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This paper is based on a study that examined authorship and collaborative research among scholars in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions with a focus on prospects for Africa. The study involved intensive documentary desk review of conference book of abstracts and conference proceedings to examine authorship and collaborative research. The study reviewed a total of 10 conference books of abstracts and proceedings organized or hosted by universities including ODL institutions in Africa. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise some thematic areas of interest. It is revealed in this paper that authorship in terms of co-authorship is high in some conferences but low in others in relation to collaborative research. Furthermore, authorship between two scholars was higher compared to three or more authors in collaborative research. This implies that co-authorship is trending in relation to collaborative research thus raising collaboration prospects for Africa. It is therefore recommended that ODL scholars should be encouraged to do more co-author publications from collaborative research in order to promote teamwork and comparative studies in knowledge production for socio-economic development relevant for Africa and beyond.

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"Go to temples of science and ideas of Europe. Imitate the Tugendbund, 'the Union of Virtue', of which thousands of German youth are the members. Always keep the rule of 'Fit soul is in fit body' in mind" (Petrov, 2013, p. 72). This study aimed to show the similarities, in terms of expression, emphasis, and implication, in the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives of various science centers from around the world and in the basic themes derived from Snellman's statement above, namely, Science for all, Science Centers for all, and Human welfare that he made as a challenge to not only his people but to everyone. Document and content analyses were applied in the study. Within the scope of these analyses, this study investigated the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives sections of websites of science centers from around the world (Asia, Europe, Global, Latin America/The Caribbean, North America, Africa). From this investigation, similar basic themes, derived from Snellman's statement challenging his people/everyone to adopt this devotion to science, were found in the areas of i) expression in ASTC, CIMUSET/CSTM, CASC and SAASTEC; ii) emphasis in ECSITE, ASDC, ASCN and NSCF; and iii) implication in ASPAC, ASTEN, NCSM, ABCMC and Red-POP. These basic themes, as found in the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives of science centers, can, in effect, be narrowed down to the one theme of "cultural institutions will be a big part of human life" (Madsen 2017, p. 68) science centers in the global village (Touraine, 2016, p. 121) of the future.

Due to the recent developments in the delivery of teaching-learning processes when COVID-19 hit the world with a health crisis and pandemic, it is crucial to look into the quality of courses delivered via online means or through distance education modality. This paper examines implementation and application of quality assurance (QA) landscape in Distance Education (DE). A documentary review using bibliographic inquiry is used as a methodology approach to gather relevant information to address the study questions. Previous studies on QA in DE are examined and arranged into themes using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that most of the literature on QA in DE in Africa and Asia based on the reviewed Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions are basically dealing with frameworks, outcomes and performance, instructional design, student services and challenges as well as parity in terms of quality with the traditional institutions. Therefore, this paper concludes that more studies are needed for QA in DE to match the post-COVID-19 trends on improving QA. This implies that there is a need to expand research on QA in DE to include areas of artificial intelligence.

The authors classified citations included in papers presented at 10 International Society for Music Education (ISME) biennial International Research Commission Seminars across an 18-year period (1988-2006) based on the six world regions as specified by the ISME Research Commission. Citations (N = 4,535) were examined from 238 papers presented at the 12th through 21st seminars. There were 2,250 citations from 407 journals, the most prevalent sources. Twenty-eight papers from this sample were multinational in nature, with 79% (n = 22) of these by U.S. researchers as either sole or senior authors. The main result of this study is that the researchers from around the world who were presenters at these seminars primarily cited sources within their own geographical regions. Additionally, the "Journal of Research in Music Education" was by far the most referenced journal throughout the entire sample. (Contains 2 tables.)

