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Challenges Commentary Contemporary Issues

Twelve Observations on the End of the University

A Prologue A particular kind of silence descends upon a lecture hall after the last student has left. It is not empty—it hums with the residue of attention, the ghost […]

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Challenges Contemporary Issues Core Theory University World News Contributions

The gap between theory and practice: A bridge to nowhere

This article first appeared on University World News We have built the theoretical half of a bridge. It is elegant in places, diligently maintained in others, and inspected with great […]

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Challenges Commentary Contemporary Issues University World News Contributions

About the digital divide: Bandwidth is a right to research

This article first appeared on University World News We used to imagine isolation through geography: a university at the end of a long road, a library without the book you […]

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Challenges Commentary Contemporary Issues University World News Contributions

On limited research grants: The economics of borrowed answers

This article first appeared on University World News There is a comforting fable about research in Africa. It begins with a noble problem and ends with a grant. On the […]

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Challenges Key Insights

How five blind spots have trapped higher education in a fog of its own making

There is a powerful sense of déjà vu that haunts the halls of higher education. We are, by any measure, in a state of perpetual, frantic activity. Our calendars are […]

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Challenges University World News Contributions

On overcrowding and infrastructure: The ‘great unlearning’

This article first appeared on University World News Massification has a triumphant sound. It suggests inclusion, a democratic widening of gates that were, for too long, kept narrow. Photographs cooperate: […]

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Challenges University World News Contributions

On outdated curricula: How to stop teaching yesterday

This article first appeared on University World News There is a ritual familiarity to curriculum reform in many African universities. A committee meets. It requests a review. It calls for […]

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Challenges University World News Contributions

As an institution, is the university capable of change?

This article first appeared on University World News In my role as a senior information analyst within an institutional planning department at a university, I occupy a curious position. I […]

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Challenges University World News Contributions

Africa’s HE brain drain: The arithmetic of absence

This article first appeared on University World News There is a polite way to describe Africa’s academic brain drain. It speaks of mobility, opportunity and the global marketplace of ideas. […]

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AI Challenges Commentary

The Great Educational Awakening: How AI Forces Universities to Remember They’re Human

AI isn’t replacing education—it’s forcing education to become authentically human for the first time. By handling all the mechanical parts of learning, AI reveals a profound paradox: the very human […]