FEATURE OF THE MONTH:

Conference Theme: " What is the role of Higher Education institutions and North – South collaboration in shaping the UN development Agenda Post-2015?”

Conference: 1-3 December 2015, Windhoek, Nambia.  Read more: http://www.sanord.net

POLYTECHNIC OF NAMIBIA (PON)

The tabling of the University of Science and Technology Bill was the highlight of the day’s proceedings. The process of transforming the Poly to a University of Science and Technology entered the final stretch when the Minister of Education, David Namwandi, tabled the University of Science and Technology Bill (Bill No. 2 of 2015) in Parliament on Tuesday, 17 March 2015.

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Malmö University is delighted to become a new member of SANORD and we would like to thank the Board and fellow members for the opportunity to build and strengthen the collaboration with partners from both regions. >Read more

Johanna Karki & Johanna Ollila, University of Turku visited SANORD Central Office to discuss a proposal for the board to participate in the SCIN. Joining SCIN would open up remarkable possibilities to disseminate the results of SISU=Edu Project that has received seed funding by SANORD.  >Read more

In a ground-breaking operation, a team of pioneering surgeons from Stellenbosch University (SU) and Tygerberg Hospital performed the first successful penile transplant in the world. >Read more

The international conference ’The Hands of time: Multiple Perspectives on Aging’ to be held 11-12 June 2015 is now open for submission of posters. The call closes on 1 March 2015.    

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The University of Turku will confer 12 honorary doctors in May. Ten of them receive the recognition for their scientific merits and co-operation with the University. Of the prominent figures of the society, President of the Supreme Court Pauliine Koskelo and Chief of Defence, General Jarmo Lindberg will be conferred. >Read more

Founded on Kalevala Day – the day celebrating the Finnish national epic Kalevala – on the 28th of February 1920, the University of Turku was the country’s first Finnish university. Read more about the history of the University of Turku from:  Glints from the anniversary celebrations.  >Read more

​The symposium aims to bring together scientists who share a common interest in the study of border regions in southern Africa, issues like cross-border economies, border issues, shaping of borders amongst others can be mentioned as topics of interest. The aim is to create an interdisciplinary forum where researchers from the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences can discuss a broad range of topics. >Read more

The 2015 IEASA Conference will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, from the 19th - 21st of August 2015. The 19th Anual Conference will this year be hosted by IEASA in Port Elizabeth.

The theme for the conference is "Knowledge Generation across Borders". The call for papers  is now open. >Read more and submit your abstracts here

Cape Peninsula University of Technology Deputy Vice-Chancellor; Academic, Professor Anthony Staak, has been nominated to serve on the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) structure that will oversee the grooming of a new generation of academics. >Read more

The Council of the Durban University of Technology has offered its Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Ahmed Bawa, a second five-year contract that will result in him staying on at the University until 2020. >Read more

USAID, COURSETALK, IREX and TASCHA launch $1.55 million initiative to bring online education to developing world. >Read more

The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) was launched today, Tuesday, 10 March 2015, at the African Higher Education Summit in Dakar, Senegal.

The key aim of the Alliance is to use the pan-African network as a platform through which to strengthen research and postgraduate training on the continent. Fifteen research-strong partner universities are represented in the Alliance, with six from South Africa. >Read more

A high level of education is beneficial for all of society, so individual human beings should not have to pay for it, argues Professor Jussi Välimaa. >Read more

A good university education prepares you for the possibility of being wrong. Read more on the view of  Professor Jonathan Jansen, Vice Chancellor, University of Free State. >Read more

Why do some universities and journals put so many hurdles in the way? Certainly, publishing should be the focus whenever we seek to find the absent black professor. >Read more

Frequent – even daily – taking a sauna can reduce the risk of cardiac death, according to a recent study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland.  >Read more

The interaction of art and science on the one hand, and darkness and tourism on the other played a major role in the conference on the dynamics of darkness in the North was held at the University of Iceland,  26 to 28 February. This was a scientific and artistic multidisciplinary international event held in connection with the International Year of Light. >Read more

Imagine if it was possible to eliminate HIV from the body entirely instead of only keeping it a http://sciencenordic.com/can-hiv-be-eradicated bay like modern drugs do. >Read more

