Rhodes University New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) lecturer Yolani Ndamase recently got back from New York where she spent a year on a Fulbright Visiting Fellowship.

Dean of Science Professor Tony Booth officially launched the Rhodes University Transient Array Radio Telescope (TART) at the Waainek (Makhanda) site last week.

Africa has great potential for drug discovery. The continent has natural resources, indigenous knowledge and human capacity. And it has the need: it bears more than 20% of the global disease burden. There are many internationally recognised African scientists undertaking cutting-edge research. But a lack of resources makes it difficult to conduct world-class science. A team of African biochemists, cell biologists and bioinformaticians shares some thoughts on what it would take to establish an Africa-wide drug discovery ecosystem. The authors are the key members of the COVIDRUG-AFRICA Consortium – the consortium for rapid COVID-19 drug development in Africa.

Four Rhodes University professors recently attended a project meeting for the EU-funded Creating Postgraduate Collaborations (CPC) in Kisumu, Kenya, together with representatives from eight other universities included in the project.

The UK government’s announcement of a new work visa option aimed at attracting top graduates has elicited some backlash because the list of eligible institutions features no universities from Africa, Latin America or South Asia. The Conversation Africa’s Nontobeko Mtshali asked Orla Quinlan, Director of Internationalisation at Rhodes University in South Africa, to share her thoughts on the implications such visa programmes have for international integration and intercultural efforts in higher education.

Professor Justin Jonas, a much-acknowledged architect of the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, recently gave a talk at his old school, Muir College in Uitenhage, to about 150 Grade 12 science learners from the Gqeberha/Kariega area.

Rhodes University hosted its first Thomas Alty & Vice-Chancellor's Awards in three years last week, where a total of 111 staff members were recognised for earning an educational qualification during 2019, 2020, or 2021.

Professor Sioux McKenna is a devoted researcher who has consistently sought ways to improve the Higher Education system. Later this year, she will continue her journey as Visiting Professor at the highly esteemed Centre for International Higher Education (CIHE) at Boston College in the United States of America.

"Eskom” must be one of the most hated names in South Africa, a reputation that has only been entrenched after another run of load-shedding in May and indications of more to come as winter deepens.

As Rhodes University increasingly engages with intra-Africa mobility programmes, issues regarding the equivalency of qualifications, credit transfers and joint degrees are becoming more prevalent. A hybrid workshop was recently hosted at the Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC), where relevant institutional leads at Rhodes University had the opportunity to share experiences with European Union (EU) colleagues through identifying gaps and sharing lessons from implementing such programmes.

Last month, the Rhodes University Career Centre hosted a Computer Science and Information Systems career fair on campus. A full day was dedicated to student and potential employer interaction. The four companies that exhibited were Deloitte, Open Box Software, KPMG, and Singular Systems.

In keeping with the traditions of Rhodes University, the inaugural lecture of Professor Julie Coetzee was held on 2 June 2022 in Eden Grove Red Lecture Theatre to honour her achievement of the title of Professor. There she presented her body of work and the most recent results of her research on the invasive water plant species Pontederia crassipes, commonly known as water hyacinth, and her efforts to understand and control it.

Dr Carol Leff’s ‘The Afropolitan Flâneur in Literature’ marks the third book by Intersecting Diasporas Group (IDG) members launched this year.

Rhodes University has well-established mobility programmes with Pädagogische Hochschule PHBern and Pädagogische Hochschule Luzern in Switzerland. The programme allows Swiss education students to spend six months to a year at Rhodes University on a credit-bearing study abroad experience. In return Rhodes University Bachelor of Education degree (BEd) and Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students get the opportunity to do a component of their teaching practice in Switzerland.

Rhodes University's Anthropology Department recently hosted one of its 'Anthropology in the Making' Seminar series events to introduce orangcosong, an art collective from Japan, to students, academics and the community.

A staff member and two students from Rhodes University’s International Library of African Music (ILAM) will be stars of their own show during the National Arts Festival (NAF) in Makhanda this year.

Rhodes University is pleased to announce that the applicants in the matter of Makhanda Against Mandates & Others v Rhodes University (Case no.: 124/2022) have elected to abandon their application in regard to the University's vaccine mandate.

Concluding Rhodes University's International Week (23 May-28 May) activities was the Postdoc Story Circles and Brunch Reception at Steve Biko Dining Hall on 28 May 2022. The Postdocs trickled in and began networking just before the official opening by the Director of Internationalisation, Ms Orla Quinlan.

In collaboration with the Centre of Postgraduate Studies (CPGS) at Rhodes University, the International Office recently hosted a postgraduate panel discussion titled, "Choices, benefits and lessons learnt from educational migration".

The Ukraine-Russia conflict has not only devasted many parts of Ukraine but is also having ripple effects throughout the world. The challenges it presents to Africa are particular to its vulnerabilities. At an event hosted by the Internationalisation Office, the Law Faculty, and the Africa Centre, academics from Rhodes University discussed how the war would affect the African continent.