17 April 2022  Issue No: 688

A recent study shows that despite a shared belief in the importance of scholarly collaborations, geopolitical tensions between the China and the United States have made international collaboration between the two countries less worthwhile and, in some cases, risky for scientists.

The United States dominated this year’s ‘QS World University Rankings by Subject’ and China’s rise has slowed, but in terms of rankings per entry, New Zealand is top followed by Canada and Australia. Here University World News provides a global and region-by-region report of the results.

A new report commissioned by the vice-chancellors’ body, Universities UK, challenges ‘common myths’ reported in the media surrounding graduate employability, finding a one million shortfall in graduates qualified for professional jobs and says twice as many United Kingdom employees are underqualified compared to the number overqualified.

Given their importance, it can no longer be assumed that students’ social-emotional skills, traditionally emphasised by primary and secondary schools, are sufficient. Universities need to make social-emotional learning part of their operations if they want to keep students engaged, thriving and learning.

Taken together, the adoption and implementation of the Tokyo Convention on academic recognition constitute a lengthy process, but one that yields a number of insights, including the need for political commitment, active ministry champions and strong narratives about the benefits of joining.

A rush to medicine at the expense of other fields of study may hurt Somalia’s education sector in the long term as well as the country’s economic development. The high number of medical students and graduates has been fuelled by a combination of factors, including family pressure.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hindered and in some cases reversed years of progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs, universities are being encouraged to focus on forging broad partnerships as a means to effect meaningful change.