HEHD-Webinar: Aghogho Akpome – Intellectual originality and higher education in Africa

[Paul Michael]

Dear All, 

The SARChI Chair in Higher Education and Human Development (HEHD) is pleased to invite you to the fifth session of the Webinar Series for the first semester of 2026.  This session examines questions of intellectual originality in doctrine and practice in higher education across Africa. It demonstrates the ways in which intellectual activity within universities in Africa remains predominantly extroverted and argues that this phenomenon continues to defy decades of anti-/de-colonial resistance and is being reinforced through the forces of contemporary globalisation, the most recent of which is linked to the rise of AI. The presentation proposes a path towards dismantling what Nhlanhla Maake calls the “architecture of imitation” in African higher education.

We look forward to your participation in this exciting, engaging, and timely conversation.

 

Date: Monday 11 May 2026 

Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (South African Standard Time).

Title: Intellectual originality and higher education in Africa

Presenter:  Prof. Aghogho Akpome (University of Zululand, South Africa)

Discussant: Dr. Fadzayi M. Maruza (University of the Free State, South Africa)

Chair: Dr. Crispen Ndlovu (University of the Free State, South Africa)

 

Abstract and Bio attached. 

Please feel free to share widely across your networks. See you there!

See the invitation link below. 

 

Kind regards,

 

Paul K Michael.

University of the Free State, 

Bloemfontein Campus.

HEHD research programme

Benito Khotseng Building, Room 209 Senate Street North 

South Africa.

Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/361376933302396?p=DsWhXmappJwAkrI7PL
Meeting ID: 361 376 933 302 396
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