This handbook provides a global overview of the design, implementation and assessment of academic development centers within higher education institutions. The current nature of our complex, rapidly changing world makes it imperative that colleges and universities worldwide find ways to educate their students in new and better ways: this is…

Climate change is an ongoing process that, at the current pace of such activities, cannot be avoided. Tools have been proposed to deal with climate change focus on adaptation and mitigation. Strengthening national and international awareness of and commitment to reducing the impact of climate change has become the only viable option to ensure the…

In this Exemplars case, the fifth and final under the direction of the current coeditors, the authors present a reflective account of an ongoing, complex, multiyear, multinational monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system conducted for African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), an international development program. The…

"The demographics of families in poverty around the globe may be diverse, but parents' dreams for their children are similar everywhere: good health, a good education, economic stability, and a better future." This new report from the Bernard van Leer Foundation and Ascend at The Aspen Institute develops a "two generation"…

This article studies issues of coloniality in so-called capacity-building projects between universities in Africa and Scandinavia. Even fifty years after independence, the African higher education landscape is a product of the colonial powers and subsequent uneven power relations, as argued by a number of researchers. The uneven geography and…

This article looks at the role that teacher training can play in implementing curriculum reform, specifically in studies conducted in French-speaking Africa by researchers at the UNESCO Chair in Curriculum Development. After reviewing the effects that reform has on the school as an organization, it establishes a link between the concept of change…

Over the past six years, the authors have been project leaders for three distance education initiatives in Cape Verde and Mozambique: (1) a blended learning master's degree in multimedia in education for faculty in Cape Verdean public higher education institutions (2005-2008); (2) a teacher training programme for 1375 elementary teachers provided…

Purpose: Within the context of the European-funded JOLISAA project (JOint Learning in and about Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), an inventory of agricultural innovation experiences was made in Benin, Kenya and South Africa. The objective was to assess multi-stakeholder agricultural innovation processes involving smallholders. Approach:…

The establishment of formal teacher training systems is a relatively new innovation in some parts of Africa. Formal training of secondary teachers in Malawi commenced when the government of Malawi opened the University of Malawi in 1965. The contribution of Malawi's ruling parties to the development of teacher education in Malawi since then is an…

Vocational education and training (VET) has returned to the list of policy priorities for education in Africa after an absence of a quarter of a century, yet there has been no new research that overturns the existing orthodox position that such provision, whether during or after schooling, is inefficient and ineffective. This paper addresses this…

Recent studies of the current state of rural education and training (RET) systems in sub-Saharan Africa have assessed their ability to provide for the learning needs essential for more knowledgeable and productive small-scale rural households. These are most necessary if the endemic causes of rural poverty (poor nutrition, lack of sustainable…

After years of neglect, there is renewed international interest in higher education in sub-Saharan Africa. Comparative projects have been launched on a continental scale, looking at the socio-economic relevance of higher education, often with the aim of reviving failing institutions. A new "transformation" policy paradigm has replaced a…

Chapters in this book include: (1) Internationalization and Globalization in Higher Education (Douglas E. Mitchell and Selin Yildiz Nielsen); (2) Higher Educational Reform Values and the Dilemmas of Change: Challenging Secular Neo-Liberalism (James Campbell); (3) "Red Light" in Chile: Parents Participating as Consumers of Education Under…

This manual provides materials for a 6-day workshop to develop skills in democratic learning and teaching practices. Goals of the workshop are as follows: (1) train facilitators to use the methodology; (2) introduce people in the African National Congress (ANC) to the potential of popular education methodology; (3) determine follow-up action to…

A schoolnet program is an organized set of activities that expands the use of ICTs and promotes sharing of educational resources by teachers and students at schools. Schoolnet programmes may be located inside or outside government, may be large initiatives with substantial funding, or may be smaller innovative projects without big budgets. The…