21 November 2021  Issue No: 669

The European Commission is looking to ‘rebalance’ European Union research with China and is currently negotiating with China to draw up a joint roadmap for science and technology cooperation, but with stricter terms than in the past, including a requirement for openness and reciprocity.

Higher education can lead the way to recovery from the pandemic, but first it has to ‘rethink, reinvent and adapt’ to better serve its citizens, communities and economy, an international conference held to mark the 2021 World Access to Higher Education Day, or WAHED, was told.

Although many campuses in China are closing early this semester in a bid to contain COVID-19 flare-ups, two Sino-US joint venture universities have been permitted to tell international students who have been stranded abroad during the pandemic to be ready to return from February.

International student enrolment in universities in the United States fell by 15% last year, a not-unexpected decline that was attributed primarily to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released this week. A companion survey suggests a rebound may already be in the making.

The outdated curriculum and teaching methods in Libya’s universities don’t match advances in today’s global education system and students suffer from lack of access to materials and teaching staff, which make for a poor student experience and challenges finding employment or doing studies abroad.

The pandemic-induced switch to online education – in a digital environment that thrives on anonymity – has witnessed a growth in online cheating that often outpaces existing anti-cheating software. This has consequences and brings into question how we conduct assessments in the future.

Graduate employability is an increasing concern due to the impact of the pandemic on students’ employment plans. An event next week will encourage a dialogue between higher education stakeholders, employers and partners of the ASEAN region to share best practice and ideas on how to improve it.

The American public harbours a declining belief in the importance of universities. A slight majority believe higher education is important – a drop of 19 points in six years. These and other aspects of public universities are explored in a book with libertarian leanings by professors Stephen M Gavazzi and E Gordon Gee.