The book Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism (May 2016) has just been published

Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism has just been published (May 2016) by African Minds and is available in print and open access as PDF.

The book is published as the second volume of the African Higher Education Dynamics Series and brings together the research of an international network of mostly African higher education scholars with interest in higher education and student politics in Africa.  It includes theoretical chapters on student organising, student activism and representation; chapters on historical and current developments in student politics in Anglophone and Francophone Africa, and in-depth case studies on student representation and activism in a cross-section

of universities and countries.

The book provides a unique resource for academics,
university leaders and student affairs professionals as well as student leaders and policy-makers in Africa and elsewhere. The e-book copy is available open  access.

Praise for the book:

"This is an excellent book and will be the benchmark on its topic for a considerable
period. It focuses on a theme that has not been much discussed in the literature
and is very important for policy-makers and the academic community to think
about.” Professor Philip G Altbach, Boston College

"A work by so many authors with diverse backgrounds bound by the common
thread of student representation in higher education governance in Africa.
Well-researched and well-documented.” Professor Bahru Zewde, Emeritus, University of Addis Ababa

"The book provides a 21st-century baseline review of student governance in a
cross section of universities and countries in sub-Saharan Africa and indicates
how student participation has evolved since the student movements of the 1960s.
It provides evidence that the challenges of leadership, ethnic cleavages and good
governance are already evident at the level of student leadership, often reflecting
a national ethos influenced by political parties.” Claudia Frittelli, Programme Officer, Carnegie Corporation of New York

TEDex UFS - Why the Smart Phone and Social Media are better than a Box of Matches

Really? Did I say that? There is something quite uneasy about being reported on... and even more weird when it feels like the report comes from a different angle...

The article in the UFS News (2/05/2016) reports that I apparently said at the TEDex UFS:

 “We shall soon run out of #MustFalls. Maybe it is time that we rise again.”

Come on. I said that we must be thinking about what comes after all the 'Musts' that 'Fallen'. Not that 'we' (?) must rise again. Who is 'we'? But that we must think about the role of the universities, and that we must think about what must rise. And with 'we' I meant everyone, but especially the audience of learners, students, young professionals and academics at the TEDex function.

He argues that we should stop burning down buildings and vandalising properties. What we need is people with intellect to use their words. We, as students, have to take back our voice. We need to stop this self-pitying, and take a stand. Students have the power to change lives. We would be able to reach as many as 1.4 million people with our tweets or instagram accounts.

Indeed, the key to my presentation was to discuss the implications of the #movements in SA, the new student movement, for political culture. Currently, it appears that the only way of being able to voice political interests and get a response is by lighting a match. Yet, what the student movement has shown is that the smartphone, that social media, are far more effective (and less destructive) than burning down government installations (including, currently, school after school in Limpopo!). However, I would not use terms like 'vandalising' since citizens are not 'vandals'; I would never say we are 'self-pitying' and such stuff. That's silly. No.

The really important point was to show that there are new ways available for voicing interests and for making government more responsive: forget about the 'match'... with the increasing proliferation of smartphones, e-government is the future. Social media are an important way of conscientising, mobilising and expressing political interests. Look at #FeesMustFall and how effective it has been nationwide, with hardly any resort to 'torching' buildings.

20 Years of Democracy in SA Higher Education

1994 - 2014 presents two decades of democracy in the South African higher education system. A lot of changes have occurred in the process of re-inserting South African academia into the global knowledge community and addressing and redressing the legacy of colonialism and apartheid in the sector.

This book presents an in-depth analysis of the transformation of the SA HE sector over twenty years, focusing on:

- Regulation
- Governance
- Teaching and Learning
- Research
- Community Engagement
- Academic Staffing and
- Funding

The chapter on Governance was written by Lis Lange and Thierry Luescher. It is available open access as well as the full e-book can be downloaded for free.

The chapter on Governance deals inter alia with the vexed question of what post-managerialist, knowledge-based governance and management in higher education, at system and institutional level, would look like.

