The following is a guest post from Joanna Motion, a partner with More Partnership, a fund-raising consulting group based in Dundee, Scotland.
———————————————————————-

The preserved skeleton of philosopher Jeremy Bentham is on display at the University College London.

Jeremy Bentham, the 19th-century philosopher and radical, popped up twice recently during a tour of London by a group of African university leaders. Once it was the man himself, or at least his skeleton, preserved, as requested in his will, as an “auto icon” in the cloisters of University College London. Surmounted by a wax head and dressed in his own clothes, walking stick to hand, nicely boxed, it is an irresistible photo opp for students and visitors alike.

The second sighting was of Bentham…

Read More

Following is a guest post by Margee Ensign, president of the American University of Nigeria.
————————————————————————

Students at the American U. of Nigeria working in the institution’s biology laboratory.

Recently it seems all the headlines concerning Nigeria are about violence. The Boko Haram terror group has put the West African nation on edge with its periodic attacks. But such incidents, while deplorable, should not overshadow the positive steps happening here to relieve inequity and expand access to education.

As the leader of the American University of Nigeria for the last two years, I’ve experienced the challenges—as well as opportunities—of working in Nigeria. The university is located in Yola, which is in the northeastern part of the country. I…

Read More

The following is a guest post by John D. Holm, the former director of the Office of International Education and Partnerships at the University of Botswana and director of international programs at Cleveland State University.
—————————————————————————

International-development experts have expressed much concern about the brain drain of African scholars to universities in North America and Europe. Largely neglected in this discussion is the movement of academics taking place within Africa itself. This exodus occurs in two forms: scholars obtaining top-level jobs outside of academe in their home countries, and scholars migrating to better paying university jobs in more developed African countries.

In almost every case, the universities losing talent are also losing the time and resources they spent to cultivate their faculties. In on…

Read More

The following is a guest post by Claudia Frittelli, a program officer at the Carnegie Corporation of New York who helps oversee its effort to strengthen African higher education. The grant maker has supported several of the organizations mentioned in the opinion article.
———————————————————————————

Cloud computing—which in its most basic form is a virtual server available via the Internet—is growing rapidly as the next transformational stage of computing. Although most users may be unaware, everyday programs like Hotmail, Google Docs, and recently announced Google Drive, operate on the cloud principle of fully mobile, instantly accessible, and transferable data.

The educational and social implications for cloud computing in the developing world, particularly for the rapidly expanding education sector in Africa, are also…

Read More

The following is a guest post by John D. Holm, the former director of the Office of International Education and Partnerships at the University of Botswana and director of international programs at Cleveland State University.
——————————————————————————–

Universities in the United States appear eager to enroll more Africans in their graduate programs. Last month a group of administrators from American institutions, including Ohio University and University of Cincinnati, visited Botswana to explore partnerships, which could bring students from the sub-Saharan country to their campuses. In general, universities see African students as a way to diversify their classrooms and, at the same time, help fix Africa’s massive shortage of locals with graduate degrees.

While most Africans are too financially strapped to study abroad, a…

Read More

The following is a guest post from Sultan Barakat, director of the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit at the University of York, in Britain, and Sansom Milton, a doctoral student at the university studying higher education in countries affected by conflict.
———————————————————
As the conflict in Libya draws to a close and the attention turns to rebuilding, it is worth considering the role that higher education can play. Years of experience in post-war situations has shown that higher education is far too often ignored when it comes to putting together reconstruction strategies. Higher education is either deemed an expensive luxury that war-torn societies can ill-afford or is increasingly viewed as something that is best left to the private sector.

All too often assistance in conflict-affected areas is dominated by short-term security a…

Read More