With limited resources and inadequate infrastructure, African universities appear to be under tremendous strain. But some are beating the odds and getting it right.
Researchers need great equipment, infrastructure and support to thrive.
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Evaluation is a critical tool for decisions on improving performance. It also assures that African universities are getting value for money from grants, donations and the like.
Gandhi’s statue, which sat in this quad at the University of Ghana, caused great controversy.
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Gandhi was celebrated for the things he taught the world in his later years, through his writings, ideas and lifestyle. He was celebrated for seeking peace for all the peoples of the world.
South African universities need to shift their focus away from rankings.
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Fela Kuti’s critically engaging lyrics, and his intense and methodical delivery, provide an important window to exposing students to critical understanding of the global system.
Universities shouldn’t ignore graduates once they leave the institution.
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African countries need to start producing and developing their own medical devices. Suitably skilled biomedical engineers are needed for this sort of innovation to take root.
Students can feel very isolated when studying through a distance education programme.
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Distance education for teacher training has its problems. Improved support can address these issues - but some of it should come from students themselves.
South Africa boasts world class universities. It must not allow their quality to drop.
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There’s no doubt South African universities need to undergo a real shift. But are the country’s current intellectual and academic forces up to the task?
Students could learn how to program with the right applications on their mobile phones.
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Computer programming is best learned through practice, but students in developing economies don’t always have access to desktop or laptop computers. Mobile phones may be the solution.
Economics lecturers need to teach their students about more than just numbers.
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In both the global North and South, economics tends to be taught with micro- and macroeconomic models that are disconnected from sociopolitical realities. We suggest new ways of teaching economics.
Students in South Africa are tired of Western, Eurocentric university curricula.
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More than two decades after apartheid ended, South African universities still tend to offer a view of the country and continent that is rooted in colonial and apartheid thinking.
University “transformation” has a unique meaning in South Africa.
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Director of Centre for Postgraduate Studies, Rhodes University & Visiting Research Professor in Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, Rhodes University