Paper short abstract:

The paper critically examines research collaboration trends and patterns between Mozambique, South Africa, Germany, and Sweden.

Paper long abstract:

Our Paper critically examines research collaboration trends and patterns between Mozambique, South Africa, Germany, and Sweden. We review the historical power imbalances and geopolitical and ideological differences that have been addressed and overcome, or whether they continue to shape relations and interests in higher education. Our Paper relies on the Scopus data for bibliometric analysis of research collaboration trends. Through bibliometric analysis of international research collaboration trends over the past decade and the literature review on historical collaboration trends and patterns between the countries in our sample, we highlight contemporary complexities and asymmetric dependencies between European and African countries in our sample between South Africa and Mozambique. The national complexities and asymmetries are primarily informed by historical and contemporary ideological and geopolitical priorities, aims, and interests. The last point mainly refers to the case of South Africa and Germany, where research collaboration trends continue to follow the pre-1990s collaboration patterns between historically white universities in South Africa and the former West German universities. Our analysis shows that the talk about equity in North-South collaboration remains largely rhetorical and that higher education and research collaboration in Europe and Africa - and collaboration between them - continue to be shaped by past and current systemic and structural power imbalances and ideological, geopolitical and economic divisions, differences, interests and norms. We conclude by reflecting on the implications for future international research collaborations in higher education and the role academics, researchers, universities, higher education ministries, research councils, and funders of research can play in challenging the status quo.