NEWS – Our correspondents worldwide report
AUSTRALIA
Funding package to cost universities a billion dollars
Geoff Maslen
Federal spending on higher education looks set to fall by AU$1 billion (US$797 million), according to Universities Australia Chair Professor Margaret Gardner, who said government’s spending on higher education would cut funding for universities and increase fees for students so they would pay more for less.
JAPAN
Regional universities a new focus of research excellence
Suvendrini Kakuchi
A Japanese government plan to set up world-class centres for basic research in regional universities will strengthen its international competitiveness and narrow the gaping divide between Japan’s elite research institutions and regional universities.
INDIA
IIMs gain greater autonomy, award MBAs under new law
Ranjit Devraj
India’s prestigious Indian Institutes of Management or IIMs are set to gain increased autonomy after the lower house of parliament passed a bill anointing them ‘institutions of national importance’.
SINGAPORE
University suspends professor after foreign spy charge
Yojana Sharma
The National University of Singapore has terminated the employment of Professor Huang Jing, identified on 4 August as a spy by Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs. The university said in a statement on the same day that Huang had been suspended without pay “with immediate effect”.
NORTH KOREA
US travel ban will hit teaching at private university
Yojana Sharma
A United States decision to ban all travel by US citizens to North Korea from September will affect Pyongyang’s only private university, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in the North Korean capital, which employs a significant number of US citizens on its teaching staff.
NORWAY
Debate over foreign researcher numbers, quota proposal
Jan Petter Myklebust
Summer time in Norway, from June to mid-August, is normally quiet for universities. But not this summer – possibly due to general elections looming in September. Internationalisation has been high on the agenda, with controversy over the growing number of international researchers and a proposal to impose a quota on their numbers.
ZIMBABWE
Criticism over planned Robert Mugabe university
Kudzai Mashininga
In a widely criticised move, the Zimbabwean government has announced plans to build a US$1 billion science and technology university named after its long-time ruler, 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe.
EUROPE
19 cities bid for European Medicines Agency post-Brexit
Jan Petter Myklebust
Nineteen European cities have bid to host the European Medicines Agency, which will be relocated from London as a result of Brexit. The agency does not conduct research but draws on hundreds of top scientists from across the world for expert working groups.
AUSTRALIA – Campus sexual harassment
AUSTRALIA
Sexual harassment rife on university campuses
Geoff Maslen
More than half of Australian university students say they were sexually harassed on at least one occasion last year, and one in 14 were sexually assaulted at least once in 2015 or 2016, a survey of more than 30,000 students at 39 universities has found.
AUSTRALIA
Postgraduates endure university staff sexual abuse
Geoff Maslen
Australian postgraduates suffer from widespread sexual harassment and assault by staff they work with, according to the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. National council President Peter Derbyshire says anyone who has spent time with postgraduate students knows it is “the worst kept secret in academia that such behaviour occurs”.
AUSTRALIA
How to tackle campus sexual assault and harassment
Michael Flood
Australian universities have a serious problem with sexual assault and sexual harassment, as revealed by the Australian Human Rights Commission. Rather than adopting tokenistic measures aimed at reassuring parents and international students, universities must step up and implement comprehensive, long-term and multi-pronged prevention strategies.
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL
Index shows the global innovation gap is growing
Anand Kulkarni
Middle-income countries, with the exception of China, are significantly under-represented in the top echelons of the Global Innovation Index and breaking into the rankings is an uphill struggle, although they are making progress.
CHINA
Are universities helping China compete on skills?
Dean Hristov and Sonal Minocha
China’s universities are competing globally with regard to research. But with the rapid expansion of a more open and competitive Chinese economy, they could do more to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and the kind of skills employers are now looking for.
CANADA
Canada offers US, UK academics security, not activism
Grace Karram Stephenson
While some may think Canada will become a base for liberal activism against the far right and a bastion of academic freedom, the reality is that most academics are moving there for security and are unlikely to rock the boat.
