NEWS – Our correspondents worldwide report
CHINA
Scholars hide military links from Western universities
Yojana Sharma
China’s military has been expanding research collaboration with foreign universities, with 2,500 military scientists and engineers sponsored to study abroad in the past decade, a new report reveals. But many scholars hide their military links from Western universities, which raises potential security concerns.
AUSTRALIA
Minister should explain why research grants are refused
Geoff Maslen
Revelations that a former federal education minister had rejected a decision by the Australian Research Council to allocate grants for 11 humanities projects have forced his successor to retreat – slightly. He said the reasons for rejection should be explained.
SWEDEN
Investigator backs tuition fees for foreign students
Jan Petter Myklebust
The government investigator into internationalisation of Swedish higher education, in her full report, proposes measures to ease international recruitment by reducing red tape but backs keeping full tuition fees for international students while increasing scholarship funding to attract top talent.
GLOBAL
US and UK gain as China, Japan, France slip in ranking
The United States and United Kingdom remain at the top of the US News and World Report’s 2019 Best Global Universities ranking, announced on 30 October, but China, Japan and particularly France lost ground. But in the subject rankings China performed well.
KENYA
Anti-corruption drive – What about the universities?
Gilbert Nakweya
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta’s war on corruption has seen the arrest and prosecution of high-profile civil servants from current and past regimes, but have universities been overlooked in his campaign? Some academics and stakeholders think so.
DENMARK
Rising drop-out rate leads to call to scrap reforms
Jan Petter Myklebust
The drop-out rate at Danish universities increased by 20% between 2014 and 2017, partly due to the ‘progress reform’, which aims to cut delays in time taken to achieving a degree, and due to the time limit set on students’ options to take more than one degree.
NORWAY
Mixed response to minister’s call for more study abroad
Jan Petter Myklebust
Norway's Minister of Research and Higher Education Iselin Nybø is calling for a cultural change on student mobility to significantly increase the numbers studying abroad and has asked for stakeholder proposals and ideas. But some observers say institutions and students have good reasons to limit student exchanges.
AUSTRALIA
Guidelines to boosting indigenous research unveiled
Geoff Maslen
Although completion rates remain low, Aboriginal Australians are enrolling in universities and graduating in greater numbers than ever before. New guidelines launched on Friday are aimed at assisting indigenous graduates who want to pursue research degrees and research careers.
UNITED STATES
UC Berkeley announces major focus on data science
The University of California, Berkeley is to form a new Division of Data Science and Information to prepare thousands of students and researchers to “bring data science to bear in the classroom, laboratory and workplace”, in response to the “profound and growing impact of data” in the digital world.
SRI LANKA
Academics and students wary of political crisis outcome
Dinesh De Alwis
Following a surprise decision by Sri Lanka’s president to suspend parliament and sack the prime minister in favour of former rival Mahinda Rajapaksa, university teachers are worried about erosion of constitutional rule and students have reasons to fear a period of increased suppression.
ZIMBABWE
Gay association launches scholarships for LGBTI students
Tonderayi Mukeredzi
Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, the association of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, has announced a scholarship programme for gay students pursuing studies at state universities.
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL
Learning in the flow of life with help from AI
Diana Oblinger
Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics offer an opportunity to create new ways of learning. We can rethink, redesign and reset our expectations for learning throughout our lives, whether that means a change in the curriculum or a move to targeted micro-learning.
GHANA
Accreditation needs critical thinking and innovation
Eric Fredua-Kwarteng and Samuel Kwaku Ofosu
The accreditation process should be firmly focused on improving higher education and not on relatively trivial issues such as honorary titles. It is a feature of public institutions in Africa that they often continue operating with the same ineffective models. Innovation is needed.
SYRIA-TURKEY
Turkey needs to do more to help Syrian academics
Hakan Ergin
The Turkish authorities have made an effort to hire Syrian academics at Turkish universities. But the number taken remains a tiny share of the thousands of Syrian academics applying for work. A long-term strategy on how to harness Syrian brain power is needed.
WORLD BLOG
GLOBAL
The staff who are overlooked in internationalisation
Fiona Hunter, Elspeth Jones and Hans de Wit
Academics and administrators are often sidelined in the internationalisation process, as core functions are dealt with by leadership and international officers, but when they are included and given the skills they need, the result is less resistance and a more active contribution.
TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
AFRICA
A victim of FGM now fighting to end the practice
Brendan O’Malley
Ubah Ali was six when she was circumcised in a country where 98% of girls are victims of the female genital mutilation (FGM) procedure that brings considerable pain and health risks. Empowered by higher education and transformative leadership thinking, she is working for change in her homeland, Somaliland.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
BRAZIL
Bolsonaro poses a serious threat to higher education
Marion Lloyd
The election of Brazil’s new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has already seen the beginning of a witch-hunt against academics. Further attacks on higher education, including budget cuts, curriculum changes and the abolition of affirmative action policies, are likely to be next.
CHINA
Beijing signals tighter control over dissenting scholars
Yojana Sharma
A change of president at China’s top university in Beijing is being seen by academics as signalling a tightening of control over dissenting thought among scholars and stronger oversight by the Communist Party of top universities in their role as influencers of young people.
FEATURES
NIGERIA
TETFund is failing local universities – Academics
Alex Abutu
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), which disburses the education tax to public universities, claims to have left behind its corruption-plagued past when guidelines for scholarships for studying abroad were routinely flouted. But academics say it is still strengthening universities abroad instead of locally.
AFGHANISTAN
Educators emerge as parliamentary candidates in election
Shadi Khan Saif
In the midst of the usual seasoned politicians, powerful warlords and commanding religious figures, a new group of educators, many from the emerging private education sector, stood as candidates in the parliamentary elections, appealing to the youth vote, and are now awaiting the results.
RUFORUM BIENNIAL CONFERENCE 2018
The Sixth Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) Biennial Conference, also known as the African Higher Education Week, took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 22-26 October under the theme “Aligning African universities to accelerate attainment of Africa’s Agenda 2063”. The conference brought together stakeholders in higher education and agriculture from across the continent.
AFRICA
AU’s development goals hampered by skills shortages
Gilbert Nakweya
Key targets for the first 10 years of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 are being jeopardised by a lack of critical technical skills, and a new skills development agenda led by business and academia is urgently needed, the recent Sixth African Higher Education Week and Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture Biennial Conference heard.
AFRICA
Women scholars urged to seize global opportunities
Maina Waruru
African women scholars have been urged to be less cautious and take advantage of international opportunities open to them in respect of scholarships, fellowships, grants, leadership positions and career advancement.
AFRICA
Calls for greater role for universities in policy-making
Gilbert Nakweya
Are African universities being taken seriously enough as knowledge-producing institutions capable of developing research-based policies aimed at addressing the continent’s development challenges?
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GLOBAL
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