Here an abstract:

Abstract (Chapter 3)
In the last twenty years, much theorization has gone into discerning what kind of governance relationships should shape a democratic, post-apartheid higher education system that reflects the transformative aspirations of South Africa’s constitution. This paper provides a periodised analysis of changes in public higher education governance in South Africa between 1994 and 2014 focusing on policy change, the establishment of new governance structures and implementation of new policy instruments, and their impact on higher education governance, leadership and management. We conclude by outlining an emerging post-managerialist system of decision-making defined by its ability to produce and use transformation knowledge.

The Digitisation of African University Presses

African Minds has been commissioned by Carnegie Corporation to conduct a baseline study into the digitization of African University Presses. This study aims to produce new knowledge on the landscape of academic publishing in Africa in the light of current technological advances and market opportunities. 

The project's goals include enhancing access to basic knowledge and increasing awareness and use of high-quality African academic publishing, as well as increasing awareness and promoting open access publishing and other viable models among African University Presses. The project is led by Francois van Schalkwyk and Thierry Luescher. As part of this project, we have mapped all university presses in Africa in an interactive map that is continuously being updated. Users can either view the map by applying any of a number of filters, or download the full dataset. 

Corrections and feedback can be submitted by following the link under the information box on the map.

Towards an intellectual engagement with the #studentmovements in South Africa

The new student movement in South Africa turned yesterday one year old. It was on 9 March 2015 that Chumani Maxwele at UCT courageously staged his performative soiling of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes with human waste in an act (that was in planning for months) that would spark the #RhodesMustFall movement.

"Towards an intellectual engagement with the #studentmovements in South Africa" is a commentary that I wrote some weeks ago on the movement for Politikon, as an appreciation what the role of academics can be in relation to the #MustFall movements.

I hope you will enjoy reading it. Unfortunately it is not open access :( but I can send you a PDF Copy. The doi is: 10.1080/02589346.2016.1155138

A ‘third force’ in higher education student activism - University World News

A ‘third force’ in higher education student activism - University World News



I think that's the first time that a paper of mine, actually mostly written by Taabo Mugume and hopefully to be published shortly is cited before it is out :)  Thanks Nico.

#Equity #SocialJustice #HigherEducationAfrica: the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa

The Journal of Student Affairs in Africa has just published its latest issue, Vol. 3 Issue 2. 

The Observatory of Student Politics in Africa - Virtual Research Centre is up and running!

The virtual research centre Observatory of Student Politics and Higher Education Research in Africa (Osphera.net) was established in December 2015 as a network of researchers interested in conducting research and continuously document the development of higher education in Africa. It was established following the successful conclusion of the project “Student Representation in African Higher Education Governance” sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York (2014-2015).

The general mission of Osphera.net is to document and analyse the changing higher education sector in Africa with a specific focus on student affairs, student politics and the student experience. It offers a platform for researchers to observe, collaboratively investigate, and share their knowledge on ongoing developments in student politics, student affairs and students’ experience of higher education in Africa. The platform includes a blog on student politics and higher education research, resources, links to news sites and RSS feeds on higher education in Africa, and the contact details of the network or researchers and partners involved in the Observatory.

The network of researchers is coordinated by a leadership team led by Dr Thierry Luescher with the support of partner organisations. Membership to the network is open, see contact us for joining.

Coming soon: Rachel Brooks' book "Student Politics and Protests"

Rachel Brooks is Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey (UK) and her research interests lie in the sociology of education, including higher education; transitions from school to university and from education to work; lifelong learning; international education; citizenship education and political participation; the impact of friends and peers on experiences of education; and education policy. Clearly, there are many interests we have in common! Thus, it was wonderful to be invited to participate in her international book project "Student Politics and Protests: International Perspectives" (Routledge, forthcoming 2016) and contribute with Manja Klemenčič (Harvard), the chapter on student politics in Africa. The original book outline includes:

An introduction and conclusion chapter by Rachel Brooks, University of Surrey, UK

