‘Unique, cherished and respected by its audience’

Our distinguished readers, partners and contributors give us rewarding feedback on the last 10 years of University World News – Africa, and in doing so, help us to fine-tune our ongoing contribution to higher education in Africa and the world.

The Association of African Universities (AAU) extends its heartiest congratulations to the University World News Africa edition on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. Ten years in the history of any organisation is indeed an important milestone worth celebrating. It presents an opportune moment to look back at its past achievements, reflect on its current situation and plan for its future.

Being quite familiar with the work of University World News (UWN), it is impressive to see how far the organisation has come from its modest beginnings.

Today’s higher education institutions are being challenged by massification, marketisation, internationalisation, and globalisation. Along with these is a wide range of other challenges, including access to quality and timely information.

The subject of quality in higher education is very close to the heart of the Association of African Universities. With a membership of 400 higher education institutions, spread across all the five regions of the continent of Africa, our mission is to raise the quality of higher education in Africa and strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development.

UWN Africa has been a great partner of the AAU and has played an important role in advertising key AAU events such as the 14th General Conference and 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the AAU held in June 2017. Over the years UWN has played a key role in sharing and disseminating information among the African higher education community.

While wishing UWN Africa the best in its operations going forward, our expectation is the Africa Edition will continue to share timely and accurate information for the benefit of stakeholders of African higher education.

We congratulate UWN Africa and all its stakeholders on its 10th anniversary.

Long live UWN Africa Edition.

Long live African higher education.

The Association of African Universities


The Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) congratulates the Africa Edition of University World News on the celebration of its 10th anniversary.

UWN Africa plays an indispensable role in discussing challenges relating to the higher education sector on the continent, and relating them to the broader agenda for the African development goals as articulated in the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Crucially, the Africa Edition provides a forum for situating matters that enjoy attention globally, such as the role of ranking systems, the need for system differentiation, debates on employability and graduateness, new forms of higher education provision, and the use of educational technology, within the realities of the African continent.

It is important that higher education policy-makers and leaders should develop approaches and solutions that take account of pressing continental challenges, such as the need to strengthen research, to improve access, and to promote mobility amongst staff and students. UWN Africa provides the means for sharing good practices and innovative solutions to these challenges, and pointing its readers to key resources and opportunities for collaboration and the exchange of ideas

Since its inception in 2005, SARUA has enjoyed a strong relationship with UWN Africa, which has provided vital support for the association’s vision of promoting visionary and effective regional and institutional leadership and revitalising higher education within the Southern African Development Community. We look forward to our continuing relationship, and wish UWN Africa well in its continuing role of supporting higher education development on the continent.

Professor Martin J Oosthuizen, executive director, Southern African Regional Universities Association


The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) wishes to congratulate University World News (UWN) on its 10th anniversary. IUCEA recognises the contribution of UWN in keeping the higher education community abreast with news and information from the sector. IUCEA values the partnership with UWN and the publicity of its activities on its news platform over the years. Thank you for the support and we wish you many more decades of continued success.

IUCEA is the strategic institution of the East African Community (EAC) responsible for the development and coordination of higher education and research in the region. It’s a membership institution for public and private universities, university colleges or other degree granting institutions operating in the partner states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Currently there are 123 member institutions from the partner states. The IUCEA secretariat is located in Kampala, Uganda.

One of the functions of the IUCEA is to maintain high and comparable academic standards in higher education regionally and internationally, with a special emphasis on the promotion of quality assurance, quality management and maintenance of comparable international academic standards in the East African universities. As such, the East African Higher Education Quality Assurance Network (EAQAN), a network of quality assurance practitioners, was established in 2012. EAQAN is working to promote a culture of quality assurance in higher education in East Africa.

The Inter-University Council for East Africa


On behalf of the Association of West African Universities (AWAU), I write this message of fraternity to felicitate with you as you commemorate 10 years of success and glory.