Examines the characteristics of rejected manuscripts submitted to the "African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science." Most of the papers were rejected because they contributed nothing new to knowledge (65.5%), used unreliable data (13.1%) and lacked focus (13.1%). There were no remarkable differences with regard to status and affiliations between authors of rejected and accepted papers. (Author/AEF)

This article combines large-scale bibliometric analysis of publications on education by researchers based in sub-Saharan Africa with researchers' accounts of their priorities and practice. Patterns in the thematic foci of the research from 48 countries in the region are considered from the perspective of international policy statements (the Education Sustainable Development Goal and the African Union's Agenda 2063), alongside analysis of funding, coauthorship, and citations. We find a large number of publications by these scholars in reputable journals that merit greater scholarly engagement. Furthermore, evidence presented in this article challenges claims about the dominance of Northern research agendas in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cesarean delivery rates are rapidly increasing in Southeastern Europe (to more than 60%), North Africa (with a rate as high as 72% in Egypt), and in urban areas in Southern Africa (a rate of over 50% in Lagos, Nigeria). Data on the background to these increases are scarce, but likely to include poor birthing facilities in general hospitals, convenience for the doctor, private medicine, fear of litigation, socioeconomic status, shortage of midwives and nurses, and disappearance of vaginal instrumental deliveries. Options to reverse cesarean delivery trends are discussed. In this context there is a need to be better informed about how women are being counseled regarding vaginal or cesarean delivery. The long-term consequences in subsequent pregnancies for mothers and children may well be largely ignored, while these risks are highest in LMICs where higher birth numbers are desired. FIGO has begun discussions with obstetric and gynecologic societies, healthcare bodies, and governments in several countries discussed in this article, to find ways to lower the cesarean delivery rate. The requests came from the countries themselves, which may prove beneficial in helping advance progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the potential of Ubuntu philosophy for decolonising Participatory Research (PR) in the Global South, addressing power imbalances and research process challenges. Despite PR's focus on community involvement, it can perpetuate practices contradicting its principles, hence the rise of 'decolonising research' for fair, respectful researcher-community relationships and meaningful community knowledge. The central question is, 'How can Ubuntu serve as a tool for decolonising PR in the Global South?' Drawing from decolonisation, PR, and Ubuntu literature, we offer a novel perspective on applying Ubuntu in PR. The study demonstrates how Ubuntu promotes social change and justice, challenges Western knowledge universality, and empowers marginalised Global South communities via democratic, participatory platforms. We provide theoretical insights and practical suggestions for PR stakeholders, asserting that Ubuntu adoption can foster equitable, inclusive practices benefiting communities. The paper also invites further examination of indigenous philosophies in decolonising research, enriching knowledge production in the Global South and globally marginalised communities.

The paper aims to provide a review of literature that emphasizes students' and teachers' views on the nature of science (NOS) and associated instructional approaches to develop adequate understanding of the NOS that have been employed in different contexts. One hundred and seventy-two (172) studies were selected from ResearchGate, Academia, Google Scholar, and ERIC database from the year 2000 to 2022 and few important documents published before 2000. The paper presents an exploration of NOS aspects and identifies the gaps in the previous researches. The reviewed studies inform us that students have strong misconceptions on some NOS aspects such as relationship between theories and laws, observations, and scientific method, while teachers have strong misconception on relationship between theories and laws. The NOS instructional approaches discussed in reviewed papers have a positive effect in improving the NOS understanding. Reviewed literature suggests that some instructional approaches have positive effect to teach most of targeted NOS aspects such as explicit and reflective approach. In addition, the findings indicate that explicit and reflective instruction has been more documented and tried out into different contexts in which a considerable effect on students' views on NOS was noted. Despite all efforts put in place, there is still a need for a lot to be done on active instructional approaches and interventions in this regard, particularly in developing countries with emphasis to the Sub-Saharan Africa education context.

Mentorship may be conceptualised in terms of the form it takes, function it serves or it's learning centred nature which makes research in mentoring to receive attention within different disciplines. This article attempts to understand how a mentoring programme can contribute to enhanced research capacity building in the field of Innovation and Development (I&D) studies in Africa. It does this through a qualitative study of an African-oriented research capacity building network (AfricaLics) that aims at building a critical mass of scholars in I&D studies in the continent of Africa. Drawing on theoretical approaches in higher education that support systems of interaction thinking, the paper finds that more systematic and extensive mentorship, and awareness about different types of mentorship can enhance capacity building in the field of I&D studies. The paper recommends that development of an I&D mentorship programme must consider a mix of both structured and unstructured elements that are aligned to the local context. These context-specific elements are critical to building sustainable research capacity building programmes in academic disciplines that are transdisciplinary in nature such as I&D studies.