• Chapter 2. Complexities of a Student Political World by Joseph Ibrahim, Leeds Beckett University, UK and Nick Crossley, University of Manchester, UK
• Chapter 3.Affinities and Barricades. A Comparative Analysis of Student Organizing in Quebec and the USA by Rushdia Mehreen and Ryan Thomson, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
• Chapter 4. ‘Free Education’: a Totemic Issue of Student Politics by Debbie McVitty, National Union of Students, UK
• Chapter 5. Resisting the ‘Neo-Liberal University’. Struggles and Power Relations in Today’s Universities in Italy and England by Lorenzo Cini, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
• Chapter 6. Student Protests, Austerity and the ‘Value’ of Education by Gritt Nilsen, Aarhus University, Denmark
• Chapter 7. Student Power in 21st Century Africa: the Changing Role and Character of National Student Associations by Thierry Luescher, University of the Free State, South Africa, and Manja Klemenčič, Harvard University, USA 
• Chapter 8. Students’ Unions. The New Zealand Experience by Sylvia Nissen and Bronwyn Hayward, University of Canterbury, New Zealand 
• Chapter 9. Campaigning for a Movement: Collective identity and Student Solidarity in the 2010/11 UK Protests against Fees and Cuts by Alexander Hensby, University of Kent, UK
• Chapter 10. ‘If not now, then when?’ The Student Protest Movement in Hong Kong by Bruce Macfarlane, University of Southampton, UK 
• Chapter 11. From Silent Conformists to Post-Modern Rebels: Student Mobilization during Turkey’s Gezi Resistance by Begum Uzan, University of Toronto, Canada.
• Chapter 12. The Chilean Student Movement: Neoliberal Discourses and Agentic Responses Towards Social Transformation by Carolina Guzman Valenzuela, University of Chile, Chile

Manja and I settled for an analysis of the key trends in student organising in Africa with specific focus on national systems of student representation. This is what our 'blurp' reads like:

"This chapter provides a systematic overview of African student politics and the character of systems of student representation in national and higher education politics. It outlines key trends in contemporary African student politics, including the emergence of internet-age student movements such as #FeesMustFall, followed by an analysis and classification of national systems of student representation in a selection of ten countries. The chapter thus shows the impacts of democratisation and economic growth, neo-liberal reforms and higher education expansion, and the ICT revolution, on the changing character and role of student organising in 21st century Africa."

Looking forward to 2016 - University World News

Hans de Wit, new Director of the CIHE at Boston College looks back at 2015 and forward to 2016 in this article by University World News. He argues:

"2015 was an intense year for higher education. What were some of the key issues that dominated the higher education agenda? How much are they related to other global developments? And will they continue to drive the agenda in 2016? The following developments, in my view, have been rather dominant over the past twelve months:

• A broad call for lower tuition fees or for tuition-free higher education;
• The increasing number of all kinds of rankings;
• The role given to higher education in the new Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, or rather the lack of one;
• The increase of study abroad credits and degrees;
• And as a supplement to this, the call for other forms of internationalisation, in particular internationalisation of the curriculum, employability and global citizenship;
• And the impact of global instability, terrorism and the refugee crisis on higher education."

We certainly had our share of most of the above in African higher education:

• from the contestation around fees in South Africa, Kenya and elsewhere (#FeesMustFall);
• the development of new 'alliances' and 'groupings' of African 'research' universities announced this year (over and above existing ones like the HERANA Network);
• a (final?) engagement on the continent with MDGs and the debates and BIG policies including the role of HE in African development (e.g. with the AU 2063 Plan; the HE Summit Declaration in Dakar; and related books like Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions, by Cloete et al);
• stalled (?) discussions around internationalising and harmonising the African HE space, including a continent-wide application of the B-M-D model, and the work of the ANIE network on internationalisation;
• related issues around curriculum renewal (and unrelated, the call to a de-colonisation of the curriculum at UCT with the #RhodesMustFall movement);
• and finally, the tragic terrorist attack on the Garissa University College in Kenya in April 2015 which left 148 persons dead and injured many more.

What has 2016 in store? Looking forward to 2016 - University World News

Presentation "An International Perspective on Student Representation" Manja Klemenčič, Harvard University

Dr Manja Klemenčič's presentation at the 2014 African Minds symposium on "Student Representation in African Higher Education Governance" in Cape Town. An chapter based on her theoretical framework presented here will be published in the book Student Politics in Africa: Activism and Representation in 2016.



