Learning in the Palaver Hut: The ‘Africa Study Visit’ as teaching tool.

noThe aim of this article is to assess the experiential learning environment of the African Study Visit (ASV). It presents a theoretically grounded analysis of the ASV. Although field visits are not a new phenomenon within Higher Education, they seem, but with few exceptions, to be considered as an add-on teaching method. By drawing from the experiential learning literature, we demonstrate that there are sound pedagogical reasons for incorporating field visits like the ASV into the curriculum as stand-alone components. Thus, the original contribution of this article is to place the ASV within the experiential learning literature such that the theoretical, practical and conceptual benefits for students are understood. Its significance is that this article offers a set of practices from an experiential learning perspective that can be used for deepening the levels of comprehension of political issues in Africa for international studies students

Interrogating Education Policymaking in the Rwandan Developmental State: The Politics of Changing the Language of Instruction and the Higher Education Merger

This thesis explores the extent to which Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)-led policymaking and policy-implementation in the education sector can be accurately portrayed as successful within a wider Developmental State model. By analysing the perspectives of Rwandan elites towards policymaking and policy-implementation of two educational policies, namely the shift in the Medium of Instruction and the Higher Education Merger, this thesis examines the overall effectiveness of the developmental project in Rwanda. Drawing on forty-five interviews and other field-based data over a five-year period, the thesis explores narratives around political intentions and their consequences concerning the two focal policies, which are situated in the broader political environment in Rwanda. This thesis examines the extent to which educational policies, particularly decisions, priorities and results, reflect the imperatives of the developmental RPF leadership or those of the wider population. In doing so, it draws conclusions about the nature of the Developmental State model and highlights a number of implications for understanding state-society relations in Rwanda. Overall, this thesis identifies significant tensions within the Rwandan state around the ideals and realities of Rwandan development. Ultimately, it is argued that the Developmental State model prolonged the time in which developmental goals were realised, unnecessarily complicating efforts to address education policy challenges and undermining the effectiveness and societal reach of developmental interventions in the education sector. Empirically, the research contributes to current debates about the nature and impact of the Developmental State in Rwanda. As such, it offers an alternative perspective that goes beyond generalised notions of authoritarianism, development and their interplays

Disparity in elevational shifts of European trees in response to recent climate warming

Predicting climate-driven changes in plant distribution is crucial for biodiversity conservation and management under recent climate change. Climate warming is expected to induce movement of species upslope and towards higher latitudes. However, the mechanisms and physiological processes behind the altitudinal and latitudinal distribution range of a tree species are complex and depend on each tree species features and vary over ontogenetic stages. We investigated the altitudinal distribution differences between juvenile and adult individuals of seven major European tree species along elevational transects covering a wide latitudinal range from southern Spain (37°N) to northern Sweden (67°N). By comparing juvenile and adult distributions (shifts on the optimum position and the range limits) we assessed the response of species to present climate conditions in relation to previous conditions that prevailed when adults were established. Mean temperature increased by 0.86 °C on average at our sites during the last decade compared with previous 30-year period. Only one of the species studied, Abies alba, matched the expected predictions under the observed warming, with a maximum abundance of juveniles at higher altitudes than adults. Three species, Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris, showed an opposite pattern while for other three species, such as Quercus ilex, Acer pseudoplatanus and Q. petraea, we were no able to detect changes in distribution. These findings are in contrast with theoretical predictions and show that tree responses to climate change are complex and are obscured not only by other environmental factors but also by internal processes related to ontogeny and demography. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Financial support was provided by the European Union with the project BACCARA (FP7-226299, 7FP) and the Spanish Ministry for Innovation and Science with the grant Consolider Montes (CSD2008_00040).Peer Reviewe