Regional
Transnational Distance Learning Project for Medical Studies Launched
The inaugural class of students to take classes though a huge e-learning project based on the establishment of a North-South network of inter-university diplomas recently completed the project’s first online program in obstetrics ultrasound in Dakar, Senegal, 3,600 miles from Brest, France where the project is headquartered.
Senegal is the first of 17 African and Asian countries participating in the partnership, which aims to train medical professionals in specialist healthcare for mothers and children. The other African countries are Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia. The three participating Asian countries are Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Four women and four men, out of 12 candidates, gained their inter-university diplomas, or IUDs, in obstetrical ultrasonography in Dakar at the end of October last year. The program was established jointly by French and African educators. Students studied theory online through the internet and DVDs, and completed their studies with practical placements in local hospitals where they had use of ultrasound scanners.
Using the diploma as a model, seven other programs are planned, including gynecological surgery, vaccinology and infectious diseases, with the aim of training gynecologists, midwives and health auxiliaries specializing in mother and childcare health.
Beyond improving healthcare provision in Africa and Asia, the major aim of the project is to teach healthcare workers domestically where educational opportunities are scarce and also to help prevent the brain drain of healthcare professionals. The ultrasound program is run in coordination with academics from the Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest. An agreement was signed between the French university and Senegal’s University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) in Dakar, and funding of EUR3 million (US$4 million) was provided by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No funding has been scheduled beyond this launch phase, so programs must be self-financing through students’ fees. Each university issuing the partially online degrees fixes its own rates and conditions.
– EducPros
October 30, 2009
Maghreb Countries Look to Develop Regional Universities
Countries of the North African region of the Maghreb are planning to pool resources to establish a University of the Maghreb and an Academy of Sciences of the Maghreb.
The groundwork for the two institutions was established at the first meeting of a committee of higher education experts from the five members of the Arab Maghreb Union – Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia – which was held in the Libyan capital Tripoli in March. The two-day meeting examined a project aimed at creating a university of applied sciences for Maghreb countries in a bid to give the region’s students the opportunity to study and apply sciences and create links with leading universities worldwide.
– University World News
March 26, 2010
Benin
Lecturers End Five-month Strike
Teaching staff at Benin’s three state universities ended a five-month strike in March, after a formal commitment was made by President Boni Yayi to raise salaries by 50 percent, in addition to offering other financial benefits. Lecturers had been on strike since the first week of October, the start of the academic term.
Academics have decided to adjust the university calendar to meet the number of hours and weeks of lectures before examinations. The rescheduled 2009-10 academic year began in the first week of March and will end in November.
It is hoped the new conditions of service will discourage a brain drain and encourage an in-flow of lecturers who have taken up appointments in the private and public sectors in search of better pay.
– University World News
March 28, 2010
Democratic Republic of Congo
Education Bill Would Introduce Bologna-inspired Degree Structures
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister for Higher Education, Léonard Mashako Mamba, is introducing legislation that would align Congo’s tertiary education degree structures with the Bologna structure of three, five and eight years of education. The bill has been approved by the government and is currently before parliament.
Mr. Mamba has also announced plans to strengthen engineering programs in the country and to improve English and computer training to help meet the challenges of globalization.
– Le Potentiel
March 3, 2010
Egypt
Higher Education Budget is Growing but Still Cannot Keep up with Demand
Egypt’s budget for higher education has been increasing 10 percent annually in recent years to reach LE11 billion (US$2 billion), according to ministry officials. Despite the apparent good news, it is still not nearly enough to meet the growing numbers attending universities every year.
Currently, state subsidies on energy products such as petrol and electricity – which help to make prices affordable to Egyptians, 40 percent of whom live below the poverty line – are considerably higher than the combined budget allocations for health and education. Egypt has 18 state-run and 17 private universities. The former provide free education but are under-funded and students and lecturers have been complaining about a decline in education standards.
While much of the higher education budget goes to paying the salaries of university employees, academics at public universities have, in recent years, been staging public protests over poor pay. Efforts by the government to allay their anger have apparently failed as many lecturers have vowed to take “escalatory measures” to pressure authorities into substantially increasing their salaries.