Presentation 'An International Perspective on Student Representation Manja Klemenčič Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard University African.'

The 2015 #movements in South Africa: From #RhodesMustFall to #Luister and #FeesMustFall

 Last night I had a fascinating Skype call from New York from the former vice-chancellor of Rhodes University in South Africa, who is the current program director of the Mellon Foundation for international higher education and South Africa: Prof Saleem Badat. Now what many may not know, Prof Saleem Badat is not only a former university vice-chancellor and before that, the first CEO of the SA Council on Higher Education, Badat is also a serious scholar - a critical sociologist by training - who has never stopped being a critical voice in the higher education sector. Before he established the CHE he was a professor of higher education studies at the University of the Western Cape working amongst others with Prof Harold Wolpe.
Now, Prof Badat is also an expert on student politics in South Africa. Indeed he has published a great number of books, including The Forgotten People:  Political Banishment under Apartheid (Brill, 2013), Black Man, You are on Your Own (STE Publishers, 2009) and Black Student Politics, Higher Education and Apartheid (RoutledgeFalmer, 2002); co-author of National Policy and a Regional Response in South African Higher Education (James Currey, 2004); and co-editor of Apartheid Education and Popular Struggles in South Africa (Zed Books, 1991). His 2002 book Black Student Politics, Higher Education and Apartheid is the most authorative book on black student politics under apartheid in South Africa.


So it is no wonder Badat has great interest in the 2015 student movement in South Africa, the #movements. And, given his training and intellect, the call was so fascinating because he was asking me questions that will occupy me for many months to come: what is the ideological and class character of the #RMF, #FMF etc #movement? Are these concepts helpful in understanding the #movements? And what is the significance of the 2015 student movement... socially, politically, for the higher education sector, for deep transformation?

And then he made me laugh. "Thierry", he said, "the movement has not even stopped and already the analyses and papers are being circulated". I guess in parts this was a comment on the chapter Manja and I drafted and which I sent to him for comments; the chapter on student organising in 21st century Africa includes a first consideration of #FeesMustFall as a "internet age student movement". Sharp. 

HERANA III Scientometrics, Rankings of African Universities, and Knowledge Productivity

The Stellenbosch University’'s Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) is offering this year a three-day workshop linked to the annual HERANA workshop, focused on Scientometrics, Rankings of African Universities, and Knowledge Productivity. CREST is the foremost competency centre on bibliometrics and scientometrics in Africa, and hosts the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (SciSTIP).

HERANA is the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa, and includes flagship universities from eight African countries: University of Botswana, University of Cape Town (SA), University of Dar es Salaam (TZ), Universitiy of Nairobi (KE), Makerere University (UG), University of Mauritius, University of Ghana, and Eduardo Mondlane University (MZ). Institutional researchers, research development managers, registrars, quality managers, etc. from the different institutions meet annually to share best practices, present their data to each other, and learn about latest developments in the sector. This year, the focus is firmly on knowledge production and capacity development in scientometrics to better understand international university ranking systems and consider the development of a HERANA 'ranking' of African universities. The first set of workshops are presented by Prof Johann Mouton (Stellenbosch/CREST) and Prof Robert Tijssen (Leiden), while the second set are facilitated by Prof Nico Cloete. The workshop includes a visit to UCT's Research Development Department.

One of the problems mentioned frequently regarding knowledge production in Africa is that only a tiny fraction of African scholarly journals are indexed in either Scopus or the Web of Science. The main bibliometric index is provided by AJOL, the African Journals Online; but AJOL does not include a citation index. Thus, there is quite a lot of work to be done; and if African universities want to find comparative metrics to measure and enhance their performance, then knowledge productivity cannot the be only ones; rather, the developmental university should also measure matters such as civic engagement; forms of community engagement; local community relationships; university - industry - government - civil society linkages; teaching quality etc; and perhaps accessibility, especially to historically disadvantaged, first generation and poor communities.