Category: Higher Education and Skills

Are our partnerships really opening doors for refugee students, or just moving the borders?

by Mir Abdullah Miri, Corinne Squire and Holly Rooke | Dec 15, 2025 | 2025 UKFIET Conference, Education and Migration, Higher Education and Skills

‘Nothing about us without us’, a principle invoked in many struggles for social justice, only works if we mean it. When we talked with people from refugee backgrounds and those working with them for our research (‘It’s not just opening the doors’: Challenges and possibilities for refugees’ access to higher… Read More

LITSEMBA RISING: Learning from a peer-driven intervention to prevent sexual harassment in higher education in Eswatini

by Vimbai Kapurura | Oct 14, 2025 | 2025 UKFIET Conference, Higher Education

When we launched LITSEMBA RISING, a peer-driven sexual harassment prevention programme at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), we did so with the conviction that change must come from those at the heart of the problem – the students themselves. Read More

Navigating intersectionality: Female academics’ leadership trajectories in Pakistani universities

by Fouzia Sadaf | Oct 13, 2025 | 2025 UKFIET Conference, Higher Education

Global debates often emphasise the systemic barriers that restrict women’s advancement to leadership in higher education. While these challenges are very real, my findings show that women’s stories are more complex. Read More

The impact of No-AI writing on academic integrity

by Samuel Mbaire | Aug 26, 2025 | Higher Education and Skills

Universities worldwide are grappling with the challenge of maintaining academic integrity in the modern era. Although responsible usage can make AI an asset in learning, uncontrolled deployment of writing produced by machines risks destabilising trust, deteriorating competencies and destabilising the basis of tertiary education. Read More

Who is least visible in research in education and development, and why does it matter?

by Bukola Oyinloye | Apr 30, 2025 | Higher Education and Skills

This blog examines the implications of invisibility in education and development research drawing on insights from a scoping exercise commissioned by UKFIET to explore the visibility, research opportunities and intellectual influence of education researchers in the global South. Read More

The Syrian Academic Diaspora and Higher Education: A Historic Moment to Seize

by Oudai Tozan | Feb 3, 2025 | Higher Education

In December 2024 a 54-year brutal dictatorship in Syria came to an end, opening the chance for a historical shift in Syria’s political, social and economic future. Although the future in Syria remains uncertain, higher education is central to that future, it has the potential to promote peacebuilding by addressing… Read More

A Historic Opportunity: The role of Higher Education in Syria’s Post-Dictatorship

by Basma Hajir | Jan 27, 2025 | Higher Education

Following the collapse of Assad’s regime, Syria faces the challenge of navigating through a new beginning: one fraught with uncertainties yet brimming with possibilities. This moment not only marks the end of a dictatorship but also offers Syrians a chance to rethink the systems that shape their society. Read More

International Students and Their Lasting Impact on Global Development

by Maia Chankseliani | Nov 4, 2024 | Higher Education and Skills

The UK has long been a global leader in education, but by concentrating on immediate benefits, we risk losing sight of the broader, long-term influence of international education. Read More

The role of universities in supporting young people to become effective peace builders: The experience of Hawassa University in Ethiopia

by Fikrewold Yeneneh | Feb 5, 2024 | Higher Education and Skills

Hawassa University, in collaboration with international organisations (including the EU. the British Council and USAID), has focused on three main interventions that enhance capacity of the students and enable them to take up an active role in peacebuilding activities, within the university as well as in their respective communities. Read More

Bridging the STEM gap in higher education in Bangladesh: Exploring female underrepresentation in STEM subjects

by Prithvi Shrestha, Claire Kotecki, Rubaiyat Jahan, Halida Homyara, Kristina Hultgren and Nasreen Sultana Mitu | Dec 18, 2023 | Higher Education

UNESCO reported in 2017 that women’s participation in STEM education globally is only 35%. Their participation in STEM education in Bangladesh is one of the lowest in South Asia. In most low-income countries, men still outnumber women in accessing higher education including Bangladesh. Read More

Unraveling the Digital Literacy Skills and Knowledge Gap in Ghana’s Higher Education: Listening to Undergraduate Students’ Voices

by Jacob Oppong Nkansah | Nov 16, 2023 | 2023 UKIFET Conference, Skills

Stakeholders in higher education are coming to see the value of promoting digital literacy among students. Read More

Prioritising rights, equity and inclusion for marginalised groups in TVET

by Priscilla Gatonye and Nickola Browne | Nov 9, 2023 | 2023 UKIFET Conference, Skills

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) plays a vital role in enhancing labour market outcomes and facilitating social integration and mobility of marginalised groups, helping them transition from precarious livelihoods and employment situations to formal employment and decent work. Read More