Playwork is a recognised profession in the United Kingdom (UK) and is currently a growing area of interest internationally. However, debates about the nature and purpose of playwork have raged in the playwork field since the profession was invented in the early adventure playgrounds. This study is the first to capture data about what the now international playwork workforce understands to be the purpose of playwork. The International Playwork Census (IPC) was an online survey which asked participants from 19 different countries about their knowledge and experience of playwork. This paper reports on one question from the IPC: what is the purpose of playwork? A thematic analysis was undertaken from 193 responses on what was considered "the purpose of playwork" and three themes emerged: Facilitate and Provide for children's play; Support and Advocate. This paper describes how these three themes reflect both the historical change in understandings of the purpose of playwork and how different understandings of playwork are developed through the experience of practitioners working in range of different contexts.

This paper initiates a novel discourse advocating for the anti-colonization of religious education (RE) in Africa South of the Sahara (ASoS). It illustrates how anti-colonial critiques can not only offer more precise theoretical perspectives but also generate a practical imperative for a paradigm shift in a school subject "still" influenced by what I have labeled as the neocoloniality of power. In some countries, attempts to decolonize RE through multi-faithism are being forsaken, reverting the subject to the Christonormativity of the colonial era. The paper contends that the process of reconceptualizing RE with an anti-colonial mindset should inspire innovative ideas for an anti-colonized RE aligned with the educational goals in an African postcolonial environment.

The future of university learning in Sub-Saharan Africa has become increasingly digitally transformed by both e-Learning, and learning analytics, post-COVID-19 pandemic. Learning analytics intervention is critical for effective support of socially-shared regulated learning skills, which are crucial for twenty-first-century e-Learners. Socially-shared regulation is the major determinant of successful collaborative e-learning. However, most e-learners lack such skills thereby facing socio-cognitive challenges, due to the unavailability of intelligent support during learning. This research aims to investigate and understand the effect of Learning Analytics instructional support using feedback and prompts, on e-learners' SSRL indicators. A theoretical model was derived from these factors and built from selected features. Both survey data and behavioral trace data were employed in the Learning analytics-based intervention. In this paper, only a segment of the data is discussed. The e-learners' perceptions and feedback confirmed that Learning Analytics-based interventions using prompts and feedback are effective in promoting SSRL in collaborative e-learning contexts. The findings indicated that the success of SSRLA-based intervention be tied to support from instructors and academic counselors, particularly feedback on previous problems and quizzes. This will improve e-learners' SSRL skills for quality educational experience, hence motivate e-learners, and help lecturers to identify at-risk learners in web programming problem-based courses. In conclusion, without adequate utilization of the Learning Analytics interventional trace data, critical information about learners' behavior patterns in terms of their online interactivity with the course activities and their SSRL profiles and strategies cannot be disclosed leading to little improvement of e-Learning interventions.

Despite the legislation put in place by the United Nations, Africa continues to grapple with issues of monosexism and heterosexism. In fact, of the 54 African countries, 33 have criminalised queer relationships, a legacy primarily attributed to colonial rule. However, social work literature has recently introduced a culturally sensitive model for working with the LGBTQIA+ community, known as Queer affirmative action. By utilising available literature and adopting an intersectional approach, which was collected and analysed through PRISMA, this paper aims to discuss the Africanising of sexuality in Africa. It argues that it is crucial to undertake a critical analysis of the colonial legacy and its impact on queer identities. Furthermore, the article posits that social work education must incorporate knowledge of the intersection of gender, sexuality, and other identity markers to form an inclusive and comprehensive approach towards practice. An affirmative philosophy to social work practice can serve as a counterweight to all punitive and discriminatory practices. Thus, in Africa, the most effective way to improve the well-being of queer individuals is to eradicate structural forms of inequality and decriminalise same-sex consensual relationships.

