Africa

A University of Strathclyde student and Swinburne University of Technology lecturer have both won QS Unisolutions IMPACT awards.

The key challenge for the government is how do we increase access so that anybody who qualifies to go to university has the chance.

The time it takes a university to respond to emails and enquires affects how students view its overall teaching quality, according to a recent survey by Hobsons.

Universities have a big role to play in the UN's HeForShe campaign, aiming to establish gender parity worldwide, leaders said at the Going Global conference in South Africa this month.

More intra-African and South-South cooperation is needed in higher education at both the institutional and government level, ministers from across the continent said at the Going Global conference in Cape Town this month.

Fears that South Africa’s English language sector is being squeezed by restrictive visa conditions have been confirmed in the latest statistics from Education South Africa. Figures show that student numbers at member schools plummeted by more than a third in 2015.

Nigerians hoping to buy pounds, US dollars and euros are facing processing times of up to three times as long as those before President Muhammadu Buhari banned forex sales for overseas study. Still, agencies in the country report demand for overseas study remains high.

South Africa’s rand has plummeted in value since December but students are more eager than ever to study at universities overseas as unrest disrupts campus life at institutions across the country.

High value is placed on private tutoring for English language in Egypt, according to a recent report, due to the fairly low quality of the state education system, which as a result can provide opportunities for international providers.

StudySearch, which caters mostly to African students, saw enquiries from Nigerian students wanting to study at UK universities fall by 65% between 2014 and 2015.

The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, announced in his budget speech last month that tertiary education in the fields of science, technology and education will be free, describing it a "historic milestone for us as a nation."

Students surveyed in refugee camps have said studying empowers them, however a lack of access to materials, inflexibility on the part of overseas professors and insufficiently contextualised curricula are proving challenging.

Education South Africa and the Brazilian Educational and Language Travel Association have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to encourage more Brazilian students to study English in South Africa.

Xi Jinping, has announced that China will provide 30,000 government scholarships for African students as well as 2,000 educational opportunities with degrees and diplomas, to strengthen ties and cooperation with Africa.

A new scholarship programme, has been launched to help fund rural community development internships in Uganda. Students from around the world can apply, and 15 will be awarded with full or partial scholarships.