CANADA-VIETNAM
Recruitment of Vietnamese students limited by red tape
Deren Temel
Recruitment of Vietnamese students to Canada is hampered by slow visa permit processing time. Canada should continue the Canada Express Study visa for Vietnam as it cuts down on bureaucracy and expense for those Vietnamese looking to study there.
MALAYSIA
Malaysia consolidates its position as a regional HE hub
Roger Chao Jr
Malaysia’s increasing capacity and focus on international and comparative education and Southeast Asian education research have confirmed its vital position with regard to international higher education in the region – and beyond.
WORLD BLOG
GLOBAL
Remembering what higher education is all about
Margaret Andrews
Sometimes we need to take a step back and remember why we’re in higher education. Professor Alan Dundes was the best teacher I ever had, but what made him great?
FEATURES
SOUTH AFRICA
Mining the power of data to boost student success
Sungula Nkabinde
Data analytics is becoming increasingly important to improving the effectiveness of almost every profession and academia is no different, but knowing what data is important and how to use it is critical.
UGANDA
New Makerere vice-chancellor designate aims high
Christabel Ligami
Newly appointed Makerere University Vice-chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe has vowed to position the Ugandan university as the leading institution for academic excellence and innovation in Africa.
UNITED STATES
College diversity officer – Demanding job, low resources
Sarah Brown, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Dozens of campuses across America have created diversity officer positions in the past 15 years, often in response to pressure from student activists, but the role is still relatively new. In a new survey of chief diversity officers, fewer than half of respondents said they began with adequate resources to carry out their responsibilities effectively.
ALLIANCE FOR AFRICAN PARTNERSHIP
The Alliance for African Partnership is a new initiative of Michigan State University or MSU, which aims to support sustainable, effective and equitable long-term partnerships among African organisations, MSU and other international organisations. The launch took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 18-20 July, featured prominent African leaders from higher education, research institutes and other sectors, and focused on the theme of “Putting vision into action together”.
AFRICA
A new model for African partnerships launched
Munyaradzi Makoni
Inspired by the need for a new approach to African partnerships, Michigan State University’s Alliance for African Partnership was launched in Tanzania recently.
GLOBAL
Building better academic partnerships in the arts
Penina Mlama
The power of the arts and literature as tools for self-determination and asserting cultural identity has complicated the formation of partnerships between Africa and the rest of the world, resulting in the need for a more reflective approach to building effective and transformative partnerships.
GLOBAL
Institutional partnerships – Shifting the centre of gravity
Munyaradzi Makoni
The landscape for partnerships between African and international organisations is changing, with the centre of gravity shifting towards the physical area in which the research and development are being conducted. A desired outcome of this relocation is a more effective functioning of the overall development ecosystem, according to delegates at the launch of the Alliance for African Partnership, held in Tanzania last month.
AFRICA
Vice-chancellors pin hopes on stronger partnerships
Munyaradzi Makoni
Michigan State University’s new initiative, the Alliance for African Partnership, has raised interest among vice-chancellors across Africa, who hope to address some of their research and teaching challenges through partnerships.
AFRICA
‘Sub-optimal’ partnerships continue to impede progress
Munyaradzi Makoni
Partnerships are inherent to the human condition, but action is urgently needed to improve the quality of the ‘sub-optimal’ partnerships that Africa continues to develop within the continent and with the outside world, according to Célestin Monga, chief economist and vice-president for economic governance and knowledge management at the African Development Bank in Côte d’Ivoire.
AFRICA
Creating equal partnerships calls for a paradigm shift
Munyaradzi Makoni
While it is widely known that few partnerships between African and international organisations benefit all the parties involved, how to change that imbalance remains a key challenge, but one that the recently launched Alliance for African Partnership is determined to tackle.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
THAILAND
Call for release of student imprisoned for Facebook post
Scholars at Risk has called on the global academic community to join a campaign urging the Thai authorities to release from prison and drop lèse majesté charges against law student and activist Jatupat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa for a Facebook post.