As an avenue for news dissemination about higher education worldwide, University World News has provided a global platform, the first of its kind, which keeps its readership close, engaged and informed. Featuring prominent and reputable journalists as well as the provision of a free weekly update via email are among the factors that make UWN unique, cherished and respected by its audience. You are indeed an intellectual news outfit for the world intellectual community.

We in AWAU strongly believe that your online service as a news platform for higher education around the globe is a giant leap towards the globalisation of academic leadership, researchers and higher education policy-makers.

I wish you more success as you strive to make academia more collaborative, global and engaging. Accept my hearty congratulations, please.

Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, FCVSN, secretary-general, Association of West African Universities, and vice-chancellor, Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa State, Nigeria


The Center for International Higher Education (CIHE) at Boston College congratulates the African Edition of University World News on its 10th anniversary. Higher education in Africa has long been rather invisible in mainstream media coverage of higher education, but the Africa edition of UWN has played an important role in overcoming this gap by bringing news and analysis related to higher education on the continent to a global audience.

We appreciate the collaboration between CIHE with the African Edition of University World News in this effort and look forward to continuing that collaboration in the years to come.

Hans de Wit, Philip Altbach and Laura Rumbley, director, founding director and associate director, Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, United States


African universities face many challenges: rapidly growing numbers of students, insufficient resources, poor quality and relevance, corruption and inadequate governance. In many countries, lack of information and statistics makes it difficult to analyse the situation, monitor its evolution and plan forward. In this context, the African edition of University World News has filled an important gap by providing insightful analysis and up-to-date information on the evolution of African tertiary education systems. Congratulations on your 10th anniversary!

Jamil Salmi, global tertiary education expert


We should all be thankful to the founders of University World News for delivering at our doorsteps every Sunday information on the universities and other relevant social issues. I found particularly interesting the report on the death of our colleagues in Ekiti State University and also the report of similar situations in Nigerian universities. This endeared me to UWN.

Dr Ambrose Emasele, department of physics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria


It is difficult to actually point to a particular report which catches my attention. All I can say is that it has become a very important source of information with regards to universities all over the world. I hope it will simply remain alive to its responsibility.

Professor Ekejika Isreal, department of economics, University of Uyo, Nigeria


The UWN report on the violation of the rights of academics by Paul Biya of Cameroon which was supported by the Nigerian state is commendable. This article is a work of advocacy that has opened the eyes of several academics with regard to the hypocrisy of the Nigerian state.

Dr Richard Akinfe, department of sociology, University of Jos, Nigeria


University World News is an important source of information with regard to events in university communities in this globalised world. I am a regular reader of articles published in this weekly tabloid. I find inspiring its articles on the funding of tertiary institutions. They reveal how the Nigerian state pays lip service to funding of tertiary institutions. I am most particularly happy with the alternative views expressed by writers in University World News about how to develop and strengthen African universities.

Professor Basset Agbi, department of law, University of Calabar, Nigeria


Thanks for your balanced, accurate and independent coverage of all aspects of university life in Africa and for acting as a virtual platform for open and critical discussion of key issues in African higher education. University World News Africa has done a great job in being a real think tank for improving the higher education sector, both within and beyond the African region.

Abdallah Daar, a member of the Independent Strategic and Scientific Advisory Board of the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa


Congratulations on a decade of hard work involving the monitoring and analysing of higher education issues in the 10 African Arab states. Well done on the marvellous job of serving the university community in the region. Keep up the good work.

Magdi Tawfik Abdelhamid, higher education, science and technology expert and professor at Cairo's National Research Centre, Egypt


I want to extend my best wishes to everyone who has contributed to the success of UWN Africa. In only one decade, UWN has become a hub for knowledge allowing a North-South mutual understanding of the issues of higher education on both individual and system levels. UWN Africa crossed the boundaries of citizenship bringing integrity and transparency of information and thus became a highly regarded professional publication in the field of higher education.

