NEWSLETTER

Will rising nationalism have an impact on international recruitment plans?

   In Commentary, Marguerite Dennis suggests some steps international enrolment managers and deans at universities might take to prepare for a world that may increasingly be defined by borders and nationalism. Futao Huang looks at the demographics of international faculty in Japan and contends that Japanese institutions and the government need to do more to open the academic market to international faculty. Rahul Choudaha encourages business schools to accelerate global engagement strategies based on collaboration and innovation, and to produce graduates who are capable of making organisations adaptable to change. And Roman Abramov, Ivan Gruzdev and Evgeniy Terentev discuss the tensions arising from Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics being a prominent global player while embedded in the Russian academic and administrative environment.

   In World Blog, Robert Coelen argues that internationalisation should ideally start at school as it is part of core 21st century skills that need to be embedded from an early age.

   In our quarterly series on Academic Corruption, published by University World News in partnership with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation/CHEA International Quality Group, Brendan O’Malley reports on a study being conducted into what quality assurance and accreditation bodies are doing to tackle academic corruption around the world.

   Finally, in Features, Sharon Dell reports on a bid by the Southern African Regional Universities Association to achieve greater alignment with SADC – the Southern African Development Community – as a way of ensuring that universities play a more active role in the implementation of regional development strategies, while Laeed Zaghlami gives an upbeat account of what Algerian universities are doing to become more innovative.

Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor

NEWS – Our correspondents worldwide report

CHINA

Muslim students studying abroad detained, repatriated

Yojana Sharma

Human rights groups are expressing alarm over the fate of hundreds of Chinese students abroad belonging to the Uyghur ethnic minority and other Chinese Muslim students who have fled into hiding, disappeared or been repatriated to China where they have been sent to re-education camps.

UNITED KINGDOM

PM pledges review of university funding, tuition fees

Brendan O’Malley

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has announced a review of the whole system of student finance and has declined to rule out a switch to a graduate tax. In the meantime, she pledged to freeze fee rises and raise the threshold at which student loans will be repaid.

BANGLADESH

Universities take up Rohingya cause, call for research

Mushfique Wadud

Many university groups in Bangladesh are protesting against the plight of the Rohingya and calling on Myanmar to accept their return. Academics are pushing for more research on the crisis, its origins and the needs of the Rohingya group, to better prepare Bangladesh for its possible long-term impact on the country.

UNITED STATES

Nuanced findings on study abroad influence on careers

Mary Beth Marklein

The findings of a study on the impact of studying abroad on workplace success for United States alumni reveal key skills gains and the data may help international educators better design programmes that prepare students for their first job interview and beyond.

KENYA

University shuts down indefinitely over student protests

Gilbert Nakweya

The University of Nairobi, Kenya’s largest and oldest institution of higher learning, has been shut indefinitely following student unrest over allegations of police brutality.

SWEDEN

Nearly one in two university staff are administrative

Jan Petter Myklebust

The number of administrative personnel at Swedish universities has risen seven times as fast as the number of academic staff since 2000, according to research by a Swedish professor, and they now fill nearly half of all university jobs.

EUROPE

English-taught bachelor degrees proliferate in Europe

The past decade has seen an impressive growth in English-taught bachelor degrees in Europe as they have become increasingly common in international higher education, according to a joint study across 19 countries by the European Association for International Education and search platform StudyPortals.

EAST AFRICA

Universities pool resources to fight common diseases

Christabel Ligami

A new university initiative has been launched targeting health research areas that receive minimal support from international donors in the East Africa region, but have a devastating effect on local populations.

GLOBAL

Asian universities make inroads in subject rankings

There were signs of Asian progress in global university rankings being matched by gains in subject rankings in the latest Times Higher Education rankings covering social sciences, law, education, and business and economics.

GERMANY

Entry limits in medicine now a constitutional issue

Michael Gardner

As Germany’s health system suffers from a shortage of doctors, a German administrative court has called on the country’s Federal Constitutional Court to decide whether the numerus clausus entry restrictions for medicine at universities are unconstitutional.

ZIMBABWE

Universities recommit to STEM mandates

Kudzai Mashininga

Facing tight economic conditions, Zimbabwe’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, universities are grappling with a long-standing government directive to revert to their core mandate of teaching mainly science-related courses.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

Health warning for university staff with clear desks

Jan Petter Myklebust

A hot-desking rector is part of a trend towards open plan and ‘clean desk’ offices, with staff belongings kept in a box overnight. It is being pushed by a new government directive, which is causing heated debate about the impact on people’s health.

COMMENTARY

GLOBAL-UNITED STATES

Luring overseas students in a more nationalist world

Marguerite Dennis

Nationalist movements have the potential to disrupt the global nature of higher education and the financial stability of colleges and universities around the world. International enrolment managers and deans should consider the impact on their recruitment plans.

JAPAN

Japan needs to open up to international faculty

Futao Huang

A detailed study of international academics working in Japan shows less than 5% have full-time posts and there has been no significant growth in the proportion of international faculty who were hired as institutional leaders, or in the small proportion who are women.

GLOBAL

Business schools need to collaborate and innovate

Rahul Choudaha

The next decade will be characterised by intensified competition for talent, resources and reputation in a turbulent world. Business schools need to accelerate global engagement strategies based on collaboration and innovation – and develop global managerial talent who can make organisations adaptable to change.

RUSSIA

A university playing on two fields at the same time

Roman Abramov, Ivan Gruzdev and Evgeniy Terentev

Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics is both a prominent global player and an organisation still embedded in the Russian academic and administrative environment. That can cause challenges and tension.

