18 July 2021  Issue No: 652

One in every five students in years two and three in the United Kingdom says they don’t have a ‘real friend’ at university, and one in every 10 students has experienced suicidal thoughts for the first time at university, a survey of 12,000 students reveals.

More than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian students are still impacted by partial or full closures of colleges and universities resulting in a large learning loss for students which could take up to three years to repair, a new survey reveals.

Governing heads of Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities have jointly expressed concern over students’ support of violence after the student union at the University of Hong Kong, the city’s top university, appeared to express sympathy for a recent suicide attack on security officers.

Indian students have been hit badly by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic this summer, but 54% are still keen to study abroad. However, they face unprecedented challenges due to lockdowns causing cancellation of secondary school leaving exams and delays in the application process.

Pathway providers are moving into the world of careers advice and employability. It makes sense and could herald a bigger role for the private sector in alumni support – with a focus on networking to build job prospects – as well as lifelong learning courses.

Winners of the Open Society University Network and Talloires Network’s COV-AID Student Engagement Award tell University World News about how they are bringing change to their communities with student-run projects set up during the COVID-19 pandemic and designed to answer the question, ‘How can I make a difference?’

With Taliban insurgents extending their grip on previously government-controlled areas across war-ravaged Afghanistan as United States and NATO troops depart, aspiring young Afghans’ hopes for higher education are diminishing as they feel many gains of the past two decades of peace are slipping away.