A delightful evening filled with laughter and smiles, with everyone interacting and conversing with one another. This week, Rhodes University hosted a dinner in honour of the visiting African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) special guest, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at the University of Ibadan: Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose and ARUA Secretary General, Professor Ernest Aryeetey.

As part of its continuing transformation agenda, Rhodes University has renamed two of its residences after two of South Africa’s struggle icons - Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu and Dr Hugh Masekela.

Julia Arbuckle, a Rhodes University Master’s student in Fine Art, has been awarded the Javier Rosón Prize for her work entitled “Root/Rot: The Family Bible.

The month of July is significant in the global calendar as the world celebrates the life and legacy of the late great leader, Nelson Mandela. As an annual celebration, the United Nations officially declared Nelson Mandela International Day in November 2009. Since then, every 18 July, Mandela's birthday, people from all walks of life are rallied to action to recognise their power to make a difference in the lives of those around them. In commemorating this day, Rhodes University, in partnership with Standard Bank's Tutuwa Community Foundation, hosted a celebration at Khutliso Daniels Secondary School to recognise the Bank's significant contributions to uplifting education in the Eastern Cape. The School is one of 67 schools that received brightly painted water tanks from Standard Bank for Mandela Day.

Taverns are a sphere of the broader daily ‘normalised’ structural violence in townships. This type of violence happens on a daily basis, if not every weekend. The only difference is that the current high number of deaths happened in one day.

The late Nelson Mandela is celebrated as a leading figure of the liberation struggle against Apartheid, renowned for a morality always turned towards empathy, forgiveness, and a commitment to the freedom and equality of all.

Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) joined millions of people worldwide on Monday in celebrating and reflecting on the heroic efforts of the late Former President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist, Dr Nelson Mandela. RUCE celebrated Nelson Mandela International Day, which falls on his birthday every year.

Masters in Economics student Claire McCann was recently selected as one of thirty students to attend a highly competitive, fully-funded economics training programme.

Rhodes University’s Department of Political and International Studies hosted its Teach-in seminars at the Barratt Lecture theatre this week.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has dominated the news and is having global ramifications. This week’s Politics Teach-In, hosted by the Department of Politics and International Relations at Rhodes University, focuses on the ins and outs of this war. The seminar series began with insights from Associate Professor Martha Bradley from the Department of Public Law at the University of Pretoria. She looked at how Vladimir Putin has justified the invasion and how this holds up against international law.

Rhodes University Honours in Philosophy student Jesse Ferguson and 17 other South Africans have been chosen for the Abe Bailey travel bursary this year.

Several alumni from Rhodes University are among this year’s Mail & Guardian top 200 Young South Africans. Every year, the Mail & Guardian celebrates the most interesting and talented young South Africans under 35, who have shown themselves to be leaders.

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.