Regional
Minister Urges Harmonization of Tuition Fees Across East African Community
Following the recent signing of the inter-university bill by partner states of the East African Community [1] (EAC), all universities in the five member countries (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) should charge uniform fees, chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers Monique Mukaruliza has urged. But the decision should only be implemented after legislation is passed and ratified by all member states, reports The New Times.
“Both the common market protocol and the inter-university bill provide for non-discriminatory treatment for members of the community. When the common market is implemented and the inter-university bill ratified there will be no discrimination in all areas including university fees,” said Mukaruliza at a press briefing in December.
Mukaruliza told The New Times that although the principle of regional integration was generally accepted, the process of harmonizing laws had largely been ignored by member states, making it difficult to implement adopted joint programs and projects, such as the harmonization of tuition fees.
– The New Times [2]
December 3, 3008
Angola
Faculty and Student Exchanges with Cuba, Brazil Announced
Cuba has promised to send ‘hundreds’ of teachers to Angola to train personnel across a range of fields, and 1,000 Angolan students will travel to Cuba to study during the next five years, it was announced during a five-day visit to Angola by the Cuban Minister for Higher Education, Juan Vela Valdês. Angola has also entered into a partnership with Brazil for technological cooperation.
Upon arrival in Angola, Valdês told the Angola Press Agency that an accord from 2007 “already in force, provides for Cuban teachers to come and participate in the opening of new public universities. The treaty also envisages sending Angolans undertaking postgraduate studies – doctorates, specializations – to Cuba, as well as carrying out joint research”.
Nearly 200 Cuban teachers are currently working in Angola, said Angola Press.
During a trip with Valdês to Huambo, Angolan Secretary of State for Higher Education, Adão do Nascimento, announced that 1,000 Angolan students would go to Cuba during the next five years, half of them for medical studies, reported Angola Press.
The Angolan government has also signed an agreement with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul [3] in Brazil for cooperation in the field of technology. The project will start in 2009 and enable Angolan graduates and postgraduates to study at the Brazilian university.
– Angola Press Agency [4]
November 29, 2008
– Angola Press Agency [5]
November 25, 2008
Somalia
First Graduating Class of Doctors in 18 Years
A class of 20 men and women studied through years of intense chaos and fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu to become the first graduating class of doctors in 18 years. The graduation ceremony for 12 men and eight women was held inside the barricaded walls of the Shamo Hotel in a country that has not had an effective central government since 1991.
The new doctors are graduating from the six-year program at Benadir University [6] at a time when Somalis desperately need medical care. Given the current chaos in Somalia, it is likely the medical degrees will be recognized only in Somalia, not overseas. The current government was formed in 2004, but has failed to assert any control as an increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency has taken over much of the country. The United Nations says there are 300,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia. But attacks and kidnappings of aid workers have shut down many humanitarian projects.
The education ministry made the move to reopen some schools five years ago and now there are about 500 students at Benadir University studying everything from medicine to teaching. The lecturers at the university became doctors during the regime of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, who was overthrown in 1991 by warlords who quickly turned on each other.
– Associated Press [7]
December 4, 2008
South Africa
Record Passes on University Entrance Examination Leave Many without a Place
Approximately 22,000 more South African school leavers achieved university entrance passes in 2008 than in the previous year, but there are not enough university places to accommodate them all, reports the Mail & Guardian.
A 26 percent rise in university exemptions – from 85,000 in 2007 to 107,000 last year – was achieved despite a drop in the overall pass rate for the new National Senior Certificate from 65 percent to 62.5 percent.
“The system cannot accommodate all these students this year,” said Theuns Eloff, chair of the Vice-Chancellors’ Association, Higher Education South Africa [8]. Eloff said the Department of Education [9] had earmarked R3.2-billion (US$310 million) for spending on infrastructure and graduate outputs, allowing a number of universities to grow in terms of class size. But building would only start next year.
The first-year intake at South Africa’s 23 public universities is currently estimated at 150,000 students. The Department of Education would like to see a university student population of 820,000 by 2010, with an average growth rate of 2.1 percent annually. It also wants 17.5 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled at university, up from the current 16 percent. In 2007 there were 741,000 students in the system. This year the figure is expected to rise to 798,000, indicating that the plan is on track.
– The Mail and Guardian [10]
January 1, 2009
Uganda
Higher-Education Opportunities Improve for Women
The barriers preventing women from attending university or one of the country’s many higher education institutes or colleges have been largely dismantled in urban areas, however, in poorer rural areas access remains a problem.
In a country where many fathers view their daughters as a source of wealth, in the dowry they receive when their daughters are married, the idea of spending money on an education is still considered a waste by many in rural areas. Tuition fees for degree programs range from US$250 to $500 a semester, a huge sum for rural dwellers who subsist on an average of $1 a day. However, things have improved slightly as parents in rural Uganda have begun to appreciate the importance of educating girls beyond learning to read and write. The introduction of free universal primary education in 1997 has had a huge impact on boosting enrollments further up the education ladder, and the expectations are that the abolition of secondary school fees will be of equal importance.
The government has taken steps to help young women go on to higher education. Since the early 1990s, girls applying to state universities get extra points on top of their A-level scores to help them secure a place. Makerere University [11], the country’s top state university, ran a female scholarship initiative, funded by the Carnegie Corporation [12], which paid for around 700 students to join the university before the money dried up three years ago. Last year, one Member of Parliament called for free university education for all students from north and east Uganda – the two poorest regions – and ministers are now talking about introducing a scheme of loans for poorer students, which they would repay once they start work.
These and other initiatives have seen the number of females in higher education increase. At Makerere, 45 percent of the student body is now female, compared with 23 percent in 1989. Figures from the Ministry of Education [13] show that in 2001, female students made up 37 percent of students in all higher education colleges. Today that proportion has increased to 42 percent.
– The Guardian [14]
January 20, 2009