Special Reports – Africa Edition
The Technological Higher Education Network South Africa or THENSA is focusing much attention on competency-based learning and teaching, student entrepreneurship and changes in the workplace, including the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. At a gathering as part of its Higher Education Reform Experts South Africa or HERESA project, these topics were explored in greater depth.
PHOTO
Africa’s academic diaspora can work alongside their peers from higher education institutions in their homelands to build stronger, vibrant research communities and generate new knowledge. Successful and mutually beneficial projects involving researchers and teachers on various continents show that much can be achieved through these collaborative efforts.
PHOTO
Universities engaged in agricultural research and education are contributing to sustainable economic development through tackling food security challenges due to climate change and also by enabling the growth of agri-businesses and entrepreneurship. In these efforts, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture and its 143 member institutions are playing a leading role.
PHOTO
Globally, the human population grows by about 83 million people annually. As a result, food demand is expected to increase between 59% and 98% by 2050. As outlined by Sustainable Development Goal 2 – ending hunger – there is an urgent need to explore novel alternative and sustainable food and feed production chains. Insects may be a part of the solution.
PHOTO
What is an entrepreneurial university? What is the role of universities in nurturing a culture of entrepreneurship amid alarming youth unemployment rates in South Africa and the rest of Africa? What should the nature of entrepreneurial education be amid existing concerns over academic capitalism? Experts put their heads together during a four-day hybrid conference to consider these questions.
PHOTO
From the redesign of educational campus spaces to the evolving rules of engagement for virtual learnerships, the digitalisation of higher education has been affecting every aspect of university life. In this online environment, students are also developing new learning preferences, habits and skills that may be vital as they prepare to enter a rapidly changing world of work.
PHOTO
Africa has the world’s youngest population. Young Africans, therefore, will significantly determine Africa’s growth trajectory and its overall impact on the global economy. In the last edition of the Alliance for African Partnership public dialogue series, the difficulties and aspirations of the youth were interrogated by youth leaders, researchers and other stakeholders. In this special report, some youth leaders are responding to the challenges.
PHOTO
The first Nobel Prize Dialogue hosted by an institution in Africa on 18 May focused on the future of work in a world grappling with disruptive forces such as COVID-19, rapid technological advances and global inequalities. Nearly 6,000 people joined five Nobel laureates and other experts in a virtual science-meets-society conversation hosted by South Africa’s University of Pretoria. Together, they attempted to unravel what lies ahead for workers.
PHOTO
Africa’s youthful population is ready to spearhead a digital revolution in the frontier areas of data science and artificial intelligence. Virtual libraries, digital libraries and open-source learning materials are some of the initiatives supporting universities across the continent to grow these scarce skills. But institutions, still grappling with COVID-19 disruptions, rely on governments to provide the data infrastructure to take Africa into a digital future.
PHOTO
The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021, released in March, compared 13,883 individual programmes, at 1,440 universities globally, across 51 academic disciplines. Seventeen departments at African universities are among the world’s 100 best places to study their subjects. How does a department or a faculty become a top study destination? University World News asked a few universities to consider some of the important building blocks.
PHOTO