A computer science education expert with a keen interest in Artificial Intelligence, Dr Ismaila Temitayo Sanusi, has emphasised the urgent need for the Federal Government to take concrete steps to improve access to AI education in Nigerian schools.

According to Dr Sanusi, the current state of AI education in the country is concerning, with many schools lacking the necessary resources to effectively teach AI or integrate its fundamentals across different subject areas.

He noted that the need for greater support for AI education emerged from his research findings, highlighting that Nigeria’s educational infrastructure is not yet sufficiently robust to support widespread AI teaching.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has said the expansion of its loan programme to vocational skills centres across the country would commence in six to eight week’s time.

Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr explained that the vocational training support through loans, was aimed at helping individuals access technical education at various skill centres, including fashion design and other skills.

Speaking at a strategic engagement and sensitisation campaign on operations of NELFUND in Enugu State, Sawyerr disclosed that Enugu was pencilled down as one of the states to kick-off the skills acquisition and vocational training support. He said: “We are working on it now, and we’re going to have some discussions with the executive governor and his team, because we want to start it here.

The Federal Ministry of Education has kicked against the establishment of new higher institutions of learning in the country by the House of Representatives due to funding challenges.

The ministry called on the House to suspend further initiation and deliberations on the Bill for an Act to establish the Federal College of Entrepreneurship and Skills Acquisition in Hawul Local Government Area, Borno State, at this time.

Director of Polytechnic of the ministry, Ejeh Usman, disclosed the objection on Thursday in Abuja during the public hearing for Bill for an Act to Establish the Federal College of Entrepreneurship and Skills Acquisition in Hawal Local Government Area, Borno State, as well as two separate bills proposing amendments to the Federal Polytechnics Act, CAP. F17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The Minister of Education, Olatunji Alausa, has urged the National Assembly to improve their budgetary allocation to existing institutions instead of creating new ones. Alausa stated this in a memorandum presented at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Federal Polytechnics and Higher Technical Education on Thursday in Abuja.

The public hearing featured deliberations on three proposed laws, including “A Bill for an Act to Establish the Federal College of Entrepreneurship and Skills Acquisition, Hawul Local Government Area, Borno State (HB.1797) – to provide full-time courses and training in technology, applied sciences, arts, social sciences, humanities, and management.

“A Bill to Amend Section 3(2)(b), the Second Schedule, and Section 31 of the Federal Polytechnics Act, Cap F17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 (HB.1413) and “A Bill to Amend the Federal Polytechnics Act, Cap F17, to review the functions of polytechnics (HB.2114).”

The Minister of Tertiary Education, Science and Research, Dr Kaviraj Sharma Sukon, launched, yesterday in Réduit, three revamped digital platforms of the Open University of Mauritius (OU), namely the OU website, the OU Portal-Student Information Management System (SIMS) and the OU Learn Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS).

In his address the Minister congratulated the OU for taking the initiative to review and update its digital platforms, in line with the aim of promoting blended learning. The objectives, he said, are to keep the dropout rate under control by maintaining constant communication with students and ensure that the latter do not remain isolated and are empowered as independent learners.

SIMS ensures that the learners are independent by providing them the opportunity to manage their own learning experience while the LMS allows academics to deliver lectures online and stay in touch with learners.

Several stakeholders from academia and government came together at a workshop organised, today, by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), at the Caudan Arts Centre in Port Louis, to validate the Blueprint for Micro-Credentials in Higher Education, a comprehensive framework designed to standardise and expand the use of micro-credentials in higher education in Mauritius.

The Blueprint for Micro-Credentials in Higher Education, developed over the last two years by the HEC through consultations with key players and experts, focuses on the certification, recognition, and accreditation of micro-credentials.

It aligns micro-credentials with the National Qualification Framework (NQF) Levels in higher education. The document offers an effective system for awarding shorter and skill-focused learning modules as proof of specific expertise with a view to bridge the mismatch between the supply of graduates from traditional degree programmes and the evolving demands of industries.