This paper reports the findings of a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer on 392 Scopus database documents published from 2003 to 2022, aiming to understand the global landscape of the e-learning field and to identify the most prominent authors, institutions, countries and reference publications, as well as the research topics that have recently received the most attention in students' readiness for e-learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The findings indicate that there has been an upward trend in e-learning readiness among students in HEIs over time. Among the countries studied, the United States, Taiwan, Australia, and Malaysia were found to have the most effective approaches to addressing students' readiness for e-learning. The most highly cited author in this field is M-L. Hung. Based on the citations, the most recognised journal in this field was "Computers and Education" and the universities that were most persuasive were two Taiwan universities in the first position. The data also revealed relatively low levels of collaboration among authors, institutions and nations regarding students' readiness for e-learning.

There is an increasing trend toward regionalization as higher education adapts to openness and globalization. In response, East African countries formed networks and partnerships that strengthened business, higher education, student and staff mobility, and research. This is because regionalization is embedded in East Africa's economy, politics, culture, and social norms. In addition, regionalization is influenced by internationalization and globalization. It promises development opportunities, although challenges are inevitable. This paper examines the contributions of regional student mobility to East Africa's development. We use neoliberal and world systems theories to illuminate the advantages and disadvantages of regionalizing higher education and explain how partner states can maximize opportunities and minimize challenges. Data was collected through convenience sampling of two hundred international students and two staff members in international students' offices. Data analysis revealed that the regionalization of East African higher education reflects historical power relations; it has benefits though founded on inequalities.

To ensure its partners have the capacity to implement gender responsive projects, COL introduced an online training programme on gender equality and women's empowerment. This paper reports the methodology and results in measuring the efficacy of this online training at individual and organisational levels. The ability of individuals and organisations to plan and implement transformative actions with a gender perspective require adequate knowledge, skills and a change in attitudes. Given this need, the commonly used Knowledge, Attitude, Skills (KAS) model was used to measure the efficacy of this online training at individual and organisational levels by defining different dimensions of capacities with three learning domains -- Cognitive, Affective, Psychomotor (Bloom's Taxonomy). The baseline and the end line of KAS at the individual level on the six core gender capacities was established for comparison. Two questionnaires were designed to assess the learning achievements of the participants and to measure the efficacy of the training. An analysis of the study registers a clear trend of positive outcomes at the individual level regarding improved knowledge, attitudes and skills on gender equality that could be applied in their work. Furthermore, the paper reports that the organisations demonstrate an enabling environment for more gender equal policies, structures and practices and proposes ways to convert the success of this training by integrating it into the broader gender equality strategy of these organisations.

The question of SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) diasporic identity formation has been widely debated in area studies, ethnic studies, and the burgeoning field of Arab American Studies with scholars such as Sarah Gualtieri (2009), Nadine Naber (2012), and Neda Maghbouleh (2017) arguing that people of SWANA descent are racial minorities even though the U.S. government classifies them as white. However, these works have not adequately addressed SWANA racialization in the context of higher education following 9/11. This co-authored paper closely examines institutionalized SWANA erasure from the shared intersectional perspective of one faculty member, one graduate student, and two undergraduate students at a California State University campus in Southern California. Specifically, in this co-authored paper, we draw on our individual and collective co-organizing experiences to illustrate (a) the persistence of specific structural inequities that SWANA heritage people face in the academy, (b) the multilayered impact of these educational barriers, and (c) our wide range of ongoing activist responses to them. We say "khalas!" (enough!) to systemic oppression and argue that the ultimate antidote to institutionalized SWANA erasure is solidarity within and between marginalized subjects at every level of academia in the service of anti-racist and anti-colonial education. This co-authored paper uplifts SWANA resilience and resistance in California's most diverse public university system to shed new light on the understudied issue of how higher education perpetuates SWANA racialization.

