Ethiopia Lowers University Entrance Standards

 Semafor Africa published on 16 February 2023 an article titled "Ethiopia Chooses Lower University Entry Standards Over Nearly Empty Campuses" by Samuel Getachew.  

Ethiopia is lowering entrance standards in an effort to expand higher education.  Only 29,909 students reached the 50 percent pass mark in the exam for public universities out of the 896,520 who tested in October 2022.  The war in Tigray accounted for some of the poor result, but lower quality throughout the educational system was also a factor. 

China-Africa Knowledge Networks

 The Social Science Research Council published in December 2022 a major study titled "Africa-China Knowledge Networks: State of the Field" by Annalisa Bolin, Tatiana Carayannis, Lucas Niewenhuis, and Gino Vlavonou.  

The study looks at work done on the following research themes: geo-economics, peace and security, migration, health and environment, and media, the internet and technology.  A lengthy appendix provides information on China-Africa research centers in Africa, China, and the rest of the world.  

Does China Offer Lessons for Africa's Higher Education Systems?

University World News posted on 14 December 2018 an article titled "Research Universities--Lessons for Africa from China" by Nico Cloete and Francois van Schalkwyk.

African universities can learn "massification" of the higher education system from China but it must meet African societal values, which poses a major challenge.

African Studies in East Asia

Cornell University's Institute for African Development spring 2017 issue contains an article titled "African Studies . . . . . . in East Asia" by Dae-Un Hong, a doctoral candidate in international law at Cornell Law School.

The article provides a brief description of the development of African Studies in China, Japan and South Korea.

Al-Shabaab Recruits from Kenyan Universities

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Monitor published an analysis on 7 January 2016 titled "Al-Shabaab Recruitment from Kenyan Universities Alarms Officials" by Sunguta West, independent journalist based in Nairobi.

The author says al-Shabaab has penetrated Kenya's institutions of higher learning, radicalizing and recruiting students, by offering a salary of up to $700 per month and other benefits.