WORLD BLOG

GLOBAL

Internationalisation should start at school

Robert Coelen

The ideal of learning that crosses sectoral boundaries and extends from primary to tertiary education may seem a long way off. But internationalisation is part of core 21st century skills that need to be embedded from an early age, linking schools and universities.

ACADEMIC CORRUPTION

GLOBAL

What are QA bodies doing to tackle academic corruption?

Brendan O’Malley

A group of global experts is carrying out what is thought to be the first baseline research into what quality assurance and accreditation bodies around the world are doing to tackle academic corruption and what more can be done.

FEATURES

AFRICA

Optimising the contribution of HE in the SADC region

Sharon Dell

The Southern African Regional Universities Association is pushing for closer alignment between the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, and the regional universities body as a way of ensuring that universities – as knowledge producers and developers of human capacity – play a more active role in the implementation of regional development strategies and build institutional capacities.

ALGERIA

Universities start to play catch-up in innovation drive

Laeed Zaghlami

After many years of lethargy, inertia and bureaucracy, universities and higher education centres and institutions are pushing a new approach to higher education – one that is based more heavily on innovation, entrepreneurship and partnerships with private and public companies.

FACEBOOK

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WORLD ROUND-UP

HUNGARY

New deal with US college may save elite university

The prestigious Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, seems to have found a way around a threat to close it down. The university had been affected by a law change that is widely thought to be politically motivated, writes Alison Abbott for Nature.

AUSTRALIA

Universities urged to crack down on contract cheating

Universities are being urged to block websites that sell essays, identify cheating ‘hot spots’ and consider publishing data on breaches of academic integrity, writes Henrietta Cook for The Sydney Morning Herald.

FRANCE

Climate scientists oppose call for foreign researchers

French President Emmanuel Macron made global headlines in June when he called on foreign scientists to join his ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’ project on fighting climate change. But in France, not all researchers are happy about the invite, writes Romain Brunet for France24.

INDIA

Academics issue warning over ‘truncated’ HE commission

The government has been sitting on appointments to key posts in the University Grants Commission, forcing the higher education regulator to make do with an ad hoc arrangement, although two search panels had shortlisted possible candidates at least four months ago, writes Basant Kumar Mohanty for The Telegraph India.

MALAYSIA-OMAN

Oman ministry blacklists four Malaysian universities

The Higher Education Ministry of Oman has banned Omani students from attending four Malaysian universities due to alleged academic and administrative abuses by the universities, writes Beatrice Nita Jay for New Straits Times.

KENYA

Foreign travel ban violates rights of lecturers – Dons

University lecturers have demanded the immediate withdrawal of the travel restriction recently imposed by the government, writes Ouma Wanzala for the Nation. The Universities Academic Staff Union said the move had adversely affected many members, who are frustrated by delays in processing requests.

AUSTRALIA

Cuts ‘may push more universities into deficit’

The universities peak sector body has warned that 10 universities may tip into deficit if the government’s AU$2.8 billion (US$2.2 billion) higher education savings package goes through, writes Bernard Lane for The Australian.

VIETNAM

Universities struggle to find qualified academic staff

Despite a raft of applications for nine lecturer vacancies announced in July, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport has been unable to fill any of the positions owing to a lack of candidates with PhDs, reports Viet Nam News.

JAMAICA

Universities join forces to ease shortage of engineers

The chronic shortage of qualified engineers in Jamaica could soon be a thing of the past as three of the island’s leading universities have forged a partnership which will see them training at least 1,000 annually, writes Nadine Wilson-Harris for The Gleaner.

SAUDI ARABIA

University to establish driving school for women

Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University announced on 30 September that it is ready to establish a driving school for women in cooperation with the relevant authorities. The university made the announcement on their Twitter account, adding that their decision comes in line with the Royal directive to allow women to drive equally with their male peers in the Kingdom, reports Arab News.

IRELAND

New fund to boost international collaboration

A new fund – the International Academic Mobility Programme – will see €500,000 (US$586,000) made available to Irish higher education institutions to promote collaboration with global institutions in high potential markets, writes Kathleen McNamee for The University Times.

UNITED KINGDOM

Student loans – Minister pushes terminology change

Universities Minister Jo Johnson has suggested that student loans be renamed “graduate contribution” tax, writes Camilla Turner for The Telegraph. At a Tory party conference fringe event, he also said the government needs to "work on the language" around student loans, so that young people do not feel as though they are getting a bad deal.

INDONESIA-MALAYSIA

Roadmap to set out path towards increased collaboration

A higher education roadmap is being developed to pave the way for greater collaboration between Malaysia and Indonesia, writes Christina Chin for The Star.

SOUTH AFRICA

Subsidy withdrawals may follow predatory publishing probe

The Department of Higher Education and Training will probe claims about predatory publishing, and could withdraw subsidies paid out for the academic articles in question, writes Bekezela Phakathi for BDLive.

IRELAND

Students march to oppose student loan scheme

In a statement issued as thousands of students marched through Dublin to voice their opposition to a loan scheme, Irish Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor said the government was adamant no “undue financial pressure” should be placed on parents and students, writes Carl O’Brien for The Irish Times.

SWITZERLAND

College students turn to foreign universities for PhDs

Local media report that Swiss higher education colleges are teaming up with foreign universities to help their students obtain doctorates, because only a few Swiss universities are allowed to confer doctorates, reports Swissinfo.ch.