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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 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On outdated curricula: How to stop teaching yesterday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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University World News Contributions

Africa’s universities are selling the future to pay for today

This article first appeared on University World News The crisis facing Africa’s universities is often told through a familiar and visceral narrative of material decay: overcrowded lecture halls, under-equipped laboratories, […]