Cape Town

Measures to rehabilitate African universities will be thrashed out at the next four-yearly Association of African Universities general conference in Cape Town in February, Akilagpa Sawyerr, secretary-general, told The Times Higher .

"We are looking to work with others to bring back the focus on higher education and to seek support - local and international - for the revival of African universities," Professor Sawyerr said.

Earlier this month, Naledi Pandor, education minister, said South African higher education stood at the edge of a precipice, ready either to strongly revive or to slump into mediocrity.

In her first major higher education policy speech, she identified three imperatives for the sector: communicating its achievements, articulating its role, and involving itself in the changes under way in South Africa and elsewhere.