Not everyone has an auntie like Sibongile Moyo, who sold a cow so that her niece and adoptive daughter Silethelwe Nxumalo could enter university for a basic degree in metallurgy. But “Lethu” Nxumalo — who recently made her aunt proud by graduating with an award-winning University of Cape Town (UCT) doctorate in mechanical engineering — says there are other (non-mooing) options.
Some in South Africa believe that there is no community in the country that can spin a story better than the people who speak Afrikaans. Rich in nuance and always ready for a laugh, the Afrikaans storytellers first used a campfire hundreds of years ago to narrate stories about hunting, the veld and love.
The economic boom being enjoyed by India is largely because of its outstanding records in higher education. The idea of universities as economic engines is nowhere else more realised than it is in India. India’s record of primary and secondary education is appalling, writes PG Raman.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) is investigating ways to increase significantly the monetary values of annual grants for honours, masters and doctoral students as part of its plan to produce more researchers. Professor Mzamo Mangaliso, president and chief executive of the NRF, told Higher Learning that the allocations to honours and masters students, in particular, “were woefully inadequate”.
Is Ronald Suresh Roberts’ <i>Fit to Govern</i> fit to defend Thabo Mbeki from (mainly) "illiberal" critics of different hues? Roberts has positioned himself as a radical nationalist, and unfortunately most critiques of his book to date presume he genuinely speaks from the left, writes Patrick Bond.
Welcome to the University of Michigan (UM) in the city of Ann Arbor, near Detroit, the largest majority African-American city in the United States (US) and also near the city of Dearborn, home to the largest Arab population outside the Middle East. UM ranks as the number two public university and is one of the largest research universities in the US.
The psychologist BF Skinner, in 1964, said: “Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.” Do universities provide an adequate education to South Africa’s budding social scientists? Having experienced the university system from the inside, I think I am fairly well placed to critique what I believe are the dilemmas of a tertiary education, writes Suntosh Pillay.
As tantalising as titles and book covers go, I can’t remember one that comes close to Shimmer Chinodya’s <i>Strife</i>. When I saw the cover of silhouetted people, arms flailing in the air, and a yellow flame, I thought of the oppressed getting fed up with a dictatorship and rising up in anger.
Like pride, lust goes before a fall. In his novel, <b>When a Man Cries</b> (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press), Siphiwo Mahala chronicles the downfall and uphill struggle of municipal councillor and serial seducer Themba Limba. This is an extract from chapter 11, "Should a man cry?":
Some universities have expressed concern about the loss of teaching time in the recent public servants’ strike in which teachers participated. They believe that if a catch-up plan is not implemented effectively, it might affect this year’s matric pass rate. There is concern that weaker matric learners who are borderline university candidates might fail the exam, resulting in a low university intake.