NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

Karen MacGregor

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma instructed ministers to “deal with the mayhem that is destroying our institutions of higher learning”, as violent student protests closed universities, injured several people and claimed the life of a university cleaner. By Thursday, 17 of the country’s 26 public universities were no longer operating.

Yojana Sharma

A dozen United States universities operating in China in partnership with Chinese institutions say they enjoy academic freedom, but the majority face internet censorship and other restrictions, a just-released report by the US Government Accountability Office has found.

Eugene Vorotnikov

Olga Vasilyeva, the recently appointed Minister of Education and Science, has suspended the process of consolidation of domestic universities initiated by her predecessor, and has suggested a rethink of Project 5-100, the drive to get five universities into the top 100 of the world’s leading universities by 2020.

Brendan O'Malley

The government has published details of how university teaching will be assessed – with ratings of gold, silver and bronze awarded – in the second year of trials of its Teaching Excellence Framework for universities in England.

Mushfique Wadud

In a new set of measures against campus extremism in the wake of recent major terrorist attacks, Bangladesh’s Education Ministry has asked all universities to check the background of teachers and staff they wish to recruit in order to exclude those known to be linked to militant activities or terrorist organisations and to prevent the radicalisation of students.

Shadi Khan Saif

Amid uncertainty, persistent threats of terrorist attacks and kidnapping, the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul has appointed a new president with expertise in security. The university has yet to reopen since a suicide bomber killed 13 people at the university in August.

Brendan O'Malley

The parliamentary Education Committee has launched an inquiry into the impact of Brexit on higher education with the aim of informing the public and influencing the Brexit negotiations.

Jan Petter Myklebust

The discovery that sharks swimming off Greenland may have been alive since before the French Revolution was one example used by Minister of Higher Education and Science Ulla Tørnæs for taking measures to improve the long-stay research mobility and strengthen internationalisation.

Yojana Sharma

Singaporeans graduating from degree programmes at private higher education institutions, including some providing transnational education or TNE degrees from British and Australian universities, are finding it harder to land graduate jobs compared to graduates of Singapore’s high-ranking public institutions, a survey by Singapore’s Council for Private Education has found.

Jan Petter Myklebust

Only one Swedish higher education institution, Jönköping University, has a rector or pro-rector with extensive international experience, according to an annual index of internationalisation announced last week.

COMMENTARY

Anne Corbett

There are several options the United Kingdom could take with regard to its international policy after the vote to leave the European Union, but a hard Brexit could lose the UK many friends and allies.

Bruno Morche

The Science Without Borders fellowship programme is a key plank of Brazil’s internationalisation efforts, but lack of monitoring has hampered progress and lack of involvement of universities in its development has limited the impact.

François Therin

A new report outlines a strategy for internationalisation for French institutions, but it ignores some key areas and requires strong backing from France’s diplomatic networks, which mainly focus on cultural and linguistic issues.

Nico Cloete

The main problem for the poor in South Africa is not that they can’t afford higher education – it is that fewer than 5% qualify for entry into universities. For the 5% whose parents earn over R600,000 (US$43,300) the percentage who qualify is over 70%. ‘Free’ higher education will widen, not reduce, inequality because it will restrict the expansion of university places.

Richard Sharpe

A new post-heroic model of leadership emphasises the importance of building distributed leadership at all levels of the university and views the university as an agent of societal and economic improvement.

Julius Kravjar and Marek Hladík

The pressure to publish papers is leading to the rise of unethical behaviour and predatory publications. Public resources should be redistributed on the basis of quality not quantity.

Mark Ashwill

Using education agents is fraught with risks, but those with a long-term vision realise that doing business ethically is better for business, so how do you choose wisely and ensure accountability?

CETYS INNOVATION SEMINAR

CETYS University hosted some 30 university leaders from Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia from 18-20 September at its campus in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, to share case studies, best practice and trends in its International Seminar on Innovation in Higher Education. University World News was there.

Yojana Sharma

It is a constant refrain in higher education – students must be prepared for a future and jobs that may not necessarily be evident now. That’s why higher education needs to be innovative, and move away from relying on approaches that held good for decades. But most universities are unsure of how to go about this process.

Yojana Sharma

Higher education, research and innovation have surged ahead in Asia in recent decades, but Latin America is lagging. In a changing world where young people need to be better prepared for jobs in a growing knowledge economy, Latin America needs to be more like Asia, said Andrés Oppenheimer, a journalist and commentator on innovation in Latin America.

