NEWSLETTER

Universities will need to be more innovative in their international recruitment

   In our World Blog this week, Marguerite J Dennis contends that universities should not be developing plans to recruit international students without taking into account the global political, economic, technological and societal changes that are taking place.

   In Commentary, Tatiana Belousova provides insights through a survey of international students in Kerala state in India into the challenges they face – as India seeks to quadruple the number of international students in the country. Nader Habibi and Gholamreza Keshavarz Haddad outline how their study of employment statistics in Iran shows that graduates are taking an increasing number of low-skilled jobs from school leavers. John K Hudzik, Bernhard Streitwieser and Francisco Marmolejo say that internationalisation of higher education is more of an imperative now than it has been at any time in the past but it needs to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. And Denise Jackson writes about the need to embed technology in the design of internships and placements as it is rapidly changing the way we work.

   In Features, Kalinga Seneviratne reports that Singapore’s lifelong learning initiatives may ensure the country’s universities are less affected by declining student numbers due to the dip in population numbers than those in other Asian countries, while Jan Petter Myklebust reports on the launch of the South Africa-Sweden University Forum, a three-year project with a budget of US$2 million aimed at strengthening education and research ties between the two countries.

   Finally, we would like to bring to your attention that all universities worldwide are invited to participate in a survey on internationalisation of higher education being conducted by the International Association of Universities.

Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor

NEWS – Our correspondents worldwide report

EUROPE

EC gives details of €100 billion research proposal

Brendan O’Malley

The European Commission has announced the details of its €100 billion (US$118 billion) proposal for the next long-term budget for its research and innovation programme for 2021-27, which it calls the “most ambitious research and innovation programme ever”.

EUROPE-UNITED KINGDOM

Horizon Europe proposal paves way for UK participation

Brendan O’Malley

The European Commission’s €100 billion (US$118 billion) proposal for Horizon Europe, the successor research and innovation programme to Horizon 2020, includes a crucial addition that could pave the way for the United Kingdom to be allowed to participate in the programme after leaving the European Union.

AFRICA

Mutual recognition of skills needed for growth – Report

Kudzai Mashininga

A new United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report urges African countries to come up with policy frameworks that allow for the recognition of academic and professional qualifications across borders to promote development on the continent.

RUSSIA

Government plans package to lure students from the West

Eugene Vorotnikov

The government is planning a package of measures to attract more students from Western countries under plans to triple the number of foreign students at Russian universities. These will include more courses taught in English, modernisation of campuses, fast-track visas and more scholarships.

GLOBAL

US and UK back on form in QS global university rankings

Brendan O'Malley

United States and United Kingdom universities have improved their overall positions, Malaysia and Russia have made noteworthy gains and China has entered the top 20 for the first time in this year’s QS World University Rankings. But Germany and France lost ground.

GLOBAL

Reputation a key factor for ranking winners and losers

Brendan O’Malley

Analysis of the winners and losers by region in the latest QS World University Rankings provides some insight into which higher education systems are improving or losing ground on six indicators – Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Faculty, Faculty/Student Ratio, International Student Ratio, and International Faculty Ratio.

CHINA

Universities told to further embed Chinese culture

Amber Ziye Wang

Universities across China have been told to further integrate Chinese traditional culture into their courses and award students credits for studying ethnic music, arts and crafts under plans to boost cultural confidence and counter influences from the West and other Asian countries.

EAST AFRICA

Growth stymied by academia-industry disconnect – Experts

Gilbert Nakweya

The disconnect between institutions of higher learning and industry is proving to be a serious inhibitor of the development of local skills needed to ensure the extractive industry takes off in East Africa, according to some of the region’s experts.

AFGHANISTAN

Student dies in stampede for university exam form

Shadi Khan Saif

Aspiring female students rushing to obtain application forms for this year’s Afghan university entrance exam, known as the Kankor, resulted in a stampede that left one dead and more than 20 injured last week in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province, bordering with Uzbekistan.

MIDDLE EAST-NORTH AFRICA

New research index to enhance Arabic academic footprint

Wagdy Sawahel

Twenty-two Middle East and North African countries are to benefit from the launch in 2020 of the first Arabic Citation Index, which aims to facilitate access to Arabic scientific research, thereby enhancing the Arabic academic footprint and ultimately improving university rankings.

EGYPT

Lecturer, fired over dance video, vows to sue university

Ashraf Khaled

An Egyptian state-run university has sacked a lecturer, a year after she posted a video on her Facebook page of herself belly-dancing in her own home, in an alleged violation of academic traditions.

COMMENTARY

INDIA

Internationalisation – What do students think?

Tatiana Belousova

India is seeking to quadruple the number of international students, but a survey of international students in the southern state of Kerala – one of India’s most socio-economically progressive states – reveals some important barriers to integration and learning that must be overcome first.

IRAN

Graduates push school leavers out of low-skill jobs

Nader Habibi and Gholamreza Keshavarz Haddad

A detailed study of employment statistics shows that graduates are taking an increasing number of low-skilled jobs from school leavers in areas ranging from agriculture to retail – a substantial waste of higher education resources and human capital for the Iranian economy.

GLOBAL

Renovating internationalisation for the 21st century

John K Hudzik, Bernhard Streitwieser and Francisco Marmolejo

Internationalisation is more of an imperative now and for the future than it has been at any time in the past, but its content, perspective, pedagogy and programmes need to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and an increasingly competitive and technologically integrated world.

AUSTRALIA

Embed technology to improve internships and placements

Denise Jackson

Work integrated learning is not properly preparing students for the type of workplace that lies ahead. As more jobs become digital, it is vital to embed technology in the design of internships and placements and show how it is changing the way we work.

