IDRC's online magazine publishes stories about research in the South, profiles of the South's innovative researchers, and news related to research and international development.

Pandora's box: A New Model for Education in Asia

In Asia, distance education using information and communication technologies is proving to be an efficient way of delivering high-quality education using course materials often developed by the best faculty teams. And by making higher education affordable and accessible, it is helping to address equity issues.

 WTO Accession: Tough Love or a Heavy Hand?

Thirty-one countries from war-torn Afghanistan to Yemen are queued for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The reasons officials give for staying in the queue range from improved market access for their exports to the positive signal — a seal of approval really — that WTO membership sends to the global trading and investment community.  

Communication and access to information are the lifeblood of universities. Increasingly, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are the channels through which this lifeblood flows. Extend the analogy, and one could say that African universities are suffering from a severe constriction of the arteries.

Building Africa's Information Highway: African ISP Association Selects Regional Carriers

This spring, AfrISPA, the association of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Africa, announced the two successful bids in response to its call for proposals to provide direct Internet connections between African countries.