Botswana
Government Looking Overseas to Increase Access at Home
Since 2001 and the abolition of national military service, there has been a rapid increase in the number of students finishing secondary school and applying to university. With only one national university to meet demand, the government has been subsidizing the costs of sending qualified students overseas to study, in particular to South Africa, but also to Malaysia, Australia and other countries where it was felt there was value for money.
In 2006, approximately 400 Botswana students were sponsored to study in North America, 570 in Australia and 660 in Malaysia. The largest number, 7,500 or about 80 percent received scholarships to study in South Africa. To reduce the sponsorship costs of studying abroad, Botswana is committed to expanding its university system. A second university, the Botswana International University of Science and Technology, has been planned for a number of years, but currently faces delays which have pushed its opening back to at least 2010.
The University of Botswana [1] has a capacity of nearly 15,000 students and, in addition, there are a number of colleges for education, technology, agriculture and health but they are all enrolled to capacity. Now, to help defray the costs of sending students overseas, and of establishing new campuses from state coffers, the government is looking to private investors at home and from abroad. One such investor, Malaysian entrepreneur Lim Kok Wing, was granted permission to open a branch of his private Malaysian institution, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology [2]. The university opened last year with 1,500 students and now reports an enrollment of 6,000 students, almost 4,700 of whom are sponsored by the Botswana government. Eventual enrollment goals for the branch campuses are as high as 30,000 students.
The Tertiary Education Council [3] continues to invite provisional registration of new tertiary institutions from the private sector with an objective of expanding the proportion of the 17-24 age group in tertiary training from three percent to eight percent. Five such institutions were registered last year and overall capacity within the country increased by at least 10,000 places in 2008.
March 2, 2008
Initiatives to Promote African Math and Science Gain Momentum
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences [5] in Cape Town, South Africa is being established for bright young mathematicians selected from across the continent. The program is one of the first examples of a growing effort to develop high level skills on the continent in the sciences and mathematics among students who, it is hoped, will go on to solve problems in health care, agriculture, and in general to build a pool of talent that is currently sorely lacking in Africa. Donors and educators to such programs are also hoping they will help slow the flow of African talent to foreign shores.
The first of four planned campuses of a second major project, the African University of Science and Technology [6], is scheduled to open this year in Abuja, Nigeria. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, although small, will provide a model, its backers say. The institute admits about 50 university graduates per year from around the continent into its nine-month program. No degrees are awarded, but students take a variety of short courses, preparing them for advanced degrees elsewhere. The Cape Town campus is the first of a planned 15 institutes across the continent. The next one, it is hoped, will open in Abuja this August, in conjunction with the African University of Science and Technology. Others are planned for Madagascar, Sudan, and Uganda, although none has financing yet.
The institute is backed by three South African institutions: the Universities of Cape Town [7], Stellenbosch [8], and the Western Cape [9], the Universities of Oxford [10] and Cambridge [11] , in England, and by the University of Paris-Sud XI [12]. The project is supported by the South African government and private donors, including the Ford Foundation. It was founded in 2003 and currently enrolls students from 20 African countries.
March 6, 2008
Ghana
University of Ghana Attracting International Students
There are 209 short-term international students from the United States, Germany, Japan, South Africa and other countries currently studying at the University of Ghana [14]. According to officials at the university, international programs have seen a bump in enrollments because of the political crisis in Kenya, which used to be the most popular destination in Africa for such programs.
Each visiting student pays fees of US$1,500 funds which constitute substantial revenue for the university. Currently, 3.3 percent of the total student body at the University of Ghana is international. The aim is to increase that figure to 10 percent in the near future.
– Ghana Broadcasting Corporation [15]
February 15, 2008
Kenya
Institution Misleading Students into Believing they are Working Towards Oxbridge Degrees
Thousands of students are reportedly enrolling at an eight-campus institution in Kenya under the misguided belief that they will be working towards degrees from possibly the two most famous universities in the world – Cambridge [11] and Oxford [10]. The Digital Advisory Learning Centre (DALC) claims to offer diploma and degree certification from the two universities but the reality is that the institution is in fact collaborating with the Cambridge Association of Managers and Oxford Association of Management, which run separate colleges offering management courses but which have no working relationship with either Cambridge or Oxford Universities.
The two colleges are accredited by Quality Assurance Commission Limited, owned by a Malaysian businessman and not recognized by UK education authorities, reports Business Daily.
The Kenyan newspaper also reports that there are approximately 600 colleges registered to operate in Kenya, with only 10 accredited to offer programs in collaboration with foreign universities. And of the 60 colleges that have applied for such accreditation from the Commission for Higher Education [16], only 18 have passed preliminary benchmarks in the last two years.
DALC has been operating in Kenya for four years and enrolls approximately 1,000 students. In addition to working with outfits in the UK with questionable accreditation and recognition status, DALC itself is not on an official CHE list of colleges authorized to offer degrees or diplomas in collaboration with foreign institutions, although it does have the authority to offer its own programs. Questions surrounding DALC surfaced two years ago after the British Council [17] omitted it from the roll of colleges it recommends to students wishing to transfer or earn credits at UK institutions. A list of all accredited colleges operating in Kenya reportedly will be published in April.
– Business Daily [18]
March 9, 2008
16 Universities Join in Teaching Business to Women in Emerging Economies Under $100 Million Program
Sixteen business schools and universities across the globe will collaborate in a program funded by the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to provide business education to 10,000 underserved women, mostly in countries in developing or emerging markets, according to a March announcement by the Wall Street giant.
Goldman Sachs is providing funding of $100-million to the “10,000 Women” program over the next five years, and will free employees to teach students and serve as their mentors. The program will start with 16 academic partners, from the US, Europe and developing countries. As an example of how the program will work, the Thunderbird School of Global Management [19] will team up with the American University of Afghanistan [20] on a program to help women develop the skills they need to start and build successful businesses. Meanwhile, the William Davidson Institute [21] at the University of Michigan [22] will provide scholarships for 15 Rwandan women to enroll at the School of Finance and Banking [23] in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Wharton School [24] of the University of Pennsylvania [25] will work with American University in Cairo [26] on a certificate program that is expected to reach 500 women over five years. The program will focus on professional leadership, management, and entrepreneurial skills.
The full list of current academic partners in the program are as follows:
- American University in Cairo [26]
- American University of Afghanistan [20]
- Brown University [27]
- Columbia Business School [28]
- Harvard Business School [29]
- Indian School of Business [30]
- Pan-African University, Nigeria [31]
- School of Finance and Banking, Rwanda [23]
- Stanford Graduate School of Business [32]
- Thunderbird School of Global Management, in Arizona [19]
- United States International University, Kenya [33]
- University of Cambridge, Judge Business School [34]
- University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business [35]
- University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania [36]
- University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, William Davidson Institute [21]
- University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School [24]
– International Herald Tribune [37]
March 5, 2008