NEWS – Our correspondents worldwide report
AUSTRALIA
Universities face new tax over student loans
Geoff Maslen
Australia’s higher education institutions face a heavy and unexpected new tax for every student who takes out a federal loan to cover the cost of their studies. Under legislation introduced in federal parliament, universities will be liable to pay the unexpected tax every year to support the cost of running Australia’s student loan scheme.
IRAN
Bill could end discrimination against activist students
Shafigeh Shirazi and Yojana Sharma
A bill approved by the government of President Hassan Rouhani last week has been tabled in the Iranian parliament to end the discrimination against and expulsion of students engaging in political activities on campuses and other students that have been discriminated against by the regime.
IRELAND
Universities demand more funds and more freedom
Brendan O’Malley
Irish universities have launched a new charter for the university system, spelling out the commitments required to fulfil the government’s target of becoming the best system in Europe by 2026 – including significant increases in state funding, more autonomy, and more freedom to hire staff.
JAPAN
Critics say gender bias survey does not go far enough
Suvendrini Kakuchi
The government in Japan has been criticised for lack of transparency after releasing only partial results of a survey of gender bias against women who took entrance exams for medical schools, carried out after a sexism scandal was made public in August.
SUDAN
Five-year higher education disability strategy approved
Wagdy Sawahel
A five-year strategy to empower people with disabilities at institutions of higher education and scientific research was approved by the Sudanese Council of Ministers from this year to 2022, in order that students with disabilities qualify, integrate into society and play a role in sustainable development.
MALAYSIA
Conflict of interest row over minister’s university role
Anil Netto
The appointment of Malaysia’s new education minister as president of the International Islamic University Malaysia, a public university, has sparked controversy among academics and civil society organisations, who argue that there is a conflict of interest between his two roles.
ZIMBABWE
President announces further boost to national research
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe’s new president has announced that his government will enact a law establishing a research institute that will contribute towards the economic growth that will turn the country into a middle-income nation by 2030.
SWEDEN
International students are key to plugging STEM gap
Jan Petter Myklebust
A new report into private funding of competence building recommends introducing tax incentives to encourage the funding of grants for international students to help plug a historic shortfall in graduates in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – subjects.
NIGERIA
‘Misled’ parents call for lower private university fees
Tunde Fatunde
Since the advent of private universities in Nigeria in 1999 – most of which are faith-based – there have been calls for them to reduce their fees which are several times higher than public universities. Leading these calls are those church members whose investments of time and money made possible the establishment of such institutions in the first place.
COMMENTARY
AFRICA
African universities need their own China expertise
Ross Anthony
Chinese investments in African higher education are welcome, but the growing culture of academic censorship in China raises concern about how far this will curb critical thought in African universities. Countries need to develop their own expertise on China to preserve academic freedom.
GLOBAL
Global innovators should watch out for China
Anand Kulkarni
The Global Innovation Index shows little movement in the top 10, but further down the field other countries are rising up the ranks, particularly China – thanks to large-scale, long-term investments in capability building, particularly human capital – and to a lesser extent India.
PHILIPPINES
Internationalisation without loss of identity
Rowell D Madula
A study of two universities in the Philippines shows how, despite their key role in shaping a post-colonial national identity, institutions are finding ways to internationalise without compromising their culture. Their goal is to achieve academic rather than economic growth through internationalisation.
BRAZIL-GLOBAL
The alarming rise of predatory journals
Marcelo S Perlin, Takeyoshi Imasato and Denis Borenstein
The proportion of the research literature made up of predatory journals is increasing at an alarming rate with local quality ranking systems playing a key role. If not identified and combatted, predatory publishers may consume important research funds at the expense of proper scientific endeavour.
AFRICA
The need for action in an era of academic fraud
Damtew Teferra
The first step towards addressing the academic malpractices and fraud which are threatening the academic enterprise in Africa is to become aware of their nature and scope.
EGYPT
Contradiction behind Egypt’s embrace of branch campuses
Jason Lane
The Egyptian government hopes international branch campuses can help build a ‘new Cairo’ and be a catalyst for further international partnership. But for foreign universities, will the benefits be enough to outweigh the risk of curbs on academic freedom?
WORLD BLOG
GLOBAL
The problem is the publishing system, not the scholars
Philip G Altbach and Hans de Wit
Attempting to solve the academic publishing crisis by reducing the number of articles published by academics is not about concentrating knowledge production in rich countries but boosting the role of teaching. Diversity of knowledge production from research universities in all countries is vital.
FEATURES
SOUTH KOREA
Media probes raise questions over quality of conferences
Aimee Chung
Researchers at some of South Korea’s top universities have used their university’s research funds to attend academically questionable international conferences and submit their conference reports as examples of internationally excellent journal publications to the national research database, media investigations have found.
GLOBAL
An alternative to high tuition fees or fully free HE
Brendan O’Malley
Targeted free tuition is becoming an increasingly popular choice for governments which are deterred from offering blanket free higher education but find the logic of a progressive student loan system hard to sell to students and the electorate alike, a new report says.
UNITED STATES
Make campuses great centres of civil discourse again
Mary Beth Marklein
How to create a campus environment that lives up to the ideal of college as a place where diverse perspectives come together to address, and perhaps even solve, the nation's most difficult social problems has become a critical concern of university leaders in the United States.
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.
