Regional

Majority of Overseas African PhDs Plan to Return Home

Most African doctoral students studying abroad plan to return home at the end of their studies, according to a survey conducted by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), due to be published in October.

Although 90 percent of African students want to return to their home countries, few complete doctoral studies in Africa. According to the findings of the survey, this ‘brain drain’ is due largely to the fact that there aren’t that many strong, well-resourced PhD programs in African universities. And because most funding is offered by international donors, a period studying abroad, typically in the United States or Europe, is common.

Jonathan Harle, program manager at ACU, says the solutions to halting the movement of African academics overseas include: strengthening research programs, collaborating with other institutions in their region, and providing more support and information to staff and students—”universities should identify where support is available, on an international, national and regional level. They then need to communicate these funding opportunities to their students and staff.”

Some African countries such as Zimbabwe and Ethiopia have set goals to increase their number of PhDs, however Harle worries that these numbers aren’t attainable, pointing to a lack of PhD awarding institutions.

– SciDev
August 6, 2013

PASET – A World Bank Initiative for Skills Development in Africa

A workshop held in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa in July brought together high-level representatives from nine African countries and four emerging economic powers – China, Korea, India and Brazil. The fifth partner country, Japan, could not send a delegate.

The workshop, which was convened and facilitated by the World Bank and hosted by the government of Ethiopia, was aimed at creating a Partnership in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology – PASET – between Sub-Saharan African countries and the emerging nations. The agreement covers the whole spectrum of education, from technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to higher education, research and innovation in applied sciences.

Based on its experience and activities in Africa, for a first phase the Bank selected nine countries: Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania, and ran a series of assessments of existing engagements in these countries by the partner countries, including their successes and the challenges encountered.

The partner countries, on their side, highlighted their expertise in specific areas relevant to the PASET initiative. These included development in agriculture and training of TVET instructors by China; use of ICT in education by Korea; institutional and industry collaboration by India; and graduate training and research by Brazil.

There was unanimous support and commitment to PASET by the countries involved. The need for mutual understanding, trust and benefits in all partnerships was emphasized again and again.

– University World News
July 20, 2013

U.S. Universities Invest in Africa

Some of America’s best-endowed universities are starting to invest in Africa, with an eye on potentially lucrative gains, Reuters has reported. Northwestern University, with holdings in companies in Kenya and Nigeria, recently doubled its African investments. Other large endowments investing in Africa include those of the Universities of Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas and Wisconsin. Rockefeller University is expected to make such an investment this year.

– Reuters
July 7, 2013

Liberia

All 25,000 Students Fail Admissions Test

Among the 25,000 people who took the entrance exam for the University of Liberia this year there was a 100 percent failure rate. The university is one of two public universities in the country. A university official said that most students “lacked enthusiasm and did not have a basic grasp of English,” a BBC report said, adding that each person taking the exam paid a $25 fee to do so.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel peace laureate, recently acknowledged that the education system was still “in a mess,” and much needed to be done to improve it. The results mean that the overcrowded university will not have any new first-year students when it reopens in September for the academic year.

– BBC
August 26, 2013

Malawi

Malawi University of Science and Technology to open in 2014

The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) is scheduled to open in January 2014, a full eight years after its inception.

When fully operational the university will enroll 3,500 students, but only a limited number will be accommodated at first and a limited number of programs will be offered. The new university will offer degrees in health and medical sciences, applied engineering and technology, and earth and climate change sciences, among other areas.

The Malawi University of Science and Technology Bill was passed in 2010 after the Chinese government agreed to lend funds of US$70 million to build a new university, on condition of repayment over 20 years.

MUST will be a boon to Malawi, which produces fewer university graduates than any other nation in the 15-country Southern African Development Community region. New reports have claimed that the country only has space for one out of every five students who qualify for university entrance.

– BNL Times
August 1, 2013

Nigeria

Nigeria Develops a National Ranking System

With 128 universities, Nigeria has one of the largest higher education systems on the continent, and recently the government established a national ranking system, the first of its kind in Africa. The effort began in 2001, when Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) developed a set of indicators of verifiable data that could be used to help students make the best admissions decisions.

“There was also the desire by the government to have a transparent and objective mechanism for identifying centers for excellence that could benefit from preferential funding,” said Professor Peter Okebukola, a former executive secretary of the NUC, in a study on Nigeria’s experience of ranking published in UNESCO’s recent report on Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and misuses.

Revising their ranking mechanism in 2010, the NUC retained certain standards such as the proportion of academic programs with full accreditation status, the proportion of academic staff at full professorial level, and the proportion of international academics and students. Guided by the World University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the NUC developed a new set of indicators, including academic peer review, faculty-student ratios, citations per faculty, graduation rates and retention of first-year students.

While there has been some criticism of the ranking system, a recent survey conducted by the NUC found that about 70 percent of students and 84 percent of parents are guided in selecting degree programs by university rankings published in local newspapers.