In this paper we propose STEAM practices that would foster mathematics learning through modelling architecture while connecting to culture and history. The architectural modelling process is applied by the teachers as participants of these practices from different countries allowing a broad cultural and historical connection to mathematics education. The modelling is implemented in GeoGebra platform as it is an open-source platform to allow teachers to model on a mathematics basis. The architectural modelling process does not provide participants with steps to follow but rather allows them to explore the architectural models' components and construct them with various approaches which may foster problem solving techniques. We aim to investigate how different phases of this approach (such as motivation, modeling, and printing process) reflect on opportunities of learning in STEAM education, with a particular lens in mathematical development from open tasks. This paper will show two use cases that took place in Upper Austria and the MENA region.

The PanAfrican Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of information and communication technology (ICT; PanAf) research project was initiated in 2006 to support initiatives in African countries to integrate ICT into teaching and learning through the frequent collection and analysis of data on ICT usage. The article examines the congruence between the intended and implemented ICT curricula in six African countries (Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa) that participated in the study. Data obtained from the PanAf observatory (at www.observatoiretic.org) on these countries' use of ICT in education revealed that the national curricula documents (intended curricula) and teachers' classroom practices (implemented curricula) both emphasize ICT as the subject of learning rather than as a means of learning.

This paper investigates digital inequalities in usage within African informal sectors. In particular, we examine whether the uneven digital diffusion is embedded in pre‐existing socio‐economic inequalities. After identifying three segments of informal firms, we rely on multivariate and decomposition analyses to identify predictors of usage of digital technologies for business purposes and explain usage gaps between segments. Our findings suggest that digital inequalities are rooted in the vertical heterogeneity of informal sectors, with some firm characteristics significantly predicting professional use of digital technologies. In addition, we find that there are both common and segment‐specific levers for addressing digital inequalities between informal firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) of the Africa Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU/NEPAD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, held in January 2008, a conference on the subject of "Convergence between Social Service Provision and Productivity Enhancing Investments in Development Strategies" with a view to improving the complementaries between investments in social sciences and those aimed directly at raising agricultural productivity. The present paper is intended as part of a seminar series in this regard to be held at IFPRI, 9 October 2007, and serves as the basis for a paper to be presented at the CAADP/IFPRI conference in January 2008 in Durban, South Africa. (Contains 7 notes and 4 figures.)

Building on a presentation made at the closing plenary of OIEC's World Congress in New York, this paper considers two trends affecting Catholic education globally and their potential implications for university research and programs in support of K12 schools. The first trend is the shift of enrollment in K12 Catholic education towards the global south and especially Africa in terms of the sheer number of students enrolled in schools. The second trend relates to the deepening learning crisis in K12 education affecting much of the developing world, and again especially Africa. These two trends have implications for university research and programs in support of K12 Catholic schools on the continent. The paper argues that apart from discussions related to Catholic identity, which are of course important, more attention should be placed by universities, including in the West, on the related but distinct issue of how to improve basic learning for students enrolled in K12 Catholic schools in the global south.

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how technology has influenced the economic growth of developing countries and what steps are needed to be implemented in the regions of the world such as Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper reflects the arguments and the conclusions brought up during the discussion with a student roundtable answering the general research question; 'Are certain developing countries doomed to remain emerging'? In answering this question, the group identified four factors for economic growth: (1) human resources, (2) natural resources, (3) physical capital and (4) technology. Of the four factors technology was the single most significant factor for economic growth in developing countries, although the others are just as important. The group concluded that countries that lead the world in generating advanced technologies and leveraging their full productive capacity can gain a strategic comparative advantage and become an advanced country. Innovation and entrepreneurship are crucial for long-term economic development.

