NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

A decline in government funding of science and technology research in some countries – including four of the world’s 10 biggest economies – could pose a threat to innovation at a time when global challenges such as climate change and ageing populations demand solutions, according to a new OECD report.

Brendan O'Malley

The government has released a draft 10-year National Research Infrastructure Roadmap to ensure Australia’s future research spending will target priority areas to build on the country’s research strengths. It recommends setting up a national advisory group to provide advice on planning and investment.

Yojana Sharma

The inauguration last week of the new Shanghai campus of the Sino-French Institute of Art and Design Management attended by top Communist Party officials and arts and museum representatives from around the country, marks another booming area for foreign institutional collaborations with China.

Brendan O'Malley

Cambridge University has warned MPs that the United Kingdom leaving the European Union “poses a significant risk to higher education and research activities in the UK” and it is anticipating a two-thirds reduction in admissions of students from EU countries.

Munyaradzi Makoni

In a move likely to set university management structures on a collision course with student protesters calling for free higher education, at least seven universities have made public their plans to increase fees in 2017.

Maina Waruru

Kenyan public universities could soon be barred from operating campuses in foreign countries without government approval if a bill introduced for debate in parliament is passed.

Ranjit Devraj

The resignation of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen from the governing board of Nalanda University followed by the resignation of its chancellor, George Yeo, former foreign minister of Singapore, over interference in the university's autonomy, leaves the project to revive the ancient institution without its international leadership.

Eric Kelderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education

As the impact of the 2016 elections takes shape in statehouses, there are early signs that some policy proposals made by President-elect Donald J Trump are prompting reactions from governors and state legislators and there is widespread uncertainty over the direction that his nominee for education secretary will take.

Reuben Kyama

Two leading South Korean institutes have formalised their commitment to helping Sub-Saharan Africa build greater capacity in science and technology in the region, according to World Bank officials.

COMMENTARY

Aya Waller-Bey

Black and Latino students face double segregation at school due to economic and other factors, which narrows access to university. The new United States administration led by Donald Trump is likely to undermine attempts to counter this and any moves to make access more unequal must be resisted.

Dennis Murray

Promoting internationalisation of higher education in the current turn towards more nationalist politics – as shown by the vote for Brexit in the United Kingdom and the rise of Donald Trump in the United States – will require strong leadership and an emphasis on creative and collaborative communication skills.

Ole Petter Ottersen

Universities need to defend academic freedom and research by re-establishing a respect for objective truth and powerful arguments. They must become trust-builders as well as truth-seekers by creating many more arenas for debate.

Mark A Ashwill

An open letter to Vietnamese parents and students interested in study in the United States: Don't let the result of a presidential election dissuade you from realising your dream. This is an especially good time to study in the US because educational institutions want and need international students.

TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP

Thierry Zomahoun and Barry Green

African countries must make universities engines of development, with all the social benefits that brings. To achieve this, universities should be at the centre of sustained ecosystems of innovation. If they are provided with the necessary faculty and investment, they will produce the type of scientists who can turn ideas into businesses.

WORLD BLOG

Margaret Andrews

Just as technology altered the market for music and news, higher education appears to be next in line for the great unbundling. But a lot of the transformative innovation that is going on today was broadly predicted by a law professor more than 35 years ago.

FEATURES

Yojana Sharma

French higher education’s presence in China, including branch campuses, has lagged behind the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. However, with the backing of the French government interested in boosting French companies abroad, a flurry of collaborations, particularly by business schools, has been evident this year.

Wagdy Sawahel

Spurred on by an increase in the number of unemployed graduates resulting from the growing mismatch between university education and market needs, North Africa's universities are working on several approaches to produce industry- and market-ready graduates.

Christabel Ligami

Stakeholders are still awaiting a response from the education cabinet secretary to a World Bank report released earlier this year which put Kenya’s Higher Education Loans Board on the spot for mismanaging its funds at the expense of needy students.

BRICS UNIVERSITIES SUMMIT

University World News reports on the Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies Universities Summit held at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, on 30 November-2 December, which explored the theme of 'Reimagining the World-Class University'.

Stephen Coan

Universities were warned to think of their local regard and the pact between society and higher education, rather than "getting high" in ranking positions, at a time when the world appears to be turning against globalisation, at a BRICS and Emerging Economies Universities Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, recently.

Stephen Coan

Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist Wole Soyinka declared the time had come for “desperate strategies” to battle “revelatory knowledge” on university campuses in Africa and around the world, in a keynote speech at the Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies Universities Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Stephen Coan

University vice-chancellors from emerging economies are venturing cautiously into the possible collaborations offered by new, ‘unimagined’ international entities such as BRICS, the association of five emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Stephen Coan

Asked what they required of a 21st century education, students at a conference on "reimagining the world-class university" in BRICS countries and emerging economies placed an emphasis on culture and values and the need for human connection in a globalised, often de-personalised world.

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WORLD ROUND-UP

Universities must be built into strongholds following the leadership of the Communist Party, according to President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the party, reports Xinhua.

Universities in Nigeria have been charged to undertake research activities that are relevant to and support national goals, and which promote the uptake of life-changing research outcomes, for the country to realise its potential, writes Abosede Musari for The Guardian in Nigeria.

Taliban fighters publicly hanged a university student after accusing him of killing a senior intelligence officer, reports Aljazeera.

Universities are extracting maximum bang for their collaborative buck, with contract income nudging A$1billion (US$745 million) while returns from most other commercialisation activities go backwards, writes John Ross for The Australian.

Spending on research and development in the Czech Republic last year increased by a whopping CZK3.6 billion (US$142 million), according to a report from the Prague Daily Monitor based on recently released data from the Czech Statistical Office, writes Joanna Hughes for Master Studies.

Hoping to improve the student-teacher ratio and to bring world-class quality to its teaching methods, authorities of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi will soon be visiting Ivy League universities such as Harvard and Yale in a bid to recruit foreign scholars as faculty, writes Kritika Sharma for Daily News & Analysis.

Experts from many African and European countries have blamed lack of transparency and unethical practices as some of the reasons preventing Nigerian universities from making the list of best global institutions, writes Emeka Mamah for Vanguard.

The maker of the ACT college entrance exam, which has been struggling to contain an international cheating epidemic, is raising its fees for overseas test-takers by US$10 to pay for enhanced security, write Steve Stecklow and Alexandra Harney for Reuters.

A group of Scottish members of parliament have warned that plans to reform the way universities are funded in England could have a negative impact on Scottish institutions, writes Tom Freeman for Holyrood.

The Higher Education Ministry is committed to redesigning the sector in efforts to improve graduate employability by expanding industry collaborations, write Zafira Anwar and Mahadhir Moni for New Straits Times.

Ministers have dropped controversial plans to gag charities and universities as a condition of receiving public money after widespread alarm from academics and the voluntary sector, write Matthew Weaver and Patrick Butler for the Guardian.

Following the 2013 cabinet approval of a funding framework to ensure equity and transparency in the allocation of financial resources to public higher education institutions, the National Council for Higher Education says budgetary submissions are being finalised for the 2017-18 financial year, writes Albertina Nakale for New Era.

Universities across the country may now have to resort to cashless means like bank transfers, cheques and credit or debit cards while making use of periodic funds from the University Grants Commission, writes Deepika Burli for TNN.

Students who are totally unsuited to higher education are being shoehorned into universities by their parents due to a “snob value” over apprenticeships and training, according to senior academics, writes Carl O’Brien for The Irish Times.

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