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Dr Jo Beall is Director Education and Society and a member of the Executive Board at the British Council. Jo鈥檚 past roles include Professor of Development Studies at the LSE in London and Deputy Vice Chancellor of University of Cape Town. She is a specialist in international education, international development, and cities in fragile and conflict situations. Her work has taken her to Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with extensive periods of research in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and South Africa.

Xie Tao is Professor of Political Science at the School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University. His research interests include the United States Congress, public opinion, U.S.-China relations, and Chinese foreign policy. He has published extensively in Chinese and English journals and writes regular columns for Economic Observer, an influential Chinese newspaper.聽 He is the author of U.S.-China Relations: China Policy on Capitol Hill and Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China.

Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo is Head of the Southern Africa regional office in Zimbabwe, Africa.聽 She was until recently the Deputy Director/Senior Program Coordinator of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and was聽聽 formerly a research specialist on Women's Education at the UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg.

Professor Olusola Oyewole is the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. He is also the President of the Association of African Universities and served as the Project Officer of the World Bank project on 鈥淨uality Assurance for African Higher Education systems鈥� at the Association of African Universities (2006 鈥� 2009).

He was the Head of the Department of Food Science and Technology (1992-1999), the Director of the Equipment Maintenance Centre and prior to his coming to AAU, as the Director of the Research and Development Centre at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

was founded to create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and the wider world. They call this work cultural relations.

The British Council works in more than 100 countries, connecting millions of people with the United Kingdom through programmes and services in the English language, the arts, education and society. The British Council believe these are the most effective means of engaging with others, and has been doing this work since 1934.

In these ways, the British Council builds links between UK people and institutions and those around the world, helping to create trust and lay foundations for prosperity and security around the world.

l is the world鈥檚 largest open forum for education leaders to debate international higher and further education issues and challenges, and to discuss collaborative solutions.聽 This year, 2016, it was held in Cape Town, South Africa.

Shakespeare is also very resonant with the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and many others on Robben Island. 聽

While the rest of the world was observing the 400-year-anniversary 聽of William Shakespeare鈥檚 death on 23 April, 2016, many South Africans 聽marked this significant day with the return of the legendary 聽鈥楽hakespeare Bible鈥� to Robben Island, by its original owner, ex-political prisoner Sonny Venkathrathnam. The book, which is an edition of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, was sent to Venkathrathnam by his family during his internment in the 1970s: prisoners were allowed to have only one book on the island. Prison wardens were suspicious of the book, which was confiscated but later returned, when Venkatratham convinced a sympathetic warden that it was 鈥渢he Bible by William Shakespeare鈥�. 聽Eventually, he covered it with Diwali greeting cards to disguise its significance. The book remains one of the most significant documents to be kept on聽Robben Island, partly because it served as a platform from which prisoners discussed such moral issues pertaining to the struggle against apartheid as loyalty, betrayal and assassination. Six months before Venkatratham鈥檚 release in 1977, he asked his 32 fellow prisoners in the single-cell section, which included the most senior members of the liberation struggle, to select their favourite passage and sign their name next to it, including Nelson Mandela. While it is widely known abroad and was part of a major exhibition at the British Museum called 鈥淪hakespeare: Staging the World鈥�, the book has had little recognition in South Africa. Marking the book鈥檚 return on 23 April, children participating in Educape鈥檚 Shakespeare Schools Festival travelled with Venkathrathnam to Robben Island where in collaboration with professional actors, they recited some of the chosen passages from the book.

Photo: Pages from the 'Robben Island Bible' (The Complete Works of Shakespeare) including a written entry by Nelson Mandela.Photo credit: Roy Reed