Quality educational institutions are strategic tools for accelerating the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All the 17 SDGs are interlinked. For instance, quality education (SDG4) reduces poverty (SDG 1,2) and inequalities (SDG10) and stimulates good health and wellbeing (SDG3). The paper applied unorthodox theoretical postulations such as convergence models, intergovernmentalism, neofunctionalism and neorealism in explaining how functional (educational) institutions are a necessary enabling environment in accelerating the attainment of SDGs. Empirically, the paper identified unclear modus operandi, lack of political will, political instability, small and fragmented markets and economies with heterogeneous characteristics, and lack of standardization of product and procedures, among other factors, as constraints to sustainability in tertiary education. A Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model was employed using data from 51 Sub-Saharan countries. The three variables were gross domestic product per capita (GDPP), governance and tertiary education expenditure. Results indicated significant short-run unidirectional causality from gross domestic product per capita and tertiary education expenditure to governance, but joint short-run causality was not established. However, transmission effects across the three variables became significant as the number of years increased to ten years. The study recommends a holistic approach from policymakers in order to ensure sustainability in tertiary education due to interlinkages, with emphasis placed on direction of causality.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are online courses that are open to anyone with Internet access. Pioneered in North America, they were developed for contexts with broader access to technology and wider access to the Internet. As globally networked learning environments (GNLEs), MOOCs foster collaborative communities and learning in ways not conceived as feasible until recently. The affordances of MOOCs, such as the ability to access learning beyond one's immediacy, exemplify their benefits for open and distance learning, especially in developing countries that continue to consume rather than produce online courses. However, the globality of MOOCs and their delivery mode pose a challenge of contextualising learning content to the local needs of educational institutions or individual students that choose to use the courses. This theoretical paper used a desk-research approach by revising literature to investigate and propose ways of contextualising MOOCs to the African higher education setting. It applied the principles of reuse and repurposing learning content, while suggesting the use of mobile learning as a technological delivery solution that is relevant to the local context. The paper also suggests a framework for inter-institutional collaboration for higher education institutions to guide future efforts in the creation and sharing of credit-bearing MOOCs.

Purpose: The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has had a profound impact on education institutions at all levels. Open universities, with their privileged delivery method, have been in an advantageous position. In the earlier stages of the pandemic, they made remarkable contributions to assuring learning continuity. However, with more and more conventional universities migrating online, great changes have taken place in the field of higher education, and it is imperative for open universities to adjust their strategies in order to maintain their leading role in a technology-enabled education context. This paper aims to examine what challenges have been faced by open universities during the pandemic and how they will transform in the future. Design/methodology/approach: Six open universities in Asia, Africa and Europe were selected as cases in this research to make a comparative study based on the papers in the volume beyond distance education. Similarities and differences among the cases were analyzed in order to identify the developing trend for open universities in the international context. Findings: The results showed that (1) open universities in these regions demonstrated their resilience in the pandemic; examples were that new technologies have been leveraged to implement totally online delivery with short notice and huge amount of learning resources were offered to the society. (2) However, they encountered challenges of delivering fully online examination due to the lockdown and quarantine policies, and open universities in African and the sole private institution suffered financial pressure due to improving information and communication technology infrastructure and staff training. Another challenge was the fierce competition from conventional universities that open universities in Asia and Europe came across. (3) Four main areas were identified for future development in order to respond to the challenges: No.1 is that programs such as health care, psychology, epidemiology, virology, immunology, data analytics, biology and bio-informatics have stimulated interest for African open universities to develop in the future; No. 2 is that open universities were seeking to innovate their teaching formats; short courses, such as micro credentials, might be developed as agile and flexible offerings which are expected to be suitable to learners in the pandemic context; No 3 is that programs and courses for upskilling in the context of digitalization will be implemented; and No. 4 is that lifelong learning is given a higher priority in order for open universities to stand securely in the higher education sector. Originality/value: The study may give open university leaders a quick insight into their future development.

