Regional

Continental Graduate Mobility Scheme Expanded

An initiative to increase the mobility of African graduate students was announced in November, with a commitment from the European Union of EUR35 million (US$46.5 million). The Mwalimu Nyerere African Scholarship Scheme is aimed at promoting student exchange and stemming the African brain drain. It will provide scholarships for 250 graduate students to study in an African country other than their own.

Established four years ago by the African Union, the project requires that young Africans study in leading higher education institutions across the continent, and in return agree to work in any African country for two years after graduation. The four-year extension of the program will switch the focus from undergraduate to graduate students.

The funding covers all fees related to tuition and examination, return transport from home to the university, and a modest subsistence allowance. The idea of the scholarships is to provide an alternative for graduate students to studying outside Africa.

– University World News
November 27, 2010

India to Develop Africa Education Ties

India plans to open several higher-education and vocational-training institutes in Africa, according to Indian media reports. The new institutions will include educational centers for foreign trade, information technology, and administration. In addition, India has pledged to help develop a pan-African network of five proposed regional universities devoted to specific disciplines.

In March this year, India and the 53-nation African Union launched an action plan that outlined a detailed strategy for accelerating bilateral engagement over the next four years. Part of that engagement includes the setting up of a diamond training institute (in southern Africa); an institute of administration, planning and education (in Burundi in central Africa); institute for foreign trade (in east Africa); institute for information technology (Ghana); Pan-African stock exchange (Egypt). India has also said that it will establish 10 vocational training centers in Africa.

– IANS
November 22, 2010

The Pan-African University

Despite political problems with two of its five planned locations, a flagship university spread across Africa will go ahead, African Union (AU) commissioner and steward of the project, Jean-Pierre Ezin, has insisted.

The Pan-African University (PAU), which was proposed by the AU in 2008, would offer advanced graduate training and postgraduate research opportunities for the continent’s best students, according to a draft concept note produced at the time. But implementing the plan has been problematic, especially as relates to which countries, and which institutes within those countries, will host its five nodes, as the regional hubs are to be called.

The University of Lagos in Nigeria has been chosen as the West Africa node, specializing in earth and life sciences. Kenya will host the East Africa node, covering basic sciences, technology and innovation, at a university yet to be announced. A Central Africa hub in Cameroon will specialize in social and human sciences and governance, and may be based at the University of Yaounde II, where a Pan-African Institute of University Governance already exists. But the site and specialization of the Southern Africa node remains disputed, and a political tussle has broken out over the North Africa node, which was originally awarded to Algeria. Now Libya, the African Union’s largest donor, is staking a claim.

“We will make a start with the Pan-African University in September 2011 with the existing nodes. This is the timetable set up by the African Union Commission and we are working on it now,” says Ezin, the African Union (AU) Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology. The five nodes were originally supposed to be operating from September this year, but the disputes have caused the deadline to slip.

Another problem to be tackled is finance. According to the AU formula, the nodes will be one-third funded by the host country, one-third by the AU – mainly in the form of fellowships – and one-third by the so-called lead partner. The lead partner for funding the Kenya node has already emerged as Japan, and Germany has indicated a willingness to support the North Africa node. Cameroon may be funded by Sweden, Ezin says, and, in a major development for South-South cooperation, India has emerged as a likely lead partner for the Nigeria-based node. But no lead partner has emerged with funding commitments for the Southern Africa node.

– SciDev
November 29, 2010

Algeria

Continued Overcrowding at Universities Despite Sector Expansion

As the new academic year started, La Tribune of Algiers reported on the state of affairs at universities around the country, finding considerable expansion but also instances of overcrowded or sub-standard student housing, inadequate or corrupt management, unsatisfactory transport – and some disruption during the introduction of the Bologna higher education structure.

The introduction of Bologna degree structures – known in French as LMD (licence-master-doctorate) for the three degree levels of three, five and eight years’ higher studies – has reportedly been widespread at many universities across most disciplines. However, staffing issues still remain especially at the research level, as do infrastructure constraints, which have led to overcrowding at many universities both in classroom and in student housing.

