Regional

Pan-Africa University Moves Forward With Big Funding Boost

The Pan African University is a major program, which aims to re-establish the African university at the core of Africa’s development goals of prosperity, peace and integration. To help achieve these goals, a grant of US$45 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) was made in August to nurture quality in African higher education and research.

According to the African Union, this will be achieved through the development of world class programs at the graduate level (masters & doctoral), organized under five thematic areas, and hosted in existing universities in AU Member States. Three of those campuses (Kenya, Cameroon and Nigeria) have already begun admitting students according to the AU.

These first three campuses as well as the central governance of the PAU will benefit from the current support of the AfDB. The fourth and fifth hubs are expected to begin in 2014 in Algeria, and by 2015 in an –as-yet-unnamed country in the southern Africa region.

– PANA
August 23, 2013

Declaration Calls for Euro-Maghreb Research ‘Space’

The five countries of the Arab Maghreb Union and five from the Western Mediterranean in Europe have agreed to set up a ‘space’ for research and innovation to promote cooperation in science, technology and higher education. The Maghreb countries involved are Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, and the Western Mediterranean nations are France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

The new initiative was outlined in the ‘Rabat Declaration,’ which was endorsed at the first conference of ministers of higher education and research of the 5+5 Dialogue states, held in Rabat, Morocco, in September.

To improve performance in higher education, science and technology, the science and research initiative (SRI) will enable research and technology institutions, universities and science-based businesses around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to circulate, compete and cooperate across borders, according to details from the communique.

The SRI also aims to facilitate mobility between countries, academia and industry through developing policy actions, joint programs, scientific projects, technology transfer initiatives and funding schemes that aim to support individual researchers and students, as well as universities and research institutions.

– University World News
October 11, 2013

PhDs Mandatory in Southern Africa for all Lecturers

Universities in some Southern African countries are moving towards making it mandatory for all lecturers to have doctorates in the next few years. Botswana has already implemented the idea while Zimbabwe has given a 2015 deadline for all lecturers to update their qualifications, according to a recent article in The Namibian.

Some Namibian educators, including Polytechnic of Namibia Rector Tjama Tjivikua, have given the idea a thumbs-up. With the polytechnic’s transitioning into the University of Science and Technology, Tjivikua told The Namibian that more universities are increasingly requiring academic staff to acquire PhDs because the world has entered an era in which knowledge is the defining parameter. “To teach postgraduate students, especially at PhD level, the professor must have a PhD,” he emphasized.

“Top universities in Africa such as Stellenbosch, for instance, only have 60 percent of their academic staff equipped with PhD degrees. The University of Cape Town has less than 70 percent, as has the Witwatersrand University,” he said.

University of Namibia (Unam) public relations officer Utaraa Hoveka said that the university has invested a significant amount of money to enable its staff to attain higher qualifications. He said more than 250 Unam staff are currently upgrading their qualifications locally and abroad.

– The Namibian
October 14, 2013

Ghana

U.S. University to Open Accra Campus

Missouri-based Webster University plans to open an African branch campus in Accra, the capital of Ghana, possibly as early as January 2014. The Africa campus would add to Webster University’s global network of 10 physical campuses in Europe and Asia.

Meeting “unmet local needs by taking education to where it is needed most” is something that distinguishes Webster University from many other institutions, explains president Dr Elizabeth J Stroble.

“Globalization is very much a feature of how Webster breathes, lives and functions as opposed to a mandate enacted by the institution itself,” Stroble told University World News.

One of the oldest non-profit universities in the US, Webster University employs its branch campuses to both enroll locally and provide a place at its dedicated campuses abroad for its own and other international students to study. Currently, the university has European campuses in Geneva, Vienna, Leiden, Amsterdam and London, in addition to Asian campuses in Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen in China and in Bangkok and Cha-am in Thailand.