UWN Africa provides quality and timely information from a variety of experts to a larger audience across the globe. It provides a worldwide platform for the actors in the African higher education systems that have been historically marginalised. It is the voice of oppressed students, staff and faculty through my favourite section ‘Academic Freedom’. It has become a real ambassador of African higher education. It is a must-read for all international and comparative higher education scholars.

Manar Sabry, senior assistant director for strategic analysis, Binghamton University, State University of New York. Middle East and North Africa region editor, Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education


It is a great pleasure to congratulate University World News – Africa for its 10 years of existence. Through a rich exchange of good practices and relevant analyses, it has helped to improve understanding of the challenges and opportunities of higher education in Africa, which is characterised by diverse systems and language barriers.

Juma Shabani, former director of development, coordination and monitoring of UNESCO programmes with a special focus on Africa


I wish to congratulate University World News – Africa on the distinguished work, over a decade, serving the academic community in the region. This is the result of hard and dedicated work in presenting reliable and authoritative news, deep analysis and different views about higher education development in North Africa. I have had great pleasure working with UWN. Keep going and best of luck.

Algerian Professor Abdelkader Djeflat, higher education expert based at the University of Lille (France) and chairman of the Maghtech Network


The unique success of University World News resides in its capacity to address the dimensions of subject, audience and time at one go. It is a platform that covers a wide array of higher education issues that matter to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including policy-makers, researchers, scholars (experienced or novice) and the wider public. Its capacity to present a variety of news, issues, perspectives and case studies in a timely manner and in accessible language is its additional quality.

With its fortnightly African edition, University World News has contributed much more than any similar publication I know of in terms of focus, diversity and bringing forth the continent’s challenges and achievements at a time when Africa’s higher education is grappling with a variety of challenges and developments.

Aside from serving as a useful continental resource, it has offered global and African contributors special opportunities to share their views and experiences both with those who want to keep abreast of a fast-changing environment or those who wish to check once in a while what is happening in the global and African higher education arena.

It is both an honour and a privilege to be able to congratulate the University World News family on their 10th anniversary and contribute to its continued success. I hope the next 10 years will provide University World News with ample and strengthened opportunities for growth and prosperity. Happy 10th year anniversary!

Wondwosen Tamrat, UWN Africa contributor and associate professor and founding president of St Mary’s University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia


On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of UWN Africa it is both a pleasure and honour to express congratulations to you all for the wonderful job you are doing. First, I appreciate the efforts of UWN founders and staff in developing this comprehensive dissemination platform of well-researched articles and news on higher education issues across the globe.

UWN presents complex scientific or statistical concepts in a simple but powerful way easily understood by readers and the use of non-technical terms is the uniqueness of UWN. Moreover, best practices are shared on the platform without regard for the developed versus developing country divide.

Second, the timely release and detailed issue every week (Global) and every second week (Africa) is another achievement. As a reader, I receive detailed information from across the globe – sometimes from my home country, which could not be possible without UWN. I believe UWN has made a positive contribution to the development of higher education over the past 10 years and that it has the potential for even greater accomplishment in the years to come.

Simon Ngalomba is a lecturer in the department of educational foundations, management and lifelong learning in the School of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is a contributor to UWN Africa


I congratulate the entire team of journalists who have worked for University World News’ Africa edition and the many distinguished university leaders and higher education experts who have contributed commentary and analysis.

They have played a very significant role in creating a unique and valuable publication serving African higher education and communicating its achievements and challenges to the wider world.

But they have also played a vital role in helping to make and sustain University World News as a high-quality and truly international publication that has earned the respect of the higher education community worldwide.

On a personal level, the contribution of former UWN Africa director and editor Karen MacGregor to the edition as its creator and to University World News as a whole as a founding editor has been immense – and we wish her very able successor, Sharon Dell, the best of luck in realising her vision for the edition in future.

Brendan O’Malley, chairman of Higher Education Web Publishing, publisher of University World News, and managing editor of University World News