– University World News
November 26, 2010

Botswana

Nation’s Second Public University Faces Delays and Possible Downgrade

University World News reports that the new Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) faces major construction delays and a reduction in its vision to be a world-class university, or possibly a university at all. The earliest possible opening date appears to be August 2011, but even that is reported to be unlikely. The initial plan was for a March 2011 opening.

The institution was originally conceived as a university that would rival the University of Botswana, which currently operates as the sole public university in the country, but a shortage of funds and political will could result in the institution being downgraded to a polytechnic-type institution and frozen at its phase one intake of 256 students.

In his State of the Nation address, President Seretse Khama Ian Khama said that the BIUST founding campus was in progress “though delays and cost escalations in the project are likely to affect government’s initial plan for the university to open in March 2011.

“Due to the difficult financial situation arising from the recent recession and changes in the tertiary education landscape, the Ministry of Education and Skills Development is in the process of reviewing the BIUST project to determine the appropriate scope and focus in the context of what we can currently afford,” he said.

The delays in construction of BIUST at its permanent location in Palapye have caused its council and senior staff to begin considering opening at an alternate location. One possibility, a new college at Oodi outside Gaborone, has been rejected, so they are now looking for alternative locations.

– University World News
November 26, 2010

Djibouti

Foundation Stone for the University of Djibouti Laid by President

The president of Djibouti, M. Ismail Omar Guelleh, laid the foundation stone for the physical infrastructure of Djibouti’s only existing university in November. The construction of the University of Djibouti is slated for completion within two years and is taking place on a site in Balbala, on the outskirts of the capital Djibouti City.

While the university was inaugurated in 2006 and currently enrolls approximately 2,500 students, all classes take place remotely or in dispersed buildings. The new construction will represent Djibouti’s first unified university campus. Most students seeking a university education currently look abroad. The project is being funded by the Fonds Arabe du Développement Economique et Social (FADES).

– Agence Djiboutienne d’Information
October 25, 2010

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Almost 100 Tertiary Institutions Shuttered

Following an audit, a total of 98 higher education institutions have been closed in five provinces across the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were among 295 institutions inspected in a three-month span on criteria of quality of infrastructure, provision of laboratories, facilities, libraries, faculty qualifications and programs of study.

The Minister of Higher Education, Professor Léonard Mashako Mamba, announced the audit in October 2009 to ascertain the viability of public and private universities and institutes with a goal of establishing certain quality standards within the higher education sector. Infos Plus reported that last April, Mamba had ordered the closure of 47 institutions judged ‘non viable’ out of 100 in the capital Kinshasa, of which three were in the public sector, and 44 in the private sector.

– Info Plus
November 16, 2010

12 Private Institutions of Higher Education Accredited

The Accreditation Commission, which met for the first time from October 13 to 16, issued two-year provisional agreements to 12 private higher education institutions from 52 that applied. After the initial two-year provisional period, institutions will be reassessed for a binding accreditation decision

In the capital Brazzaville, the following institutions received provisional positive accreditation decisions: l’École supérieure de technologie (EST) des Cataractes, l’École supérieure de gestion et d’administration des entreprises (ESGAE), l’Institut d’administration des entreprises (IAE), l’Institut catholique Padre Pio, la Haute École Léonard de Vinci, l’École africaine de développement de Brazzaville (EAD), l’Université internationale de Brazzaville (UIB), l’Université libre du Congo (ULC), l’Institut des hautes études en management/Institut supérieur de technologie (IHM-ISTI).

In Pointe-Noire, three institutions were accredited: l’École supérieure de technologie du littoral (EST-L), l’École supérieure de commerce et de gestion (ESCG – DGC Formation) et l’Université de Loango-Institut supérieur de technologie (UL – IUT).

Those institutions that did not receive a positive accreditation decision have been encouraged by the Ministry of Higher Education to fix their shortcomings and reapply for the next round in June 2011.

Institutions were assessed on a 10-point scale according to three measures: quality of academic staff, infrastructure and administrative capacity. Those that scored five or better were awarded provisional accreditation.

