In their article analyzing the copious amounts of data Next Gen has collected for the past decade, Duncan Omanga and Shana Pareemamun, all staff of the Next Gen program, use this data to argue that Next Gen has consolidated its place in higher education funding in Africa. They conclude that the impact of Next Gen fellows and alumni within the social sciences and humanities has been considerable and shows the importance and need for more such funding of African doctoral students.
Faced not just with the pandemic itself, but also with erroneous projections that Covid-19 would devastate their populations, African countries have gradually relaxed their public health restrictions. Through conversations with African professors, Duncan Omanga explores how universities in sub-Saharan Africa have responded with a blend of approaches that reveals the uneven higher education landscape both within and between African countries.
Amid the ongoing Covid-19 carnage, there are fears that Africa will be blown apart by the virus. World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a chilling warning to African countries: “The best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst.” It was not an idle warning. Africa has been the stage for pandemics before. Besides, as two French doctors unconsciously expressed on television, sub-Saharan Africa is occasionally where ethical boundaries are pushed when developing vaccines. Meanwhile, many global media outlets are foretelling another African disaster.
