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?
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Rhodes University
Founded in 1904, Rhodes University is a well-established University located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
It is a small research intensive university which enjoys the distinction of having amongst the best undergraduate pass and graduation rates in South Africa, outstanding postgraduate success rates, and the best research output per academic staff member.
The University takes pride in its motto, Where Leaders Learn, and in producing graduates who are knowledgeable intellectuals, skilled professionals, and critical, caring and compassionate citizens who can contribute to economic and social development and an equitable, just and democratic society.
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Displaying 221 - 240 of 245 articles
There is a new potential coloniser on South Africa’s linguistic block. From 2016, Mandarin will be taught in schools – and this will see African languages bumped even further down the pecking order.
An academic who has marched alongside students during university fee protests in South Africa explains why their demands resonate with her and so many others.
Students and academics are fed up with the situation at South Africa’s universities. One way to improve conditions is for universities to be run as institutions of learning – not big businesses.
There is enormous potential for long term and genuine change if universities change their approach to dissent – and reinvent themselves as more agile institutions.
Some say that keeping wild animals in captivity is cruel. Others believe they promote conservation and give people a link to nature.
Completing a PhD is a process that takes years. There are several ways to make this a happy, productive time rather than a period of endless misery.
One in five workers in South Africa is poor. The plight of the working poor has wide implications. Employers have a responsibility to ensure a minimum level of decent wages.
Biological control is the best way to combat aquatic weeds in African water.
The Oppikoppi Music Festival, one of the biggest and most popular in South Africa, holds on to the musical memories of the past and provides a musical map to the future.
For every student who intentionally steals others’ work and passes it off as her own, there are ten who don’t yet know how to build academic knowledge. They need our help, not condemnation.
There are two extremes of malnutrition at play among South Africa’s youth - both under nutrition and over nutrition.
There’s a fierce debate underway about changing university curricula in Africa and the UK to be less Eurocentric. Three academics offer their suggestions for a decolonised reading list.
Many African countries continue to creep along a predetermined path that takes them away from any real possibility to defend their sovereignty and meet the needs of their people.
Franz Fanon’s writings were forged in the crucible of the Algerian liberation war which inspired struggles against racism and colonialism around the world. Half a century on, he continues to inspire.
There are compelling educational reasons to employ more black academics in universities and to give them all the support they’ll need to become professors.
How do lesbian, bisexual and gay students experience life in a South African university residence? Sadly, with a great deal of fear.
Who is best placed to shape university teachers who are more than just technically proficient? The answer lies in academic development.
Attitudes and laws about homosexuality are not purely a colonial import. Since independence, other factors, including right-wing evangelism, have driven anti-LGBTI attitudes.
Strength training is an ideal way for older women to mitigate the symptoms associated with menopause.
Authors
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Research Associate, Rhodes University
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Marine biologist, Rhodes University
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Postdoctoral Fellow with the NRF/DST SARChI Chair Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme, Rhodes University
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Lecturer & MA Programme Coordinator, Rhodes University
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Professor of English, Rhodes University
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Post-Doctoral Fellow, Rhodes University
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Senior lecturer, Rhodes University
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Research Associate of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University
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Associate Professor of Environmental Anthropology, Rhodes University
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Director, Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics, Rhodes University
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Program Manager at Wildlife Conservation Society, Rhodes University
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PhD Candidate/Research & Teaching Assistant, Grenoble Ecole de Management/Lecturer in Organisational Psychology, Rhodes University
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Associate Professor, Department of Botany, Rhodes University
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Politics lecturer, Rhodes University
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Lecturer in Sociology, Rhodes University