“I’ve been to many celebrations - but this one is truly unique,” noted the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) newly-inaugurated Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Tyrone Pretorius, at UWC’s Senate Hall on 25 February 2015. “But it’s appropriate that we come together to honour achievements like this.” >Read more

Researchers at the North-West University (NWU) once again showed their true mettle by impressing the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) in such a way that the MRC decided to provide R5 million over five years for further ground-breaking research in the hypertension and cardiovascular fields. >Read more

There has been a long tradition of cooperation between the universities of Namibia (UNAM) and Eastern Finland, formerly the universities of Kuopio and Joensuu. Research in the fields of forestry and history funded by the Finnish Academy of Sciences date back to the birth of the independent Namibian state. The focus has mainly been on northern Namibia, as here there are long standing relations dating back as far as the 1840s. These historic relations were based upon religious grounds as Finnish missionaries were active in the Ovambo region. >Read more

Five early career physicists and mathematicians from Nigeria, Sudan and Vietnam are winners of the 2015 Elsevier Foundation Awards, co-organized by OWSD and TWAS. >Read more

FC+ is funded by the Finnish Ministry for Education and Culture. The project's aims are to increase the impact of Finnish experts in the bilateral EU-CELAC, EU-Asia and EU-Africa science, technology and innovation (STI) policy dialogues; and to increase Finnish participation in the Horizon 2020 programme. >Read more

Increased variations of sow reproduction is observed between different AI boars and the sperm, especially from Duroc boars, have lower quantity and more variation in quality than demanded from efficient semen boars. >Read more

Women aged 60-70 who are satisfied with their lives have a higher bone density and they suffer from osteoporosis less frequently than their unsatisfied peers, according to a recent study completed at the University of Eastern Finland. >Read more

ERASMUS MUNDUS PROGRAMMES: 

Please see the attached flyers for more information or visit the websites for guidebooks, application process and more information:

INSPIRE      http://inspiresouthafrica.eu/
AESOP        http://www.aesop-em.eu/
AESOP +     http://www.aesopplus.eu/apply
EUROSA      http://www.eurosa.be
EUSAID       http://www.eusa-id.eu/
EU-SATURN  www.eu-saturn.eu

"Advanced Education European-Asiatic Exchange Programme in Materials Science and Catalysis 2014-2018".

More info on EM: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/ More info on EURASIACAT: https://sites.google.com/site/emeurasiacat/.
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Ph.D. candidates, Postdoc, and Staff (Academic / Administrative) may apply (subject to eligibility criteria) for a grant under the THELXINOE project, coordinated by UMA, fully funded by the European Union in the context of the “Erasmus Mundus” (EM) programme.

More info on EM: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/

More info on THELXINOE: https://sites.google.com/site/emthelxinoe/ >Read more

In Our Own Skins is the extraordinary story of a small but proud group’s 84-year battle to regain the franchise, told through the eyes of an uncompromising insider. From the Stone meetings, conducted from a boulder on a windswept District Six hillside, to a petition carried, torch-like, to faraway London in 1909, it maps a trajectory of loss – and of restoration. Its rich cast – among others, the Glasgow-educated Dr Abdullah Abdurahman, his fiery daughter Cissie Gool, the Ghanaian FZS Peregrino, Jimmy and Alex la Guma and Labour Party stalwart Allan Hendrickse – plays a leading role in pulling the Coloured people through the post-colonial morass that is South Africa up to 1994 and beyond and proudly placing them, fully represented, in the Cabinet of Nelson Mandela – one of the most iconic leaders the world has ever known.                                                                                        

About the author:                                                      

Richard van der Ross graduated from UCT in 1952 with a PhD. From 1975 to 1986 he was the Rector of the University of the Western Cape. 

Book details: In Our Own Skins: A Political History of the Coloured People by Richard van der Ross. AN: 9781868426676.                 >Find this book with BOOK Finder

Bergen University College  staff met with SANORD to learn more about the SANORD collaborations. They also met with UWC, Education faculty to learn more about Student Exchange Programmes.

Picture from left to right: Eli Borsholm, Maureen Davis (SANORD), Jorunn Henriksen, Leolyn Jackson (SANORD)  & Suela Kacerja.