Purpose This paper aims to examine the possible link among the African Development Bank (AfDB), Results Measurement Framework 2016–2025 and the research published at institutions of higher education on the continent in the last five years. The unregulated commercialisation of higher education in most African countries has been prone to large-scale abuse through wanting curriculum development and processes accruing to competence, skills needy and job market disoriented graduates. Design/methodology/approach This study took a qualitative literature review analysis where research papers published in the last five years on higher education in Africa were searched. These were from Google and Semantic scholar and these were categorised in a detailed concept matrix. Findings Findings indicate that there is hardly a connection between the AfDB Group development agenda on the continent and the research conducted and published by institutions of higher learning on the continent. Practical implications Universities should prioritise a needs-based research agenda in their strategic planning and this implies commitment in terms of funding, human resource competency empowerment and partnerships with development agencies on the continent. African institutions of higher learning have not emphasised applied research practices to tackle pervading knowledge needs on the continent. Just like findings indicate, research in most of these institutions has been donor driven. Originality/value This study brings to speed the fact that if transforming Africa is going to take a strategic direction in the post-COVID-19 era, then partnerships between higher education institutions and development agencies operating on the continent will be an inevitable venture.

PurposeDespite the sporadic evolution of artificial intelligence, the most valuable asset of any organization in the modern world is human resources. This study aims to reveal that partnerships between higher education institutions (HEIs) and employers will ease the process of employee mid-career development in Uganda's corporate employment sector by promoting work-based postgraduate training, and this additionally promotes human resources (HR) capacity-building for organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesis is that contemporary employees seek out an academic mid-career development postgraduate programme that is blended to fit into the employees' work schedule. The study was a descriptive quantitative study, and a closed-ended questionnaire was sent out to groups of corporate employees online (N = 70) and 41 responded, giving a response rate of 58.5%.FindingsFindings indicate a need for a flexible program for mid-career development and transition, the low standard deviation of (Neutral = 0.95, Disagreed = 2.64 and Agreed = 3.3) implies an insignificant deviation from the mean of responses. Indeed, over 95% agree that pursue further studies is needed but in a more flexible way.Research limitations/implicationsThe study design was limited by the sample selection process and study design. In the future, the authors recommend a mixed study for both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of such studies.Practical implicationsIrrespective of gender, hierarchy and experience, employees want flexible study modes for their postgraduate. This implies that institutions of higher learning should work with the labour industry and position themselves as work-based information and communication technology (ICT)-Integrated learning theatres.Originality/valueThe move towards a collaborative strategy between academia and the employment industry is very evident in this study.

Transnational educational partnerships among tertiary institutions have been around for a long time all over the world. There will always be cases where some institutions or countries have a better capacity and operational advantage over others. It is because of this rationale that educational institutions from two or more countries through collaborative partnerships and or relationships, rally or agree to counter contemporary challenges in their countries and they have been very successful in this for a long time. The COVID-19 pandemic created a disruption of education systems, affecting over 1.6 billion learners globally and hence the numerous surges of transnational educational partnerships. The study investigated the rating of a programme that is running under a transnational higher education partnership between two institutions in two different countries. An exploratory study of a qualitative design was adopted for this research and by use of a closed and open-ended questionnaire, data was collected. The questionnaire was designed to benchmark the three instructional strategies of the Community of Inquiry framework model, and these are cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Results reveal positive students’ ratings of the programme on all instructional strategies social, teaching, and cognitive presence with a few outliers. The study portrays an effective switch from a face-to-face lecture learning session programme, to online-modular learning without so many obstacles to affect the teaching-learning process. Future research could pick interest in more detailed experiences of students on such programmes, and this is in addition to the detailed responses for other stakeholders like instructors, administrators, and possibly parents.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0404/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

In response to the Covid-19 outbreak the world closed and therefore countries like Somalia have not been exceptional. The government of Somalia and all higher education institutions adopted crisis intervention measures on implementation of blended learning approaches like online teaching and learning. In this chapter we explore the process and challenges of adopting online learning in response to the world wide lockdown due to the pandemic. Given that this was an abrupt requirement, the survey was interested in finding out whether universities adopted and adapted easily. Researchers compared findings from previous studies and theoretical inclinations on online learning. Results indicate that the adoption of online learning among universities in Garowe was as a matter of crisis management whereby administration, lecturers and students were all not ready and had no prior grounding in this pedagogical learning platform. Just like previous studies online learning implementers have continued to encounter several challenges like intermittent internet network, cost of gadgets and facilities, inadequate skills of both the instructors and students, aspects of communication and satisfaction from stakeholders. With the research survey in Garowe, results show that this is still pervading and therefore need for more rigorous contextualised research on this subject.

This study sought to review the school guidance and counselling program in Uganda as an underdeveloped country in comparison with that of Germany as a developed one. The study was prompted by the unending unemployment and the rising poverty levels, especially in the underdeveloped world. These are some of the most challenging bottlenecks to economic development in the third world and can only be solved by a well aligned and strategically designed education system as per Goal 4.7 of the United Nation’s Strategic Development Goals. The study applied a qualitative thematic approach to collect data from existing frameworks, guidelines and studies on school guidance and counselling of the two countries. The study established that the easy access of guidance and counselling program information from various sources in Germany helps students to make informed decisions for their future career, which boosts the country’s attainment of intended educational, manpower goals and objectives. Unlike Germany, Uganda misses a lot of information, for instance, on opportunities that would help international students and immigrants to make informed decisions toward their future careers. The study recommends that the Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports considers overhauling its School guidance and counselling program since there are numerous gaps as compared with that of Germany. Germany can also consider developing school guidance and counselling curriculum to standardize that practice across the country.