- University World News
Recalibrating the social ownership of our universities (Africa)
Are African universities part of the oppressive economic, political and social superstructure in the continent? Who owns those universities? Do they know their students? How do they treat them and relate to them? What do they teach them? What is the future of those universities? These were some of the questions posed by Professor Ahmed Bawa, the chief executive officer of Universities South Africa, a membership organisation representing South Africa’s 26 public universities, as he addressed delegates who joined the virtual University Social Responsibility Summit 2021 that took place from 3-5 February. In a presentation themed “Recalibrating the social ownership of our universities: Their role in rejuvenating South Africa’s social, political and economic condition”, Bawa argued that there was an urgent need to establish a philosophical framework on ownership of African universities as public goods. “We need 20- to 30-year planning horizons to establish policy coherence to give direction as to what the universities should do for the society as they are captured within our historical, political, economic and cultural narratives,” said Bawa. Drawing his insights from experience as the former vice-chancellor and principal of Durban University of Technology in South Africa, Bawa stated that, whereas universities were traditionally charged to develop professionals, intellectuals and other experts in complex economies, now they are in the midst of many challenges, while there is also a growing inequality between and within nations. “Extreme poverty, global warming, unchecked consumption, erosion of democracy, degradation of ethical society, escalation of political violence leading to massive migrations and rapid changes in the world of work are some of the local and global problems that societies expect universities to solve with credible solutions,” said Bawa. He also cited public health problems, new technology moments, emergence of anti-intellectualism and populism as other challenges that are confronting universities worldwide. But, according to Bawa, it will be hard for African universities to fulfil some of these societal expectations unless they are reimagined through their mandates, funding and encouragement to develop new relationships with their stakeholders. Citing the commonality of all universities globally, the fact that they admit students, Bawa argued that, for the sake of long-term sustainability, they would have to focus even more on their students. He highlighted the issue of struggling second- and third-generation African universities that were promoted into full-fledged universities from technical institutes or basic education training colleges but were never funded properly to execute their new mandate of providing quality higher education. In the South African situation, Bawa explained that some of the serious disruptions in higher education, due to student activism mainly at historically disadvantaged institutions, had to do with inadequate funding of education. “The subsequent near-paralysis of the system as a result of those disruptions focused attention on the perceived failure of the university education transformation agenda in the country,” said Bawa.
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- Global Press Journal
Congolese Students Face Costly Delays Due to Shortage of Professors (DRC)
Jean Marie Tulume walked into his first day of class to discover one thing missing: the professor.
Thousands of university students face delays in schooling, due to a higher education boom in this provincial capital that has far outpaced the number of qualified teachers. “We traveled back and forth, believing that the professor would be there, but to no avail,” says Tulume, who waited more than three weeks to start class. The conundrum of too many schools and not enough instructors has upended higher education in the country’s third-largest city, leading to staff shortages, a decline in academic standards and a delayed future for aspiring graduates. Officials recently shut down schools amid concerns about the new coronavirus, potentially delaying students’ education even further. DRC has reported 148 cases of the virus and 16 deaths as of April 4, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Tulume also faced school delays last year. “I have to put up with it,” he says. “I have no choice.” Higher education institutions in Kisangani are popping up like mushrooms. A decade ago, students could attend the city’s single university. Now they can choose from eight, six of which are private. About 300 professors are spread across the entire system, says Benoit Dhed’a Djailo, rector of the University of Kisangani — the main public university — and the city’s representative for the Ministry of Higher and University Education. Some schools can’t afford to pay traveling expenses for visiting professors, forcing them to wait until tenured professors have time to teach. Courses go unstaffed through much of the year. And students get stuck with quarterly tuition fees even if their professor doesn’t show up. Tuition fees vary annually, but public universities generally charge about $300 a year; private school costs roughly $500. Average income in DRC is less than $3 a day, according to a 2018 report by the national statistics office, making it difficult for many students to afford extending their education. DRC already is reeling from a decline in commodity prices, according to the International Monetary Fund, one of the world’s worst Ebola outbreaks and violent conflict between armed groups, which has displaced around 5 million people in the country’s northeast. This compounds the slow recovery from a brutal civil war in the 1990s. Last year marked the first-ever peaceful transition of presidential power.
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About RUFORUM
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM);- www.ruforum.org based at Makerere University, Kampala, has a job opportunity for the position of Corporate Communication and Advocacy Officer. The personnel shall report to the Executive Secretary.
