Knowledge for a Sustainable World

The search for answers to the issue of global sustainability has become increasingly urgent. In the context of higher education, many universities and academics are seeking new insights that can shift our dependence on ways of living that rely on the exploitation of so many and the degradation of so much of our planet.

This is the vision that drives SANORD and many of the researchers and institutions within its network. Although much of the research is on a relatively small scale, the vision is steadily gaining momentum, forging dynamic collaborations and pathways to new knowledge.

The contributors to this book cover a variety of subject areas and offer fresh insights about chronically under-researched parts of the world. Others document and critically reflect on innovative approaches to cross-continental teaching and research collaborations. This book will be of interest to anyone involved in the transformation of higher education or the practicalities of cross-continental and cross-disciplinary academic collaboration.

The Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD) is a network of higher education institutions from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Universities in the southern African and Nordic regions that are not yet members are encouraged to join.

Preface vii

Acknowledgements x

Acronyms and abbreviations xi

Introduction: The Southern African Nordic Centre and the Sustainable

Development Goals: Opportunities for critical interventions 1

Tor Halvorsen

Part I: CHALLENGES

 1 Disability in southern Africa: Insights into its magnitude and nature 31

Vyvienne RP M’kumbuzi, Hellen Myezwa, Tonderai Shumba

and Alice Namanja

 2 Facilitating access to higher education for students with disabilities:

Strategies and support services at the University of Botswana 55

Pedzani Perci Monyatsi and OS Phibion

 3 Access and equity for students with disabilities at the University

of Malawi: The case of Chancellor College 71

Elizabeth Tikondwe Kamchedzera

 4 Promoting research in resource-challenged environments:

The case of Malawi’s Mzuzu University 93

Victor Mgomezulu

 5 ‘The path of the mother is trodden by the daughter’:

Stepping stones for entry into the middle class in South Africa 105

Dan Darkey and Hilde Ibsen

 6 Using solar energy to enhance access to ICTs in Malawi 125

Luke Mwale

 7 Software engineering in low- to middle-income countries 139

Miroslaw Staron

 8 Climate-change awareness and online media in Zimbabwe:

Opportunities lost? 163

Henri-Count Evans

Part II: COLLABORATIONS

 9 Culture meets culture at a distance 183

Berith Nyqvist Cech and Lars Bergström

 10 The Consortium of New Southern African Medical Schools:

A new South–South–North network 195

Quentin Eichbaum, Marius Hedimbi, Kasonde Bowa, Celso Belo,

Keikantse Matlhagela, Ludo Badlangana, Peter Nyarango and

Olli Vainio

 11 International collaboration for pedagogical innovation:

Understanding multiracial interaction through a

time-geographic appraisal 207

P Assmo and R Fox

 12 Rethinking access to higher education in Malawi:

Lessons from the Malawi Institute of Management’s

collaborations with universities in the United Kingdom 227

Rebecca Ward and Ida Mbendera

About the contributors 242