The Accra campus will offer dually accredited American and Ghanaian degree programs. Approval from the Ghanaian Ministry of Education was secured in July, and late last month Webster received approval from the Higher Learning Commission, its accreditor. That will enable the new campus to offer degrees that will be accredited in Ghana as well as in America. Initial programs, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, will be available in business, communications and international relations. Others focused on health care and education are also expected once enrollments have been established.

– University World News
October 5, 2013

Kenya

Private Universities Fill Access Void

Competition for students among private universities in Kenya is intensifying, reports University World News, with institutions spending heavily to market themselves to Kenya’s rapidly growing university-eligible population. The private higher education sector is thriving, and now enrolls 20 percent of all tertiary students.

Currently there are approximately 300,000 students in public and private universities in Kenya. The largest public universities – Nairobi, Kenyatta and Moi – enroll almost half of those students. The private sector enrolls around 60,000 students, according to figures from the Commission for University Education.

Kenya now has some 22 fully accredited public universities and nine constituent university colleges, as well as 17 chartered private universities and five constituent colleges. Some 12 private universities hold interim letters of authority from the Commission for University Education, and are awaiting upgrade to full university status – against only five in 2002.

Demand for credentialed higher education is increasing rapidly in Kenya, and because the public sector cannot meet the demand, private institutions have been flourishing. If students with government funding were allowed to enroll in private universities, numbers would rise even faster, it is generally believed. Meanwhile, public universities are subsidizing their operations by enrolling privately funded students.

However, both private and public institutions suffer a shortage of qualified teaching staff, with Kenya currently not producing enough doctoral graduates to staff its burgeoning higher education sector. The Commission for University Education has recommended that universities in both sectors produce 200 to 300 doctoral graduates each year to meet the demand for academics, which is now reaching crisis levels.

– University World News
October 5, 2013

Projects in the Pipeline to Expand University Access & Improve Standards, Facilities

Kenya has a number of initiatives in the offing designed to boost student enrollments, in addition to improving teaching and research in higher education. They include the establishment of an open university by the end of next year, doubling the number of universities of technology, training 1,000 PhDs a year within five years, and pumping money into the national research fund.

Kenya has more than 40 universities, but the surging number of students seeking higher education has exceeded the capacity of existing facilities, especially in the nation’s public universities, locking out tens of thousands of potential undergraduates.

The open university, which the government hopes will help to ease a backlog of at least 40,000 would-be students, has been in the works since 2010. The government also hopes to double the number of universities of technology from the current four, in a bid to continue developing Kenya’s ICT competitiveness and innovation base. The expansion of technical universities is expected to help grow admissions – but inadequate facilities have so far prevented the institutions from meeting this goal.

The new plan will also see training of 17,000 PhD holders in the next 13 years, in a government-backed scholarship program. The government also plans to quintriple the size of Kenya’s research funding next year. It currently stands at 0.4 percent of gross domestic product, or US$180 million, and will rise to 2 percent of GDP – US$900 million – per current government plans. The planned projects are outlined in the Universities Act 2012, which came into effect earlier this year.

Meanwhile, universities are strengthening their commercial activities in a bid to raise funds. Earlier this year, the government secured a grant of US$101.2 million from India to finance power generation at Moi University. The funds are also expected to modernize Rivatex, a textile corporation held by the university, which is expected in due course to employ more than 5,000 Kenyans.

Kenyatta University, the largest institution by student numbers, is in the process of constructing a state-of-the-art referral hospital at the cost of US$95 million – which is more than the institution’s annual budget – to expand its revenue streams, a route that has also been taken by the University of Nairobi. The 500-bed hospital will be the country’s first fully-fledged university hospital. The University of Nairobi is to construct a US$11.7 million business complex that will feature several conference halls, a modern library, a hotel and restaurant as well as outdoor and indoor sports facilities.

