If higher education is made “free” for all, the whole society ends up paying more. That’s deeply unjust in already unequal societies, such as those in Africa.
Africa’s flagship universities have a great deal to offer as the continent continues to grow and develop.
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When talking about the role that higher education can play in developing Africa, it’s important not to forget the continuing and crucial role of the continent’s flagship universities.
A student faces off with a policeman in riot gear. Private security forces on campuses are a show of dominance and control.
EPA/Nic Bothma
The way in which one group of South African student protesters has acted and engaged with university managers shows how valuable a feminist approach to protest can be.
Ethnic tensions at Kenya’s universities are not new. But the intensity is increasing, and ethnicity is interfering with how universities are run.
Reuters
Kenya’s universities have become hotbeds of ethnic tension and conflict. This has affected everything from staff appointments to broader institutional governance.
What better way to spend your year-end holiday than absorbed in a good book or ten?
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There isn’t a lot of time for recreational reading when you’re running a university. But when year-end holidays roll around, Africa’s vice chancellors can finally read for pleasure.
Yes, universities need to produce good scientists - but their graduates should be good citizens, too.
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University protests in South Africa have showed that the countries students are hungry for real change. This desire can be harnessed to create a generation of “citizen scholars”.
Professor Maati Monjib has become the face of Morocco’s war on freedom of expression.
Reuters
The Moroccan state’s case against a leading academic could have far reaching ramifications for academic freedom and research at the country’s universities.
Will academics keep standing on the sidelines while students dismantle symbols of colonialism like the statue of Cecil John Rhodes?
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
African academics are steeped in European knowledge systems and ways of teaching. There is a galaxy of African scholarship they can draw from to change this - if they’re brave enough.
Students want change. Universities want autonomy. Is there a middle ground?
Ashraf Hendricks/The Daily Vox
Many universities in East and West Africa lost their autonomy during the 1980s and 1990s and became handmaidens of the state. What insights can their experiences offer for South Africa?
Distance learning is one way for Ghanaian entrepreneurs like Sena Ahadji to earn degrees without giving up their work.
Francis Kokoroko/Reuters
Ghana’s universities are working hard to bring in more students – including those who can’t afford to study full time and want good quality distance learning options.
There are sharks in the research water – predatory journals are becoming more common in Africa.
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African academics and universities have been caught in the predatory journal web. It’s time for the continent’s universities to start taking this threat to their integrity seriously.
Africa’s future academics must be found, developed, nurtured and retained.
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Quality higher education is crucial for recovery, peace-building, economic development and stronger governance in post-conflict societies.
Translating notes into ‘deep’ or ‘high’ versions of languages isn’t very useful for young students who prefer vernacular, colloquial ways of speaking.
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Bernie Millar, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
There is little value in translating academic texts into “high” or “deep” versions of African languages. Most students read and speak their mother tongues in a far more colloquial fashion.
An Egyptian engineer at work on a project to upgrade the Suez Canal. Engineers will be crucial in making the sustainable development goals a reality.
Amr Dalsh/Reuters
If we want the Sustainable Development Goals to be more than just big dreams, Africa will need well trained engineers who can put their skills to good use in their own communities.
The “Africa we want” envisioned by the AU can be built - but not without universities’ help and hard work.
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Higher education can play a key role in pursuing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Collaboration will be crucial.
Then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses collaboration between the US and Senegal. International partnerships, particularly between universities, can yield great rewards.
EPA
If memorandums of understanding with international institutions are properly developed and put into action, they can contribute a great deal to African universities’ push for internationalisation.
Somali university students celebrate their graduation. Universities that fare well on national measures may be ignored by international ranking systems.
Feisal Omar/Reuters
The news that African universities will soon be ranked has generated a great deal of hype. But the initiative seems likely to be doomed from the start.
Any successful ranking system must shine a light on African universities’ different priorities.
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It is crucial that institutions around Africa do not shy away from robust and critical debate while continental university rankings take shape.
Africa’s doctoral graduates have a different role to play across the continent than they did in the years immediately after independence.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Doctoral studies are valued as an engine for development in Africa. If doctoral graduates are to meet this challenge, the very structure of the doctoral programme must change.