RUFORUM operation is guided by its Vision 2030 Strategy (The African Universities’ Agenda for Agricultural Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation – AHESTI), which is being implemented through four Flagship Programmes Visit RUFORUM website for details. Prospective applicants are advised to review the RUFORUM Vision 2030 Strategy and the Five Year Operational Plan (2018-2022). The job roles and requirements of the post is detailed in the following pages.
Interested applicants should submit their applications electronically by 5pm on 16 March 2021 to:
The Executive Secretary
RUFORUM Secretariat, Plot 151/155 Garden Hill, Makerere University,P.O Box 16811, Wandegeya, Kampala, Uganda.
secretariat@ruforum.org
Applicants should quote the reference number in the subject and attach photocopies of all necessary academic support documents. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.
DETAILS OF JOB POSITIONS:
Job title: Corporate Communication & Advocacy Officer
Office/ Department/ Unit: Office of the Executive Secretary
Reports to: Executive Secretary
REF: RUF/JOB/HR/IEO/03/21: CORPORATE COMMUNICATION & ADVOCACY OFFICER
My name is Maysoon Abdelhameid Abdelhai Osman studying PhD at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.I was born in the central part of Sudan, growing up with parents who believed in education as the best thing they can have in life for a bright future. After I graduated with BSc. (Honours) in Soil and Water Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Gezira (Sudan), I worked as a research assistant at the Agricultural Research Corporation in Sudan; I then joined University of Gezira as a part-time teaching assistant. These experiences exposed me to academia and hence I have developed an interest in furthering my studies. Thereafter, I obtained my Master’s Degree in Agrometeorology and Natural Risk Management from Haramaya University (Ethiopia), which offered me a chance to join the University of Gezira as a full-time lecture. Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Climate Change and Adaptation at Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi, Kenya, under RUFORUM Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) Programme, and the Social and Environmental Trade-offs in African Agriculture (SENTINEL) Project also managed by RUFORUM.

I have completed my taught courses and have successfully defended my proposal to the faculty titled “Impact of Climate and Land Use / Land Cover Changes on Small Scale Farming System in Gedaref State, Sudan” My PhD is focusing on how climate variability and change, and Land Use / Land Cover changes affect crop yields in rainfed farming of Gedaref State, Sudan. The research also aimed to look at the perception of the smallholder farmers to climate change and the adaptation measures they used to minimize the risk. Generally, rainfed farming is the major economic activity in Sudan, and particularly in Gedaref state. Gedaref region is the important and biggest rainfed agricultural area in Sudan where the majority of the population practices traditional smallholder farming which their livelihoods rely on. However, in the last decades, many farmers in this region have been exposed to different effects of climate change such as floods and droughts. Indeed, Gedaref area has experienced large-scale land degradation showed by loss of soil fertility, and reduction of vegetation coverage, among others. This has added more vulnerability to the negative effects of the climate variability and change on rainfed farming, coupled with land use and land cover (LULC) changes which mainly occur as the results of malpractices such as clearing of a considerable area of natural forest. Therefore, the combined effect of climate and Land use/ Land cover changes should be evaluated. Although some studies were carried out in Gedaref on climate change, little attention was paid to climate change impacts on the smallholder sector.. Therefore, this study will provide much-needed information for decision-makers, extension officers, researchers, and planners to reduce the vulnerability of small scale farmers to climate and Land use/ Land cover changes. I will use a transdisciplinary methodology approach for this study, which helps to learn and solve the problem at the same time, through collaboration between different groups of academia and society.
Regarding my fieldwork, I managed to obtain secondary data for climatic and crop yields for Gedaref state over the last thirty years. I have had some challenges to get these data, but with the help and the support provided from my home university (University of Gezira), I overcame those challenges. After analysing the collected data I wrote the first manuscript which I am finalizing nowadays to share with my supervisors. At the same time, I am working on the Land use/ Land cover changes part of my research, which needs some experience in GIS and remote sensing methods. To solve this problem I joined the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) for an internship under Data Management, Modelling, and Geo-information Unit to build and booster my capacity on GIS and remote sensing analytical approaches. This chance will specifically help me to address my PhD thesis objective two which deals with advanced GIS and remote sensing methods. It also provided me with a good opportunity to interact with the scholars and staff in icipe in general and the unit in particular and use their expertise. Besides, I built strong relationships and networking with a lot of people from different countries.
