Since 1995 I have been engaged in consultancies and since 2001 in research dealing with the language of instruction policies in Africa. To what extent are the policies being implemented? What is the role of research and consultancy when it comes to language policy? What happens when researchers or consultants come up with recommendations which do…

The conduct of fieldwork is an adventure, a voyage into the unknown. The author has several times had the opportunity to reflect on his fieldwork, which was most often conducted among remote Indigenous groups, initially in Australia and then wider afield in Thailand, the Philippines, and Africa. He is struck by the significant amount of time,…

The impact of change strategies for developing research at an African primarily undergraduate institution is considered using a case study of the University of Botswana. After an analysis of the existing situation, a short research policy, written in understandable terms, was developed. The policy was structured so that it could be used for…

This review of externally commissioned studies of African education highlights several issues of interest to the research community. A starting point for the discussion is the large number of studies of education in Africa initiated or supported by external funding and technical assistance agencies. In general, studies of African education involve…

Multilateral donors like the World Bank and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development exert a great deal of influence in international educational development--particularly in sub-Saharan Africa--both in the programs they fund and the types of…

This document is the second part of the report of the African Education Research (AER) project. It presents a classification of 416 research projects undertaken by Africans on education issues in Africa during the period from 1970 to 1974. It is designed to provide Africans and Africanists with a resource to assess the state of the art and to…

This study of 416 African Education Research (AER) projects was conducted to: (a) provide information on current studies by Africans on African education; (b) provide a framework for critical analysis of research based on a classification of the issues; and (c) provide a listing and discussion of continuing research resources which would aid…

The number of immigrants of color residing in the United States reached 13.5 million in March 2005, the highest in U.S. history. By 2010 the number of Black immigrants and their children is estimated to reach five million, and will represent twelve percent of the Black population in the United States. To date, the majority of Black immigrants in…

The history of particpatory research, especially as practiced in Africa, is characterized by exclusion of women's perspectives and dominance by university-based processionals. This has limited its impact as a social action process aimed at empowerment. (SK)

Reports presented at the Sixth International Conference on Aids are summarized including efforts to develop a vaccine, expansion of the epidemic into new areas, the high rate of infection among Romanian children, the crisis in Africa, and evidence of relapsing behaviors among homosexual men in the United States. (MLW)

Educational theorists and researchers have long considered time a key component of individual learning. Caroll, in his classic model of school-based learning, conceptualized achievement as an outcome of two time variables: first, the amount of time a learner is engaged in learning; and second, an individual's learning rate. Caroll's ideas…

Academic research and publishing, particularly at the higher education level, are activities that do not only complement effective teaching but are also sine-qua-non for the achievement of academic excellence. However, due to myriad of factors, many academics in Tertiary Institutions have a myopic belief that universities are meant, essentially…

Discussion of the information needs of agricultural researchers in Africa focuses on the potential usefulness of unpublished reports. Reasons for the underutilization of unpublished reports are addressed, including a lack of access resulting from poor bibliographic control, lack of an information policy in most countries, and inadequate and poorly…

African university research is rarely used by policy-makers in the development planning process because there is mutual suspicion between the university and government, there is a dichotomy between university-based researchers and the rural populations intended as the beneficiaries of development, and research is seriously underfunded. (Author/MSE)