– University World News
October 5, 2013

Nigeria

Nigerian Students Headed to UK Balk at New Visa Bond

Nigerian students who have gained admission to British universities or who are already there will have to meet requirements under a new ‘visa bond’ scheme, as Nigeria has been identified as one of five ‘high risk’ sending countries. Not surprisingly, Nigerians are not happy about the new measures and some, according to anecdotal reports, are looking at options in other countries.

The new visa scheme will impose £3,000 (US$4,740) in charges on unspecified visa applicants thought to be ‘high risk visitors’ from Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The Nigerian government has threatened retaliatory measures if London goes ahead with the ‘refundable’ but unpopular visa bond.

According to diplomatic sources in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, the visa pilot scheme was proposed by the British intelligence service MI6 and British police headquarters at Scotland Yard. A diplomat, who did not want to be named, explained that Ghana had been included on the ‘high risk’ country list because its airport and seaports were thought to be avenues for Latin American drug cartels who use some Ghanian students as drug couriers. The same diplomat said that some students from Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh had been involved in terrorism in Britain.

– University World News
August 31, 2013

Students Head to Private Universities Amid 3-Month Public Strike

Nigerian lecturers at the country’s 100 public universities have been on strike for the past three months, and now frustrated parents with the financial means are looking to get their children into one of 30 private universities where teaching continues uninterrupted.

University World News reports that other factors have also contributed to the financial fortunes of private tertiary institutions. They include: weakening of the local currency, the Naira, against the American dollar increasing the costs of studying abroad; visa restrictions on Nigerian students by Western countries; and instability in the Middle East, preventing students from studying there in Islamic universities.

Citing “reliable sources,” UWN goes on to note that, “the income of parents determines the choice of private university, as does location and religious affiliation. Some of the universities are fashioned after well-known tertiary institutions in Western Europe and the Middle East.

They are well oiled by private funds, well equipped and their Nigerian and foreign staff are well salaried thanks to hefty fees paid by parents who are members of the well-remunerated political class. The students are primarily children of top military officers, top civil servants, traditional rulers, private sector executives and some lecturers from public universities.

Among these private institutions – to name but a few – are the American University of Nigeria, or AUN, in Yola in north-eastern Nigeria, founded by former vice-president Abubakar Atiku; Bells University of Technology in Ota in Ogun State, funded by former president Olusegun Obasanjo; Baze University in Abuja, founded by senator Datti Baba-Ahmed; Veritas University, Abuja, founded by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria; Covenant University, founded by the Pentecostal church; and Nigerian Turkish Nile University, which is owned by Turkish and Nigerian private investors.”

Most have reportedly recorded soaring enrollments of new students.

– University World News
October 5, 2013

Rwanda

Pieced-Together MOOC and Classroom Degree Recognized

A new hybrid program in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, will use MOOCs and classroom time to help students earn competency-based associate degrees.

Currently, Rwanda offers limited options for those looking for a university education, and at a cost that runs between $1,500 and $2,000 a year in tuition fees. This means many qualified students are priced out of the market in a country where the average annual income is three times less than a year of university study. In 2011, only 6.6 percent of college-age Rwandans were enrolled in universities, according to the World Bank.

With the opening of Kepler, an education program established in Kigali in September by the nonprofit organization Generation Rwanda, students will have access to tertiary studies free of charge. Kepler pieces together open-source, online content from Western universities, on-site classroom instruction, and an associate degree from Southern New Hampshire University’s competency-based program, College for America.

The goal is to build a low-cost, high-quality blended-learning model that can be replicated anywhere, says Generation Rwanda’s executive director, Jamie Hodari. Kepler’s first four years are being financed by a corporate foundation that insists, at least for now, on keeping its name and the size of its contribution secret. The 10-year plan includes scaling up from the inaugural class of 50 to 100,000 students at replica programs around the world.

Kepler was born out of Generation Rwanda’s existing scholarship program. Since 2004, it has paid for cohorts of up to several dozen students to attend Rwandan universities while also providing the students with extensive support services. The services include English-language instruction, professional-skills training, and internship placement.

