27 October 2019  Issue No: 572

The original Magna Charter Universitatum was fuelled by concerns over ‘economisation’ of higher education. The new one now being debated needs to address with clarity the need for university autonomy and academic freedom in times when political extremism, populism and nationalism are on the rise.

A Bangladesh member of parliament (MP) has been expelled from Bangladesh Open University after the university authorities found she had hired eight different proxies to sit her exams. One of her proxies was caught in the act on a television camera for Nagorik TV channel.

North African correspondent for University World News’ Africa and global editions, Wagdy Sawahel, was named as the first runner-up in the Continental Journalism Award on the African Union Charter, announced last weekend.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi and the perfect opportunity to reflect on how his philosophy can feed into contemporary concerns with community-university engagement and the social responsibility of education for the common good.

A new initiative looks to engage Ethiopia’s diaspora through an appeal to professionals’ desire to give back to their community and by helping them cut through the bureaucracy in their country of origin that limits their ability to establish a professional relationship with local institutions.

Last year I was imprisoned for nearly seven months in the United Arab Emirates. Reflecting on my experience, I believe that research practice and its risks require better acknowledgement and respect, and freedom to research should be protected, if academics are to continue to contribute to the generation of knowledge.

The global outpouring of grief for producers and other workers killed in a major arson attack on one of Japan’s most acclaimed animation companies – Kyoto Animation Studio – in July, in which 35 were killed and 30 injured, illustrates the strong universal appeal of Japanese animation, that has also attracted increasing numbers of foreign students to study in Japan.