Yojana Sharma

Universia is a network of universities in Latin America, Spain and Portugal sponsored by the Santander banking group. University World News caught up with Universia Mexico Director General Arturo Cherbowski Lask to talk about Latin American universities’ ability to adapt to a changing world and the development of an Ibero-American higher education space.

Karen MacGregor

Legendary Canadian ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky famously said that everybody he played with skated to where the puck is: “I skate to where the puck is going to be.” The same applies to innovation in higher education, says Richard Legon, president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges in the United States. It is not about online education – that is yesterday’s response: “It’s about figuring out where the puck will be in three years’ time.”

TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP

Brendan O'Malley

Jamil Salmi has provided policy advice to governments and university leaders in more than 90 countries. University World News invited him to discuss how higher education institutions and systems can provide and promote ethical leadership that is transformative.

WEBINAR

University World News in partnership with DrEducation will be hosting a second international webinar, 'Embracing Technology for Global Engagement: A leadership challenge and opportunity' on 4 October. Participation is free if you register.

WORLD BLOG

Nita Temmerman

Visits more accurately and honestly confirm compliance with expected accreditation principles than those that rely solely on written documentation.

FEATURES

Mary Beth Marklein

A higher education initiative that taps the African diaspora in North America as a way to reverse the effects of brain drain on the continent seeks to expand amid signs that it has had a positive and sustainable impact, new data shows.

FACEBOOK

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WORLD ROUND-UP

Expertise across a broad range of disciplines – rather than exceptional performance in just a few – is key to success in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, THE's latest subject rankings suggest, writes Ellie Bothwell for Times Higher Education.

The United States university system is an innovation powerhouse, according to Reuters' second Top 100 list. The US claimed 46 of the top 100 universities on the list, followed by Japan with nine and France and South Korea, both with eight universities, writes Abby Jackson for Business Insider.

The central government is planning to give autonomy to ‘good’ universities and make them 'innovation hubs' while imposing heavy regulation on ‘non-performing’ institutions, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said last week, reports Press Trust of India.

The government must maintain free movement for European Union academics or risk losing up to 15% of staff at British universities, a leading German academics’ body has warned, write Jon Henley, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Philip Oltermann for the Guardian.

The United Kingdom government is to outline its plans to strengthen collaborative research between Britain and China. The UK Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson was to give details while opening a joint UK-Chinese plant research centre just outside Shanghai, writes Pallab Ghosh for BBC News.

As young people are dealing with a shifting job landscape, Ontario universities are working to better prepare students for a future we may not be able to imagine. The Council of Ontario Universities has launched a survey in an effort to spur a conversation about the changing job market, new technologies and continued globalisation, writes Nicole Thompson for The Canadian Press.

The Ministry of Education said that it is preparing a higher education roadmap that would enable qualified graduates to meet the needs of the growing economy, reports The Ethiopian Herald.

As students across the country prepare to start university for the first time, analysis of student loan data has revealed that many parents may be feeling the pinch, writes Josie Gurney-Read for The Telegraph.

Universities say fundraising is becoming increasingly important for their work and they are receiving millions of dollars a year in donations. But they say that there is not yet a strong culture of philanthropy in New Zealand and the government could do more to encourage donations to universities, writes John Gerritsen for Radio New Zealand.

The number of students at Czech higher education facilities will again be lower this year than in the past, Jakub Fischer, president of the Council of Higher Education Institutions, has said, adding that the reasons are demographic developments and the way of financing, reports the Czech news agency CTK.

The Union of Students in Ireland has announced they will hold a national demonstration on 19 October calling on the government to invest in publicly funded third level education, writes Sorcha Pollak for The Irish Times.

China’s ambassador to Kenya Dr Liu Xianfa last week officially handed over a KES3 billion (US$30 million) modern research centre and botanical garden funded by the Chinese government to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, writes Mary Wambui for Daily Nation.

A Canadian expert in international law has been chosen as the next vice-chancellor of Cambridge University following a global search for a leader to navigate the Brexit-related challenges facing higher education, writes Sally Weale for the Guardian.

Academic staff are protesting the University of Sydney’s decision to award former prime minister John Howard an honorary doctorate, labelling it as “deeply scandalous and inappropriate”, writes Bridie Jabour for the Guardian.

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