of the Sustainable Development Goals?

Moroccan higher education institutions’ curricula and syllabi should teach students critical thinking and digital literacy skills to help them counter the challenges of misinformation and the spread of fake news, according to a study emanating from the challenges posed by social networking sites.

A volatile political landscape in South Africa is manifesting itself in campus politics where the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters’ student wing has been elected to represent students in governance structures on the teaching sites of several universities and technical and vocational education and training colleges.

Reforms instituted in Zimbabwe’s public higher education sector in the past five years have contributed to commercial ventures cutting across 16 sectors, including the establishment of 100 student-run start-ups. How do these activities align with the role of universities in society?

Students in Burkina Faso and Niger blocked from studying in France through that country’s withdrawal of visa facilities are being urged to consider alternative higher education options for 2024. As diplomatic relations continue to deteriorate, time is running out for prospective international students.

Politicisation of universities is not new, but it is moving rapidly from the margins to the centre of global higher education and is undermining core values of academia in the process. So far, with few exceptions, opposition has been weak or non-existent.

While there is no expectation that American higher education institutions should automatically forgive what is owed to them by students who have dropped out, better attention and care should be given to the financial upheaval created for specific populations in recovering lost revenue.

Confirmation that acclaimed Uyghur ethnography professor Rahile Dawut, who founded a Uyghur folklore institute at China’s Xinjiang University and is known for her international collaborations, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by authorities in Xinjiang province has sent shock waves around the world.