– University World News
March 14, 2010
Nigeria
New Unified Entrance Exam for all Tertiary Institutions
Secondary school leavers looking to enter tertiary education across Nigeria took a single entrance examination this month regardless of the type of institution they were hoping to study at. A total of 1.4 million test-takers sat the for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) April 17 at examination centers across the country and overseas at designated centers in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Ghana and the Republic of Benin.
According to education officials, only 500,000 of the total registered candidates are likely to gain admission because of capacity constraints. Nigeria’s 93 public and private universities have been allocated 180,000 slots for the next academic session, with the remainder allotted to colleges of education and polytechnics.
The UTME was introduced so that students would not be restricted to universities alone. Under the scheme, each candidate is given an opportunity, at reduced cost, to apply simultaneously to two universities, two colleges of education and two polytechnics.
– Daily Champion
April 4, 2010
South Africa
HIV Rates Lower on Campus
A survey of South African universities has found that 3.4 percent of students and 1.5 percent of academic staff are infected with HIV. The infection rate among the general population between the ages of 15 and 49 is 16.9 percent and 11 percent overall.
The survey, commissioned by the Department of Higher Education and Training, had 23,000 respondents from 21 of South Africa’s 23 universities. News website timeslive.co.za quoted higher education and training minister Bonginkosi “Blade” Nzimande as saying that he would support a campaign to raise awareness of the epidemic on campus. “If we don’t incorporate HIV/Aids awareness, we are merely training our young people for the grave,” he said.
– Timeslive
March 29, 2010
Swaziland
Students Return to Classes After Three-week Boycott
Students attending tertiary-level institutions in Swaziland resumed classes in February after weeks of boycotts, although they remain unhappy with the government’s handling of their grievances.
Four campuses of the University of Swaziland and four colleges – the Swaziland College of Technology, Ngwane Teachers’ College, William Pitcher Teachers’ College and the Nazarene College of Education – were closed indefinitely by the government in January after students went on the rampage and damaged infrastructure. The University of Swaziland was shut for three weeks after the disturbances and reopened on February 17.
Students have been protesting government cutbacks on state scholarships and loans, in addition to a non-realization of the promised free primary education for all.
– University World News
March 12, 2010
Zambia
New Medical School to Combat Brain Drain
The government of Zambia had announced plans to open a new medical-focused institution of higher education to train doctors as part of a broader mission to fight the brain drain. Deputy Minister of Health Dr Solomon Musonda told parliament in March that intakes of health professionals at four other institutions would also be doubled this year. The country currently employs 27,000 health workers, but needs an estimated 56,000.
There has already been construction of infrastructure at the University Teaching Hospital in the capital Lusaka, with the nursing school expanded to double its intake of students. The Ndola Central Hospital, Roan General Hospital and Kitwe Central Hospital are also reported to be doubling their intakes this year.
The government has also put in place a Medical Retention Scheme that provides doctors with incentives such as further training outside the country, new vehicles and school fees for children.
– University World News
March 14, 2010
Zimbabwe
Some Lecturers Return to Work After Promised Pay Increase, Others Go Back on Strike, Students Rampage
Lecturers in Zimbabwe returned to work in March after a month-long strike over poor pay. Under an agreement with the government, top-paid academics will earn US$800 a month – up from $290. Only lecturers have been awarded a pay rise so far, out of a striking civil servant pool that includes health workers and teachers, who continue to take home less than $200 a month. The move by the government follows the recent publication of a report by the parliamentary committee citing grim figures on the brain drain from Zimbabwe’s institutions of higher education. Although lecturer pay remains considerably below the average $2,000 offered in the region, this is the first time in close to five years that Zimbabwean academics will receive salaries that enable them to pay the rent and buy basic necessities.
Meanwhile, lecturers at the National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe’s main science university, went on strike over unpaid allowances, while students around the country faced a crackdown on their late-March protests against the continuing deterioration of higher education standards. The lecturers at the state-run NUST in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, went on strike after the authorities stopped paying them transport and food allowances amounting to US$180 per month, citing financial constraints.
– University World News
March 14, 2010
– University World News
April 11, 2010