WORLD BLOG

GLOBAL

A new age in international student mobility

Marguerite J Dennis

It is no longer possible to create international strategic plans and recruit future international students without taking into consideration the political, economic, technological and societal changes taking place. Universities need to be more innovative in every area of international recruitment.

INTERNATIONALISATION SURVEY

GLOBAL

IAU conducts global survey of HE internationalisation

The International Association of Universities (IAU), the leading global association of higher education institutions and organisations from around the world, is appealing for universities to respond to its unique global survey on the internationalisation of higher education, with the support of University World News.

FEATURES

SINGAPORE

Lifelong learning role creates new business model for HE

Kalinga Seneviratne

With one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, Singapore’s student numbers are falling. But the key role of universities in the government’s lifelong learning initiatives could ensure Singapore’s universities are less affected by declining population numbers than those in other Asian countries.

SOUTH AFRICA-SWEDEN

Successful start to major internationalisation project

Jan Petter Myklebust

The South Africa-Sweden University Forum – a major internationalisation project aimed at strengthening education, research and innovation ties between the two countries – kicked off with a seminar hosted by the University of Pretoria and some 30 satellite gatherings in 12 South African cities involving more than 1,000 local and 67 Swedish participants.

PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME

GLOBAL

Join our new partnership programme for universities

University World News has launched a partnership programme to enable higher education institutions to extend their reach among our high quality audience of academics, researchers, university leaders, higher education administrators, experts, key stakeholders and policy-makers.

FACEBOOK

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WORLD ROUND-UP

INDONESIA

Government to curb radicalism at universities

Higher Education Minister Mohamad Nasir announced a plan last week to meet with the heads of public universities towards the end of this month to coordinate efforts aimed at preventing radicalism on Indonesian campuses, reports the Jakarta Globe.

GLOBAL

BRICS academics proffer solutions to pressing issues

Academics from the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) bloc proposed some innovative solutions to the developing world’s most pressing problems when they met in Johannesburg, South Africa, under the aegis of the just-ended 10th BRICS Academic Forum, writes Mthulisi Sibanda for Caj News Africa.

NEW ZEALAND

Staff cuts drag universities down in rankings

Staff cuts despite growing student numbers have dragged most New Zealand universities down in the latest world rankings, after six of the country’s eight universities dropped in the London-based QS rankings, which are regarded as the most important for attracting international students, writes Simon Collins for the New Zealand Herald.

IRELAND

University rankings – Real reasons to be concerned

International university rankings are deeply-flawed measures of third-level colleges produced by commercial organisations, but there’s no escaping the fact that they are highly influential indicators which guide foreign investment and flows of international students, writes Carl O’Brien for The Irish Times.

KENYA

University staff may strike over pay battle in court

A fresh round of university staff strikes loom in Kenya as unions plan to return to the courts over a pay increment row, with the Universities Academic Staff Union due to file a case at the Employment and Labour Relations Court demanding a fresh offer from the government, writes Augustine Oduor for the Sunday Standard.

UNITED STATES

Crypto-company gives US$50 million for research

Crypto payments company Ripple has announced a new US$50 million fund to finance university research into blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies after partnering with 17 universities around the world for the new project, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University College London, Princeton University and the Australian National University, writes Oscar Williams-Grut for Business Insider.

UNITED KINGDOM

Elite universities improve teaching scores after review

Some of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious universities have improved their scores for teaching standards after they requested to be judged again in official rankings, writes Eleanor Busby for the Independent.

PAKISTAN

Green Campus set to bloom at universities

To introduce the concept of a ‘Green Campus’ in Pakistani universities, the Higher Education Commission organised a consultative meeting of a working group of 15 universities to deliberate on Universitas Indonesia’s UI GreenMetric World University Rankings on World Environment Day on 5 June, reports The News.

MALAYSIA

Minister calls for universities to be more open

There will be no restriction on any educational programme, debate, forum or discourse at the public universities, said Malaysia’s Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik, as he urged university vice-chancellors and their deputies not to impose such restrictions as higher education institutions are supposed to be an open intellectual field, writes Siti A’isyah Sukaimi for New Straits Times.

SYRIA-TURKEY

Universities eye liberated towns for new faculties

Turkish universities are to join rebuilding efforts in parts of Syria liberated from terrorist groups, with Gaziantep University in the eponymous Turkish province on the Syrian border planning to establish a department in Jarablus, while Harran in Sanliurfa, another city near the border, is to set up a faculty in al-Bab, reports the Daily Sabah.

INDIA

Concern over growing enrolment through online degrees

Experts are concerned at plans by India’s higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission, to establish new regulations for online education, which are expected to come into effect from the 2018-19 academic term, writes Shreya Roy Chowdhury for Scroll.

NETHERLANDS

Minister wants more control over internationalisation

Minister of Education Ingrid van Engelshoven says higher education in the Netherlands must be able to internationalise further, but only if it improves the quality of education and if Dutch students are not displaced, writes Janene Pieters for NL Times.

NIGERIA

Universities must prepare needs-based budgets

Most Nigerian top-level managers, when they need to go for training, end up going to Harvard University or the London School of Economics, but training could be done in Nigeria – if a needs-based budget is adopted by universities, according to Professor Olufemi Bamiro, writes Modupe George for the Nigerian Tribune.

UNITED KINGDOM

Love Island gets more applicants than top universities

Once again the British nation has been struck with a case of Love Island fever with recent statistics showing that more than double the number of people applied to star in the raunchy reality television programme than they did to study at Oxford and Cambridge universities combined, writes Abigail Rabbett for Cambridge News.