– Les Depeches de Brazzaville
October 18, 2010

Kenya

School Certificates Now Include Candidate Photo

Certificates (but not statements of results) issued by the Kenya National Examinations Council will include the candidate’s photograph, beginning in 2010. The certificates that will now have photos are the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

– Daily Nation
September 16, 2010

Unaccredited Colleges Exposed

The Kenyan government recently published a list of all the accredited colleges operating in the country, which exposed hundreds of unaccredited tertiary institutions that the ministry of higher education says will be closed down in the second week of January.

The ministry said only 464 of an estimated 1,000 colleges had passed registration criteria, which included checks on educational facilities and faculty credentials. A further 395 institutions face closure with the start of the new semester for failing to renew their registration. These are colleges that had been issued with 18-month provisional certificates, which have now expired.

The list of the recognized and registered colleges was published in local newspapers in December, causing panic among students enrolled in institutions not appearing on the list. The conclusion of the vetting process and publication of the final list of accredited institutions follows a string of warnings issued by education officials over the past five years, during which unregistered colleges have mushroomed in the country’s main cities to cash in on growing demand for higher education.

Demand for higher education places in Kenya has been on the increase, buoyed by rising transition rates from primary and secondary schools over the past seven years. However, of the approximately 80,000 students who achieve the minimum grade for university entry annually, at least 50,000 miss out on a university place, leaving college as the only option. All tertiary colleges have been required to register afresh and have their premises inspected for their suitability to offer certificate, diploma and degree courses.

– University World News
December 12, 2010

South Africa

Funding to Speed Ph.D. Graduation Rates

Among university faculty in South Africa, only one in three have Ph.D.s, while graduation rates have shown a slight decline in recent years form an already low rate (one eighth that of the European Union in the 25- to 34-year age group), so in response the National Research Foundation has launched a sweeping new funding project to tackle the problem.

With funding from the government, the project aims to improve the qualifications of academic staff to make them better supervisors and to boost research quality and output. To achieve this the project is targeting graduation rates, which is viewed by many as the real problem among doctoral candidates. Last year there were 10,499 registered Ph.D. students in South Africa, yet only 1,224 graduated. That number would be at least 3,500 if the degree took the expected three years to complete. This problem is largely a question of money. Many students hold lecturing positions or other jobs to help pay for their education, which forces them to study part-time.

The NRF project is not the foundation’s first initiative to try combating the issue. The Ph.D. Project, the brainchild of the NRF and the government, is a marketing and postgraduate student support program aimed at attracting more students to the world of academia. In 2005, when the project was launched, the number of NRF-supported Ph.D. students increased by over 60 percent, from 1,360 in 2004 to 2,186 in 2005. But the number of doctoral graduates, which grew to a peak of 1,274 in 2007 when this initial cohort graduated, has declined slightly since then.

The new project has set a target of graduating 6,000 doctorates annually by 2025 and 3,000 in science, engineering and technology disciplines by 2018, which seems an almost impossible feat when looking at the current numbers. Current grants are open to Ph.D. students who are within three years of completing their degree, or who are about to complete it.

– University World News
December 12, 2010

Sudan

Ministry Relocates University Colleges from North to South of Country

Sudan’s Ministry for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology began a process of relocating the Southern Sudan University colleges operating in the north in late November.

The repatriation is the implementation of a Council of Ministers’ resolution that directed Joseph Ukel Abango, the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, to swiftly relocate the southern university colleges still operating in the north. Mou Athian Kuol, the Undersecretary of the Ministry, said in a press statement that the five-day exercise was intended to send home 3,500 Southern Sudanese students, staff and their families.

He said the repatriation of the colleges, which relocated to the north during the height of civil conflict, would enable students and staff to participate in an upcoming referendum and in the economic development of Southern Sudan, according to the press statement.

The three Southern Sudan Universities of Juba, Bahr al-Ghazal and Upper Nile were transferred to Khartoum in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to the civil war in the south. With the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan agreed that the three universities would be relocated to their original locations as peace dividends. Due to shortage of infrastructures and personnel, some of these colleges continued to operate in the north.

– Borglobe
December 7, 2010