Archives

By Yojana Sharma. As China includes higher education, science and research in the mix of its massive One Belt One Road (OBOR) infrastructure and trade project with Asia, Europe, the Middle East and East Africa, a China-dominated global higher education area could emerge, an international seminar of experts heard last week. More...

By Yojana Sharma. China’s Ministry of Science and Technology will be expanded and given more powers over the country’s research and innovation drive – a major national priority on a par with defence and foreign policy – in a major restructuring of China’s science administration approved earlier this month by China’s National People’s Congress. More...

By Ranjit Devraj. An ambitious new initiative unveiled in India’s budget for the fiscal year 2018-19 will do away with annual grants for India’s top centrally-run higher education institutions, replacing them with repayable loans. More...

By Shuriah Niazi and Yojana Sharma. In a landmark announcement last week the Indian government announced greater autonomy for 62 leading higher education institutions to start new courses, plan their own curriculum and syllabi, decide their own admission procedures and enter into academic collaborations with foreign institutions. More...

By Jan Petter Myklebust and Brendan O'Malley. Thirteen university associations, including the European University Association, the League of European Research Universities, the Coimbra Group and the Guild network, have published an open letter to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, calling for a doubling of the European Union budget for research, innovation and education – to €160 billion (US$198 billion) for the period 2021-28. More...

By Brendan O’Malley. Universities in England will most likely need to provide an extra 300,000 places by 2030 to meet rising demand caused by a demographic bulge and rising rates of participation among disadvantaged groups, with implications for student subsidies, a new report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) says. More...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Features, Yojana Sharma reports on an international seminar where delegates discussed the potential for China’s massive One Belt One Road initiative to reshape global higher education, in the same way that it has the potential to reshape international trade as it connects economies along its route.
   Also in Features, Gilbert Nakweya reports on a meeting in Kenya organised by the African Academy of Sciences in collaboration with Yale University to discuss the power of partnerships in strengthening university research in Africa.
   In our World Blog this week, Hans de Wit reaffirms the opinion expressed in a previous commentary that recent political changes are likely to have a significant impact on higher education internationalisation after his article elicited some critical reactions.
   In Commentary, Fernando Leon-Garcia writes about New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman’s talk during the CETYS Global Impact Series about how universities ought to prepare students for a rapidly-changing world. Michaela Martin contends that higher education needs to be backed by funding and admission policies that support the common good principle of higher education. And Marcello Scalisi says the Mediterranean Universities Union has petitioned the European Commission for the expansion of the Erasmus+ programme in the Mediterranean as it has become a powerful catalyst for cooperation in this politically important region.
   Also in Commentary, Aisi Li and Alan Ruby examine the conundrum in Kazakhstan’s universities, asking whether internationalisation can lift higher education quality or whether improving quality will drive internationalisation. And Sioux McKenna says South African universities, like those in many other countries, are losing hold of the academic project by becoming business-like administrative institutions. More...