Africa Top Stories
GLOBAL-AFRICA
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Millions pledged for research on tropical diseases
Elias Ngalame
Adequate investment in human and infrastructural resources to tackle the health impact of the climate crisis in Africa has been at the centre of multiple demands by academic experts at the climate change conference, or COP28, taking place in Dubai until 12 December.
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SOUTH AFRICA
Desmond Thompson
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GLOBAL
Eve Ruwoko
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SOUTH AFRICA
Patrick Fish and Linda Meyer
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Africa News
NIGERIA
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Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi
University students from three different public universities who have recently been appointed by President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria to serve on the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms will be able to contribute to the commitee’s work until March 2024.
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RWANDA-SUDAN
Alice Tembasi
A second group of Sudanese students have arrived in Rwanda to continue their studies. The group of 108 students from the Khartoum-based University of Medical Sciences and Technology will continue their studies at the University of Rwanda’s college of medicine and health sciences.
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EGYPT
Wagdy Sawahel
Egypt has launched its second earth observation satellite, the MisrSat-2, also known as EgyptSat-2, to study the growing impact of climate change on the environment, which, in turn, serves the country’s efforts to work towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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RWANDA
Jean d’Amour Mbonyinshuti
Following the arrest of a student whose baby was found dead in a dustbin, allegedly after an abortion, university staff of the University of Rwanda’s college of arts and social sciences have been trying to restore calm on the campus. Abortion is illegal in Rwanda.
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COP28
AFRICA-GLOBAL
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Elias Ngalame
The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, at Expo City in Dubai is attracting students, scientists and academics, especially from Africa, to a Greening Education Hub as a platform for educating first-time COP attendees. It is helping to empower the youth, in particular, during their stay.
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TUNISIA
Wagdy Sawahel
The development of a green workforce in Tunisia, one of the countries most exposed to climate change in the Mediterranean region, is a pressing priority to reduce the impact of climate change on people and businesses. The tertiary and private sector have to join forces, states a new report.
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AFRICA-EGYPT
Wagdy Sawahel
Egypt will be the host of the African Centre of Excellence on Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation, which will aim to enhance climate-related education and scientific research capacity in support of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and the corresponding goals of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
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Research
NIGERIA
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Gilbert Nakweya
Just as many adult workers struggle to balance family and work roles, potentially leading to inter-role conflict, adult students are likely to experience conflicting demands of academic and family roles, Uju Nnubia, a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, has found in a new study.
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Africa Blog
AFRICA
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Baylie Damtie, Allan Carlsson, and Abebaw Yirga Adamu
The leaders and managers of five higher education institutions from Sub-Saharan Africa and the non-profit global faith-based organisation LM International deliberated recently on higher education outcomes in the region, recognising the critical importance of quadruple helix actors-based university leadership.
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Academic Publishing
GLOBAL
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W Benedikt Schmal
A recent study suggests that female researchers make different publishing choices to their male counterparts, consciously rejecting publishers they consider unfair or exploitative. While rejecting journal prestige may be good for increasing marketplace competition, it could also come with career penalties.
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Africa Features
KENYA
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Eve Ruwoko
Strathmore University in Kenya has emerged as one of the ‘greenest’ universities in Africa, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Among its many sustainability initiatives are recycling, ‘green buildings’ and efforts to significantly reduce its environmental impact through a solar energy system.
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Top Africa Stories from Last Week
AFRICA
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Clemence Manyukwe
During preparatory events ahead of COP28, youth perspectives have been deliberately sought and are expected to be amplified as the 2023 presidency intends to “centre youth perspectives in international climate policy-making, setting a model for future COPs”. University World News spoke to students from Africa attending the event.
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AFRICA
Ylva Rodny-Gumede
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AFRICA
Clemence Manyukwe
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SOUTH AFRICA
Ruby-Ann Levendal
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AFRICA
Eve Ruwoko
The role universities play as centres of learning and bearers of knowledge allows institutions to lead research on climate science and use that knowledge to inform policy-making and practice in both climate adaptation and mitigation, says Dr Bob Manteaw from the University of Ghana.
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MAURITANIA
Wagdy Sawahel
The West African nation of Mauritania plans to establish its first university that will specialise in science education, including electrical, mechanical and civil engineering. It aims to supply the labour market with the academic, technical and professional competencies necessary for achieving sustainable development.
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Global Features
GLOBAL
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Brendan O’Malley
Tensions spawned by the conflict in Israel and Gaza are dividing campuses in some countries and making the task of engaging students in intercultural dialogue and international collaborations nigh impossible in others, the International Association of Universities’ annual conference, hosted in Doha, Qatar, was told.
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UNITED STATES-UKRAINE
Nathan M Greenfield
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EUROPE-CHINA
Yojana Sharma
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BULGARIA-UNITED KINGDOM
Nic Mitchell
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CANADA
Nathan M Greenfield
The fallout of the Israel-Hamas war is roiling the campuses of Canada’s two most storied universities – McGill in Montréal, Québec, and the University of Toronto. Jewish organisations report that students are feeling unsafe while Jewish faculty say they are witnessing the breakdown of collegial relationships.
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PALESTINE
Yojana Sharma
The implementation of the Education Above All Foundation programme’s Al Fakhoora scholarships, which aim to educate people from disadvantaged backgrounds and turn students into community leaders, is far from certain because five out of six universities in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed.
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NETHERLANDS
Jan Petter Myklebust
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Education for Sustainable Development
GLOBAL
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Half-way to the target date for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, University World News – in partnership with global quality assurance provider ABET – is publishing a series of special reports on how higher education can best equip students with the skills, knowledge and values needed to shape a sustainable future.
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GLOBAL
Patrick Blessinger and Abhilasha Singh
Perhaps the most important action that universities can undertake to create a more equitable and sustainable world is to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals as part of their vision, mission and values – and more specifically, integrate education for sustainable development, or ESD, across their teaching, research and service functions.
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GLOBAL-MALAYSIA
Karen MacGregor
Professor Dzulkifli Razak is an internationally respected figure in the field of education for sustainable development who created the idea of ‘communiversity’. The concept is unfolding locally at International Islamic University Malaysia, where he is the rector – from where it can possibly blossom globally.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Keith Nuthall
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PACIFIC ISLANDS
Kalinga Seneviratne
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Sponsored Article
UAE University staff
With an eye to developing a clean, alternative aviation fuel to reduce carbon emissions, researchers at the United Arab Emirates University have been focusing on the production of jet fuel from sustainable resources such as halophytes, which are salt-tolerant plants that could be cultivated on a wider scale in the region’s coastal areas.
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Sponsored Article
Michael Milligan
Artificial intelligence is now a part of our evolution in technology and teachers need to be encouraged to find ways to bring AI into the classroom and have students use it in a way that is beneficial to them in the long term.
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Sponsored Article
UAE University staff
As water scarcity reaches critical levels globally, a research team at the United Arab Emirates University seeks to revolutionise seawater desalination practices, offering a path to mitigate water scarcity while championing environmental preservation.
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