Special Reports – Africa Edition
AAP: Universities and the COVID-19 Pandemic
AFRICA-GLOBAL
COVID-19 impact – Opportunities for partnership and engagement
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How can universities strengthen both local and regional collaborations, while leveraging the already existing international collaborations? In this, the sixth and final edition of the dialogue series hosted by the Alliance for African Partnership or AAP, representatives of philanthropic foundations, global financial institutions and private sector organisations unpack the implications of COVID-19 for partnerships and engagement.
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AFRICA
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
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AFRICA-GLOBAL
Sharon Dell
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AFRICA-UNITED STATES
Nurturing mental health and resilience in the time of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a significant emotional and psychological toll on university communities. In this, the fifth of a six-part dialogue series, hosted by the Alliance for African Partnership or AAP, university leaders discussed the lessons learned from and responses to mental health impacts of COVID-19 in higher education. The next webinar – on opportunities for partnership and engagement – is on 8 July.
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KENYA
Sharon Dell
When teaching and learning activities moved online at the United States International University-Africa, so did student counselling services, which are continuing to reach out and support students through what is known as ‘teletherapy’.
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UNITED STATES
Karen MacGregor
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on mental health on campuses in the United States these past four months – massive not only in levels of fear, anxiety and stress, but also in the large numbers of people who have needed emotional support, says Jonathon Novello, a clinical social worker and counsellor at Michigan State University.
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AFRICA
Karen MacGregor
Amid the psychosocial fallout of COVID-19 on campuses, where fear and anxiety levels run high, some actions have proved helpful to students and staff including collegiality, regular debriefings and intensive, clear communication. There has been demand for resilience and life skills training.
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AFRICA
Food and nutrition security during COVID-19 – Lessons learnt
Reduced food and nutrition security, particularly for the poor, as a result of COVID-19 prompts an immediate policy response. In the fourth of a six-part dialogue series hosted by the Alliance for African Partnership or AAP, university leaders discussed the lessons learned from and policy responses to economic, food security and livelihood impacts of COVID-19 in Africa. The next webinar – dealing with the mental health impacts of COVID-19 in Africa – is on 24 June.
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AFRICA
Sharon Dell
Food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa is not news – the region is widely recognised as the world’s most food insecure. And, as participants to last week’s webinar highlighted, the COVID-19 pandemic is just the latest of three threats in as many years to the region’s food systems, following as it does the devastating fall armyworm and desert locust invasions in 2018 and 2019. Such destruction comes over and above the ongoing instability caused by drought and climate change.
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AFRICA
Wagdy Sawahel
“African universities and think tanks need to be at the centre of providing timely, trustworthy data and analysis – together with careful interpretation to policy-makers – so that decisions can be made that reduce transmission of the [coronavirus] disease while protecting livelihoods,” according to David Tschirley, professor of international development in the department of agricultural, food and resource economics at Michigan State University in the United States.
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AFRICA
Wagdy Sawahel
Universities in Africa are being called to consider their role in mitigating the negative impact of reduced food and nutrition security as a result of COVID-19 containment measures – and most seem determined to rise to the challenge.
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AFRICA-GLOBAL
Educational access to higher education institutions during COVID-19
How are universities adapting to ensure education continues and students have access to high quality learning opportunities? In the third of a six-part dialogue series hosted by the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP), university leaders from Africa and the US last week shared approaches to challenges of infrastructure, equity and quality during the pandemic. The next webinar – dealing with the economic, food security and livelihood impacts of COVID-19 in Africa – is on 10 June.
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AFRICA-GLOBAL
Prim Gower
Governments should provide financial assistance to those universities that are experiencing loss from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was one of the issues raised by Professor Tawana Kupe, vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Pretoria in South Africa, at a webinar titled “Educational access at higher education institutions in the age of COVID-19”.
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GLOBAL
Karen MacGregor
COVID-19 has kicked up numerous challenges to access and equity in higher education across the world. Although contexts differ, the pandemic has also highlighted common problems and global interconnectedness. For these reasons, it is critical for universities to share information, says Professor Samuel Stanley, president of Michigan State University.
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AFRICA
Karen MacGregor
Improving access to higher education is not only about opening doors to more people, says Professor Mpine Makoe, director of open distance e-learning at the University of South Africa. In thinking beyond COVID-19, universities should also strive for greater inclusivity, equity and quality – especially in countries where there is a development backlog.
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GLOBAL
Dialogue #2 – Global and continental collaboration post-COVID-19
In the second of a six-part dialogue series hosted by the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP), university leaders discussed the issue of “Global and Continental Partnerships and Collaboration in Higher Education Post COVID-19”. In this special report, University World News brings you some highlights of the discussion. The next webinar, “Educational Access at Higher Education Institutions in the Age of COVID-19” takes place on 27 May.
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GLOBAL
Karen MacGregor
COVID-19 has sparked progress in problem-solving by pulling teams – multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral – as well as global, continental and regional partnerships together in an aligned and powerful way. “This is where magic happens,” says Dr Steven Hanson, associate provost at Michigan State University. He hopes the approach will be applied to critical global problems that existed pre-COVID-19 and will continue afterwards.
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AFRICA
Sharon Dell
African universities had been ‘caught unawares’ by the shutdowns and the subsequent shift to online learning necessitated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, international, regional and national partnerships are perceived as one of the ways in which these institutions can fast-track their ICT infrastructure and capacity in an altered higher education landscape.
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AFRICA
Dialogue #1 – Responses and lessons learnt from African universities
In the first of a six-part dialogue series hosted by the Alliance for African Partnership or AAP, four African university leaders outlined the responses of their universities to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lessons learnt thus far. In this special report University World News brings you some of their insights. The next webinar, “Global and Continental Partnerships and Collaboration in Higher Education post COVID-19” takes place on 13 May.
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AFRICA
Dialogue series offered by the Alliance for African Partnership
A new six-part dialogue series offered by the Alliance for African Partnership or AAP kicks off on 29 April with a discussion on “COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses and lessons learnt from African universities”. The series will be moderated by Professor Paul Zeleza, vice-chancellor of the United States International University-Africa. As a media partner to the series, University World News – Africa will be bringing our readers insightful and analytical reports based on the webinars.
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AFRICA
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As nations grapple with and seek solutions to the challenges that have beset them with the onslaught of COVID-19, a consortium of 11 universities in the Alliance for African Partnership has established a six-part dialogue series to share their experiences. “Universities and the COVID-19 Pandemic” kicks off with a webinar on 29 April 2020.
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