29 November 2020  Issue No: 622

The German government has announced a massive €4 billion (US$4.8 billion) budget to support research projects addressing global warming and sustainability under its FONA strategy over the coming five years.

Several Asian countries are closing universities or starting university vacations early as a second wave of COVID-19 spreads in the region. The governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran announced the closure of universities and schools. Elsewhere, tightened campus restrictions are in place.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasised the need for universities to have closer links with the societies in which they are embedded and to speed up the process of scientific research moving from the lab to having a direct impact on society.

On 27 January 2021 University World News, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, will be bringing together experts and practitioners from the International Association of Universities, the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities and the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program in an online webinar on how universities can improve their social impact.

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, has written to United States President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on behalf of 43 US university associations calling on them to move to ensure that American colleges and universities are “once again, the destination of choice for the world’s best international students and scholars”.

These are difficult times, but University World News’ readership is expanding rapidly due to our extensive coverage of the impact of COVID-19 on higher education globally. If you value what we do, you can help us build our audience further simply by sharing any of our articles on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Or you can help us secure our future by making a donation – just click on the yellow advertisement below.

Many different academic disciplines have helped to shed light on the COVID-19 pandemic, but one area that doesn’t get as much credit is data science. However, educating the public about counting and ranking is also a vital part of universities’ public service role.

As the European Higher Education Area meets online for the first time since it was formed in 2010, upholding the democratic mission of higher education has never been more important. Education structures should be based on who we are and the kind of society we want to be.

Singapore’s minister of state for education has called on universities to be more open about sexual harassment charges laid against staff. But academics have argued that the reputation-management approach favoured by rankings-driven universities regards sexual harassment cases as a risk-management problem, rather than being structurally embedded in universities.