12 December 2021  Issue No: 672

The number of English-taught programmes offered by universities outside the four leading English-speaking destinations for international students has shot up by 77% since the beginning of 2017. China is leading the charge to upset the traditional stranglehold of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada in providing degree courses taught in English.

South Korea could lose up to half of its universities within 25 years due to acute demographic decline, according to a report by Seoul National University and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, which provides a long-term outlook on already dire short-term predictions for higher education institutions.

The international academic network Scholars at Risk published its annual Free to Think report on 9 December. It describes a disturbing litany of attacks on academic freedom. While life on many campuses around the world may be safe and enriching, for academics and students in scores of countries, having a curious and critical mind and a social conscience can be a dangerous thing.

Friday 10 December was International Human Rights Day and a fitting occasion to underline that students are a global social group with common interests who are often human rights defenders. We need an international students at risk programme to support students who are at the forefront of the struggle for democratic values and social justice.

A study of remote and on-site international internships shows they both build skills if they are well designed and have benefits for students and the companies that host them. Remote internships also offer international opportunities to a larger number and broader diversity of students.

COVID-19 is a moment of crisis and change for global scholars, showing how connected we are to each other and that our destiny as a species is indissolubly collective. It challenges scholars and universities to rethink the role of higher education as a public good.

During various stages of his career, Peter Cochrane, a professor of sentient systems at the University of Suffolk in the United Kingdom, has tried to make himself redundant through the use of technology. He is still working. Tech is progressing fast and “we somehow as a species have to keep pace”, he says.