Purpose: This paper aims to confront some of the many facets of academic freedom as a whole, including the shared concerns with Western academia, its relationship to the politics of Arab society and the relevance of these issues within local political domains. It attempts to profile the problems hindering societal progress beyond the seemingly defined truth. While this subject has many facets, this article only examines academic freedom within the scope of knowledge and inquiry derived from the revered text of the Qur'an, including its relation to democracy and radicalism. It is an effort to refocus Arab intellectual dialogue on its ailing academia. It also argues for Arab society to reclaim its core culture of Islam as an enabler of learning aside from the Eurocentric perspective of academic freedom. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses an expository and persuasive format in its novel perspective. This expository form sets out the argument of academic freedom as being indigenous to Arab-Islamic heritage and pursues a persuasive statement for its resolution. This format outlines the main familiar aspects of academic freedom and lays out its components within Arab-Islamic history. Findings: This paper provides insights and arguments supporting its main theory. It suggests that Arabs must judiciously consider what their education will look like and accomplish in the next 100 years, considering the sociopolitical status quo and the chances of changing it. It argues that academic freedom is indigenous to Arab-Islamic early history, academia and knowledge governance. Therefore, Arab academia must not ignore its heritage to examine what hinders education and intellectualism. It concludes with the point that reinstalling a culture of knowledge will create a relevant democracy. Research limitations/implications: The implications for research, practice and society are vast. Further academic freedom research would redefine terms of processes, change the role of academic leadership, debunk locally dominated politics, introduce learning-first policies, balance inequalities in gender, abolish academic tribalism and move past colonialist ideas and predominance. For researchers, this point of view would open doors for new scholastic approaches. Practical implications: This paper includes practical implications that stem from an approach that would provoke practical possibilities and call for more academic conversations. Further conversations should explore and debate the gaps in Arab-Islamic knowledge history. The Global South of the Arab World or the Middle East and Northern Africa/Southwest Asia North Africa region could consider drafting a contemporary MENA account of a Magna Charta Libertatis Academicae or a Magna Charta Universitatum that is galvanized by Arab revivable heritage. Moreover, It would be productive if Western universities that operate in the Arab World would also take an active role in denouncing undemocratic practices and not merely operate as commercial enterprises. Social implications: Realizing academic freedom in Arab institutions will have a positive spillover effect on Arab society, including thriving and free media, freedom of speech and gender issues. Academic freedom is one of the main elements in structuring free political culture that adhere to the principles of tolerance. Academic freedom is necessary for showing all contesting ideas in a better light and, ultimately, achieving a form of intellectual equipoise. Originality/value: This paper concerns academic freedom in the Arab-Islamic World. The majority of academic freedom scholarship today assumes a Western democratic context in discussing or even arguing against it. The paper's focus is a novel expansion of that literature.

When pupils learn geography they are extending their world view and reshaping it. This paper analyses representations of Africa and African countries and cultures in Irish primary geography textbooks and assesses to what extent these textbook portrayals facilitate or repress multicultural education, specifically critical multicultural education (CMCE). Here, this paper argues that primary geography can and should play a critical role in challenging societal issues of inequality, racism, prejudice and stereotypes, particularly pertaining to perspectives of the 'Other'. This paper devises a framework for critical multicultural geography education (CMCGE) and applies this to Irish primary geography textbooks. While some textbooks can demonstrate capacity in fostering multiple perspectives, appreciation for diversity, development of critical thinking and enquiry, and making connections; in the main, textbooks present stereotypical, oversimplified accounts of issues, peoples and places which can result in feelings of superiority amongst dominant groups and more entrenched feelings of 'Otherness' amongst minority groups.

This paper intervenes in debates on Chinese higher education and social (re)production strategies in the contemporary African diaspora, developing the link between 'Chinese' capitals, social status and spatial mobility. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with both disadvantaged and middle-class African international students, I unpack how migration to China will enable them to accumulate prized forms of capital and position advantageously in different spheres of African society. The paper focuses on two 'Chinese' capitals--specifically high proficiency in the Chinese language, and exposure to and internalisation of Chinese lifestyles and practices--which are convertible to profit, distinction and secure coveted jobs in their respective home countries. By exploring how China's 'in the middle' position within the global political economy and exercising its soft power over peripheries are reflected in the ways these African students and their families play the 'class game' and make higher education choice, this paper moves beyond the 'West' vs. 'the Rest' gaze and nuances an emergent mobility pattern within the Global South. I conclude by presenting an argument that in seeking these 'Chinese' capitals, the students and their families may enhance China's geopolitical standing and facilitate its movement towards the 'core' within the arena of the world (knowledge) system.