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Graduation rate is often used as indicator of efficiency and accountability of higher education institutions. However, its official and academic use entails pitfalls, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Based on evidence from Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, this paper contributes to the academic and policy debate on graduation rates in SSA, by using logistic regression analysis to measure and explain this indicator. The paper’s findings are twofold: (i) graduation rates at UEM (and eventually in SSA) may be different from what their misleading measurement and usage may portray; (ii) graduation rates are particularly affected by the academic aspects of students and the institution. The paper claims that rigor is needed to produce data (e.g. graduation rates) on African universities to strategically inform decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the Mozambican case, this paper addresses the stage of university-industry linkages (UILs) in Sub-Saharan Africa, from the perspective of universities. The paper examines the kind of knowledge universities transfer to industry, the knowledge channels used, the incentives and barriers faced, including influencing contextual conditions. The findings suggest that UILs in Mozambique weak and informal, and that academics engage with companies mainly through DUI-innovation model and exchange of embodied knowledge, particularly ideas in informal meetings, internship/employment for students, consultancies for academics, rather than through disembodied knowledge, such as patents and technology prototypes, embedded in R&D and STI-innovation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]