I highly appreciate the trainings that have been organized by RUFORUM, I have really benefited from them especially, GIS, remote sensing and statistical training, and qualitative training. I would like to thank Sentinel Project for their support and effort to help whenever needed. I have received mentorship support from SENTINEL UK researchers during the concept note development stage. I was planning to complete my GIS and remote sensing training at icipe and then go back to Sudan for my fieldwork with the farmers but, due to COVID-19 pandemic, I could not manage, and I will need more time to complete the fieldwork.
For more details, please contact Ms. Maysoon Osman via email: osmanmaysoon@gmail.com
Lors de la réunion annuelle des Vice-Chanceliers / Présidents / Directeurs de Section / Recteurs des Universités Membres de RUFORUM (voir les liens sur le Dépliant de RUFORUM et l’Aperçu de RUFORUM) qui s’est tenue le 11 novembre 2020, les Vice-Chanceliers ont réaffirmé leur engagement envers le Programme d’Assistanat d’Enseignement Supérieur (GTA) qu’ils ont initié en 2014. Les objectifs du GTA sont les suivants: i) Améliorer la qualité de l’enseignement supérieur et augmenter le nombre du personnel académique formé au niveau du doctorat dans les universités Africaines; ii) Fournir à la recherche doctorale des opportunités de contribuer plus directement au développement de l’Afrique; iii) Renforcer la collaboration interuniversitaire dans le domaine de l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique; et iv) Promouvoir la mobilité du personnel parmi les universités membres de RUFORUM et à travers l’Afrique.
Suite à la réunion des Vice-Chanceliers du 11 novembre 2020, le Secrétariat de RUFORUM est heureux d’annoncer la disponibilité des opportunités de formation dans ses différentes Universités Membres dans le cadre de l’accord GTA. Le Secrétariat sollicite plus d’offres d’autres universités membres pour former des candidats GTA.
Dans le cadre du Progamme GTA:
- Les universités d’envoi nomment les membres de leur personnel pour être formé pendant que le secrétariat de RUFORUM aide à les placer dans les universités d’accueil (hôte)
- Les universités d’envoi s’engagent à payer les frais de voyage, d’assurance, de survie et de recherche de leur personnel en formation
- Les universités d’accueil renoncent aux frais académiques et aux coûts y associés, et fournissent un logement aux boursiers GTA admis
- Une fois que le processus d’admission est terminé, les universités d’envoi et d’accueil ainsi que le boursier GTA nommé signent un accord tripartite pour guider l’accueil et la formation du boursier
- Dans certains cas où des opportunités existent, l’université d’accueil peut associer le boursier GTA au programme de recherche de l’université d’accueil
- Le secrétariat de RUFORUM facilite l’accord GTA et fait le suivi sur la formation des boursiers GTA
During the annual meeting of Vice Chancellors/Presidents/Principals/Rectors of RUFORUM Member Universities (see links about RUFORUM flier and RUFORUM at a Glance) held on 11th November 2020, the Vice Chancellors re-affirmed their commitment to the Graduate Teaching Assistantship Program that they initiated in 2014. The objectives of the GTA are to: i) Improve the quality of higher education and increase the pool of PhD-level trained academic staff in African universities; ii) Provide opportunities for the doctoral research to contribute more directly to African development; iii) Strengthen inter- university collaboration in the field of higher education in Africa; and iv) Promote staff mobility among RUFORUM member universities, and across Africa.
Following the meeting of the Vice Chancellors on 11th November 2020, the RUFORUM Secretariat is pleased to announce the availability of training opportunities at the different Member Universities as part of the GTA arrangement. The Secretariat invites for more offers from the other member universities to train GTA candidates.
Under the GTA arrangement:
- The sending universities nominate the staff to be trained and RUFORUM Secretariat helps to get them placed in receiving (host) Universities
- The sending universities commit to pay for travel, health insurance, upkeep and research of their staff under training
- The receiving/host universities waive the fees and associated costs, and provide accommodation for the admitted GTA Fellows
- Once admission process is completed, the sending and host universities and the nominated GTA Fellow sign a Tripartite Agreement to guide the hosting and training of the Fellow
- In some cases where opportunities exist, the host University may attach the GTA Fellow to the research program at the hosting university
- The RUFORUM Secretariat facilitates the GTA arrangement and follows up on the GTA training