24 October 2021  Issue No: 665

In the face of mounting evidence of the scope of climate disaster, of how easily civilisation can be brought to a halt, and how fragile our global supply chains are, the world’s universities have a central role to play in creating a sustainable human civilisation and must make this their main mission.

The NextGenerationEU COVID recovery plan could open up investment opportunities for universities, galvanise moves towards better financial and regulatory frameworks and provide time-bound support to otherwise highly structural reforms that will commit public authorities and the sector alike for the longer term.

The Myanmar military this week announced the release of more than 5,600 political prisoners, including students, who faced trial for participating in actions against the military coup. But many were quickly re-arrested, while others reported details of being tortured in military interrogation camps.

India produces large numbers of engineers, but many don’t have the skills required by industry. The way the subject is taught needs reform, with more emphasis on learning by doing and dropping the nationwide curriculum to allow universities to adapt to associated industries’ requirements.

What is the future of international education and how can the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs help it to address the needs of a range of constituents, from alumni to employers and from students to researchers, and address the global challenges we face?

Many universities, particularly in Asia, still grade students using the Bell Curve system, arguing that it prevents grade inflation. But this advantage is outweighed by its negative impacts in limiting innovation and motivation, failing to reward hard work, and discouraging teamwork and collaboration.

Academics and students are worried that the fragile peace in Nigeria’s education sector is under threat as bandits continue their rampage across the country, kidnapping undergraduates and making the citadels of learning across the country unsafe.

Academic freedom is – or should be – central to the functioning of universities in all but those countries with repressive governments. Nowhere, however, are there more skirmishes about the meaning of ‘academic freedom’– and the practical consequences of its definition – than in the United States.