– University World News
August 17, 2013

Graduate Unemployment Increasingly a Cause for Concern

Growing unemployment among recent university graduates is becoming a serious issue in Nigerian civil society, and it is causing industry stakeholders to question the utility of a Nigerian higher education, accusing universities of producing unemployable graduates. Currently, the university sector produces more than 200,000 graduates every year, with nowhere near enough white-collar jobs to meet demand.

As a possible solution, some have advocated the creation of vocational centers to train youth in careers relevant to Nigeria’s growing economy. There have also been suggestions that some universities be converted to vocational institutions.

Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed recently created an International Vocation Centre at Ajasse-Ipo, just outside Ilorin, the state capital at an estimated cost of US$400 million. Ahmed said the center’s priority was “to create a new generation of highly employable artisans and prosperous youth entrepreneurs through the provision of market-relevant skills under our Share Prosperity Programme”.

Graduates of the international vocational center would be awarded globally recognized certificates and diplomas validated by the London-based City and Guilds. Thus, on completion of their programs, they would be marketable and employable, while the state would become a reputable hub for vocational and technical skills in West Africa, according to backers.

– University World News
July 6, 2013

South Africa

Mandela Rhodes Scholarships Reach 10-Year Milestone

On the tenth anniversary of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in July, at a gala event held in Cape Town’s city hall, a massive R106 million (US$10.8 million) was pledged to the foundation’s scholarships. This will be added to the R350 million endowment already raised over the past decade.

The Mandela Rhodes Foundation, or MRF, was established in 2003 as a partnership between the Rhodes Trust and Nelson Mandela. Scholarships are open to citizens in any African country for graduate study at a recognized South African university – honors and master’s degrees only, at present.  Since the foundation’s inception, 200 Mandela Rhodes scholarships have been awarded to students from 17 African countries.

The aim of the scholarship, according to officials, is “to seek out and nurture those brilliant and ethical young Africans we believe will be doing their best to emulate our patron, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. We truly believe we are delivering on our mandate to develop leadership excellence in Africa, and that among our scholars are the great future leaders of the continent.”

– University World News
August 13, 2013

Top University Sets Aside $9 Million to Attract Foreign Graduate Students

The University of the Witwatersrand has budgeted R90 million (US$8.7 million) for bursaries as the institution embarks on an intensive drive to attract top graduate students from across South Africa and Africa.

Recruiters from the university will travel across the country and also visit countries in the Southern Africa Development Community as well as in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and other African nations. Among the university’s strategies for growing the number of international graduate students to 18 percent of the total student body is the offer of affordable accommodation. In addition, a special fund has been set up to support international students, and the international office is gearing up to provide better service delivery.

The campaign is part of the Wits 2022 vision of becoming a research-intensive university, says Professor Mary Scholes, director of the graduate support division at the university. Currently, there are more than 28,400 students, 28 percent of them graduates. The university aims to raise the proportion of graduate students to 35 percent by 2014.

“The economy of South Africa needs to grow but more importantly become sustainable. Postgraduate students [must] have the skills, knowledge and abilities to make this happen,” Scholes told University World News.

Wits University is one of the few institutions from South Africa that features in international university rankings. The others include the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

– University World News
August 24, 2013

Uganda

International Schools Look to Uganda

New Vision reports that Uganda is rapidly becoming a hot destination for private schools offering international curricula. Large players in the international school market, such as Galaxy International School and GEMS Cambridge International School recently opened their first Ugandan campuses. Currently, there are approximately 3,000 Ugandan and expatriate students in international schools.

In 2000, there were 2,584 international schools in the world teaching about one million students. Today, that number stands at 5,676 international schools teaching over 2.5 million students. It is predicted that there will be over 11,000 international schools with over five million students by 2020.

Other international schools in the country include International School of Uganda, Kampala International School of Uganda, Kabojja International School, Rainbow International School and Heritage International School. Others are Ambrosoli International School, Lohana Academy and Aga Khan High School.

The rise in demand for international schooling in Uganda comes from a growing domestic middle class looking for internationally oriented curricula with a view to sending their children overseas for higher education, and also a significant increase in the expatriate population.

– New Vision
June 28, 2013

Zimbabwe

New State University Launched

Gwanda State University (GSU) was officially launched in July and is expected to open its doors for classes in September. The university will initially operate as a university college of the National University of Science Technology (Nust) as it awaits the enactment of its Charter.

The opening of GSU, in Matabeleland North leaves only two of the country’s 10 provinces, Mashonaland East and Manicaland, without public universities. Faculties at GSU include mining engineering and life sciences, with humanities and earth sciences faculties slated for future expansion.

According to a recent government statement, Zimbabwe now has 12 universities, including private ones, with a combined enrollment of 17,000 students. The government hopes to establish two more state universities in the coming years so that each state has a public university.

– The Zimbabwe Chronicle
July 2, 2013