A renowned Professor of Law, Osifunke Ekundayo has disclosed that Nigeria now top the list of out-of-children globally with a population of 10.2 million children of primary school age.

Professor Ekundayo made this known while delivering the 580th Inaugural lecture titled; Speaking up for the Numerous Voiceless Children Shut out of school in Nigeria; An endless odyssey at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan on Thursday.

She noted with dismay the increasing rate of out- school children in all the states of the federation which she blamed on the insensitivity of the government at all levels. According to her, “It is sad to know that Nigeria has the largest number of out-of-school children in the World.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, has said that the agency is considering extending its student loan scheme to private institutions within the next three years.

Sawyerr made this known during a strategic engagement and sensitisation campaign with heads of institutions and other stakeholders in Enugu on Thursday. The sensitisation campaign included the use of local dialects to enhance comprehension and encourage people in the region to engage with the programme.

While emphasising the need to first address the pressing demands of students in public universities and colleges, Sawyerr noted that the long-term goal is to ensure all Nigerian students, regardless of institution type, have access to financial support for their education.

Globally, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been instrumental in driving industrialisation by providing a skilled workforce tailored to industry needs. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023 forecasts that by 2027.

23 per cent of jobs globally will undergo significant changes, with 69 million new roles emerging and 83 million existing positions being displaced, resulting in a net loss of 14 million jobs. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, 22.3 per cent of those who experienced unemployment between the first quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023 held tertiary education degrees.

Also, the Association of Ghana Industries have highlighted the scarcity of market-ready graduates, hindering their employability, a sentiment echoed by Obi Berko et al, (2021), that employers perceive a gap between the skills possessed by graduates and those required by industry, suggesting that higher education institutions may not be fully equipping students with employable technical skills.

South Africa’s higher education system is unlikely to reach the National Development Plan’s (NDP) target of having at least 25% of total student enrolment in postgraduate programmes by 2030. This is according to a study into trends in postgraduate student numbers at South Africa’s 26 public universities.

The study revealed that, as a proportion of total enrolment between 2005 and 2020, undergraduate and postgraduate enrolment remained unchanged – 86% and 14%, respectively. The study report, titled Changing trends in the size and shape of postgraduate programmes in the public higher education system in South Africa, 2005-2020, suggests that the NDP target of having over 25% of total enrolment in postgraduate programmes by 2030 “is unrealistic and will not be met”.

The study, that was published recently, was commissioned by the Council on Higher Education (CHE). It was led by Professor Shireen Motala, holder of the South African Research Chair Initiative in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the University of Johannesburg, with Ahmed Essop as the researcher.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has opened a new regional office in the Ghanaian capital of Accra which will also be responsible for the organisation’s activities in Cameroon and Nigeria. According to the DAAD, the three countries hold a considerable potential for academic exchange and cooperation.

Together, they have an estimated 2.5 million students, with about 13,500 of them currently studying in Germany. The DAAD’s other Sub-Saharan regional office is in Nairobi, in Kenya. Not only has academic exchange with Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria been on the increase over the past few years.

German universities are also becoming increasingly interested in collaborative projects with institutions in these countries, and 130 schemes are already in progress. The DAAD’s regional office in Accra is to enable the organisation to provide students and researchers with advice at local level, present Germany as an attractive higher education and research location in the region and facilitate access to knowledge and contacts in the three countries for German institutions.

Faced with the ease with which students can now generate sophisticated outputs, universities are pressed to confront an uncomfortable question: how can we ensure the integrity and authenticity of student learning when machines can so easily simulate understanding?

My view, informed by collaborative work in 2021 with Najwa Norodien-Fataar, is that the answer lies, not in doubling down on detection and prohibition, but in rethinking the pedagogical architecture of higher education itself.

Our proposal, centred on the notion of e-learning ecologies and design-based pedagogy, based on the 2017 book e-Learning Ecologies: Principles for new learning and assessment, edited by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, offers an opportunity to reposition AI as a partner in a reflexive learning process rather than a threat to be policed.