Nelson Casimiro Zavale

Job title: 
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), and affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences
Bio/CV: 

Nelson Casimiro Zavale is currently Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), in Maputo, Mozambique and an affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences. He holds PhD Degree (2012) in Educational Sciences (Sociology of Education) from Aix-Marseille University (France) and a Master Degree (2008) in Social Sciences, specialization in Education) from the same university. Before being Fulbright visiting scholar (2021-2022) at the Centre for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), University of California, Berkeley (2021-2022), he was (2018-2021) Humboldt Research Fellow at the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER) of the University of Kassel, in Germany (funded by the Humboldt Foundation) and a Swiss government excellence post-doctoral fellow (2015-2016) at University of Basel in Switzerland (funded by the Swiss government). He has also held managerial positions, such as Director of the UEM Quality Assurance Office, Deputy-Dean for Research and Extension and Head of Department of Quality Assurance at Eduardo Mondlane University, in Mozambique.


His research interests focus on sociology of education, higher education, science and innovation studies. He is particularly interested in questioning existing assumptions in Africa (and Global South in general) about the contribution of higher education, science, technology and innovation to socio-economic development. He has conducted several research projects funded nationally and internationally which allowed him to publish several research outputs in international journals such as Higher Education, Scientometrics, Science and Public Policy, International Journal of Educational Development. Some of his key (selected) publications include:

  1. Zavale, N. (forthcoming). Academic freedom in Mozambique, In Researching academic freedom: guidelines and sample case studies, Kinzelbach (ed.), Center for Human Rights. Erlangen: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

  2. Zavale, N. C., & Schneijderberg, C. (2021). Academics’ societal engagement in ecologies of knowledge: A case study from Mozambique. Science and Public Policy, 48(1), 37-52.https://academic.oup.com/spp/article-abstract/48/1/37/6026551 *

  3. Zavale, N.C., Schneijderberg, C.  (2020) Mapping the field of research on African higher education: a review of 6483 publications from 1980 to 2019. Higher Educationhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00649-5*

  4. Zavale, N.C., & Langa, P (2019). The Relevance of Student Engagement in African Higher Education: the Mozambican Case. In: Tanaka, M. (ed.) International Perspectives on Student Engagement in the Improvement of Educational Quality. London/New York: Routledge. 2019. pp. 90-108. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429025648

  5. Zavale, N. C., & Langa, P. V. (2018). University-industry linkages’ literature on Sub-Saharan Africa: systematic literature review and bibliometric account. Scientometrics, 116(1), 1-49. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-018-2760-4?shared-article-renderer*

  6. Zavale, N. C., & Langa, P. V. (2018). African Diaspora and the Search for Academic Freedom Safe Havens. Journal of Higher Education in Africa/Revue de l'enseignement supérieur en Afrique, 16(1/2),1-24 .. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26819626?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

  7. Langa, P.V., Zavale, N.C (2018).Branding and the Search for Competitive Advantage in the Field of Mozambican Higher Education Through the Use of Websites, in: Papadimitriou, A. (ed.) Competition in Higher Education Branding and Marketing, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Springer, 107-142. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-58527-7_6

  8. Zavale, N. C. (2018). Expansion versus contribution of higher education in Africa: University–industry linkages in Mozambique from companies’ perspective. Science and Public Policy, 45(5), 645-660. https://academic.oup.com/spp/article-abstract/45/5/645/4780191*

  9. Zavale, N. C., Santos, L. A., Manuel, L., Dias, M., Khan, M. A., Tostão, E., & Mondjana, A. M. (2017). Decision-making in African universities demands rigorous data: Evidence from graduation rates at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. International Journal of Educational Development, 52, 122-134. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073805931630428X

  10. Zavale, N. C., & Macamo, E. (2016). How and what knowledge do universities and academics transfer to industry in African low-income countries? Evidence from the stage of university-industry linkages in Mozambique. International Journal of Educational Development, 49, 247-261https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059316300384*

  11. Zavale, N. C., Santos, L.; Dias, M. da C (2015). Main features and Challenges of implementing an Internal Quality Assurance in African higher education institution: the case of the Eduardo Mondlane University, in Mozambique. International Journal of African Higher Education, 2(1):101-134. https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ijahe/article/view/9262

Role: 
Visiting Scholar

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