Last year Generation Rwanda officials decided to explore a new avenue with Kepler. They won approval for the experiment from Rwanda’s Ministry of Education, its National Council for Higher Education, and its immigration office, which oversees international organizations.

An external research group has been hired to study the academic performance of Kepler students as compared with two control groups—students enrolled at brick-and-mortar Rwandan universities and Rwandan students enrolled in an online-only program.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
September 16, 2013

Somaliland

University in Breakaway State Seeks to Legitimize its Degrees with International Partners

The University of Hargeisa in the breakaway state of Somaliland has partnered with British, Canadian and African universities in an effort to boost its international credibility and the recognition of its qualifications. Although international recognition has yet to be conferred on Somaliland since it separated from Somalia in 1991, its largest university – which has 6,500 students – has been seeking foreign partners to offer legitimacy through diploma equivalencies.

In early 2013, Hargeisa University signed an agreement with Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University. Under the terms of the agreement, the Edinburgh-based university will accept Hargeisa’s degrees and diplomas as valid qualifications for further study. The deal also involved Heriot-Watt helping to invigilate Hargeisa’s distance learning examinations, and offering scholarships to Hargeisa students.

In October 2012, the University of Cambridge agreed to recognize educational certificates from Somaliland. And Hargeisa medical students have been helped since 2006 by King’s College London. For instance, they have their final exams monitored and administered by King’s College London’s School of Medicine. Canada’s Carleton University launched a new social work program in September, helping Hargeisa to improve its teaching materials, and offering cooperation in research projects and opportunities to exchange staff and students.

These initiatives have helped to improve Hargeisa University’s credibility, encouraging other international universities to collaborate with its staff and students. But still, Hargeisa graduates cannot continue their education at the vast majority of international universities because its degrees are largely not recognized. This stems from the fact that the country is still not officially recognized as an independent state by international organizations.

– University World News
September 13, 2013

South Africa

3 Universities Make World’s Top 350

The University of Cape Town is Africa’s best university according to the recently released and closely watched World University Rankings from Times Higher Education. Cape Town was ranked as the 126^th best in the world. Also appearing in the rankings’ top 500 was the University of Witwatersrand, rated among the top 226-250 universities, and Stellenbosch University (301-350). The three South African universities were the only ones from Africa to make the list.

– Times Higher Education 
September 2013

A National Equity Ranking of South African Universities

Aiming to focus minds and universities on how they can do more to promote racial equity on South African campuses, the vice-chancellor of University of KwaZulu-Natal is promoting a controversial ranking system intended to spur progress toward an academy that reflects South Africa’s ethnic mix.

Malegapuru Makgoba and other academics from KwaZulu- Natal have developed an “equity index” that tracks how closely student, staff, senate and governing council bodies reflect the country’s ethnic and gender make-up. The data allow institutions to be ranked by how similar they are to the South African population as a whole, which is 79.2 percent black, 8.9 percent colored (as people of mixed ethnicity are known), 8.9 percent white and 2.5 percent Indian, reports Times Higher Education.

Among other things, the research highlights the country’s poor completion rates. For the majority of universities, the graduating cohort scores more poorly on the equity index than does the cohort admitted to study. “Some groups are being sacrificed in that [process], and it’s often [black] African students,” Makgoba said. For these students, who are often “ill-prepared” for higher study, “there are no programs of academic support,” he said. Addressing this deficiency would be one way for universities to improve their equity scores.

The following are the top five universities based on equity for students and governing boards:

Top Universities in Equity for Student Enrollment

1. Central University of Technology
2. University of Johannesburg
3. Tshwane University of Technology
4. Durban University of Technology
5. Vaal University of Technology

Top Universities in Equity on Governing Councils

1. University of KwaZulu-Natal
2. Mangosuthu University of Technology
3. University of Fort Hare
4. University of Venda
5. Tshwane University of Technology

– Times Higher Education
October 24, 2013