Goolam Mohamedbhai

Goolam Mohamedbhai is the former secretary-general of the Association of African Universities, the former president of the International Association of Universities and the former vice chancellor of the University of Mauritius. He is currently a member of the governing council of the United Nations University. Lately his main interest has been African higher education about which he has written and spoken widely. His latest publication on that topic is The Effects of Massification on Higher Education in Africa (AAU, 2008).

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Most Recent Articles

September 18, 2016
Assessment of Teaching in Determining Institutional Excellence
Teaching must be at the heart of higher education.  
May 15, 2016
Quality in Africa: New Initiatives
The poor quality of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa has been the subject of many articles, reports and papers. The situation has significantly improved; but more, much more remains to be done.
July 26, 2015
Higher Education: A Hotbed of Corruption?
Hardly any week goes by without an article on corruption in higher education.
January 4, 2015
The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
The recognition that education, at all levels, can be a powerful tool in promoting sustainable development led to the concept of Education for Sustainable Development and, in 2002, the United Nations declared 2005-14 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
June 22, 2014
Quality of Graduates in Africa
A survey by the Inter-University Council for East Africa revealed some stark and disturbing facts
September 2, 2013
Confucius Institutes: China’s Global Presence
China has understood what many countries still fail to appreciate: higher education is a key vehicle not only to achieve economic development but also to attain ‘soft power’ regionally and globally.
March 24, 2013
Transnational Education: What impact on local institutions?
An important requirement for a country to successfully promote transnational education (TNE) and seek to become a knowledge hub is to have a strong, local higher education sector. This is the situation for countries such as Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Singapore that have successfully developed knowledge hubs. But what about countries such as Botswana, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, aspiring to create knowledge hubs? Is their higher education sector robust enough to compete with TNE institutions? Will TNE in those countries help to strengthen the local sector, or weaken and marginalize it?
November 5, 2012
Should African Universities be Globally Ranked?
Any observer of higher education in Africa would immediately realize that African universities, with the exception of a handful, stand no chance of appearing under the THE Rankings; or for that matter under other global university rankings that use criteria with a heavy bias on research, publications in international refereed journals and citations.  African universities have to cope with huge student enrolment with limited financial and physical resources. They are short of academic staff, a large proportion of whom do not have a PhD.  Not surprisingly, their research output and performance in postgraduate education are poor.  It is clear that in the rankings race, they are playing on a non-level field. 
May 14, 2012
Internationalization and Global Responsibility*
Do  foreign institutions complement or compete with existing public institutions in the host country, or even weaken the latter because of its ability to attract better qualified staff and students? Does it create a greater social divide between the rich who can pay high fees and the poor who cannot? Is the operation a purely commercial one, with little regard to quality or accreditation, especially as in many instances the host country may not have a quality assurance agency? Does it pose a threat to the cultural values of the host county?  All these are issues of global responsibility that challenge higher education institutions in their delivery of cross-border education.
January 22, 2012
Goolam Mohamedbhai: Affirmative Action-Is it Fair?
Is reservation fair? Yes! say the pro-reservationists, as that is the only way to redress social inequity. No!, say the anti-reservationists, as it goes against meritocracy since well-qualified candidates are debarred at the expense of less-qualified ones. But, retort the pro-reservationists, it is precisely because lower caste candidates have not had the opportunity to attend the best schools that they need to have reserved seats

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