12 June 2022  Issue No: 696

The abolition of tenure for academic faculty and the restrictions on the teaching of critical race theory in universities in the United States are both part of nationwide conservative efforts to take over higher education classrooms and rein in what is perceived to be liberal academia.

Supported by their government, universities in Japan and Taiwan are starting to enrol students who have fled Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion, providing them with scholarships or special programmes in the wake of concerns about an irreversible brain drain in the war-afflicted country.

To better meet the demand for skilled workers amid the constraints of unprecedented Western sanctions, Russia will increase state-funded university places by at least 30% in domestic universities during the next two academic years, with the first additional 30,000 students starting this September.

The real cost of the virtual conference, particularly in the case of early-career academic staff, is that it constrains opportunities for serendipity and limits the chances for connecting, networking and community building that can only be fully realised through presence and proximity.

The United Kingdom’s new visa policy is a missed opportunity to rebadge the country as a genuine post-colonial power which rejects the brain drain of talented students from other countries in return for a genuine sense of collaboration in building transferable skills and knowledge.

Partnerships between universities in the Global North and South remain a potent tool to advance sustainability beyond borders, but sustainability in developed world institutions will ultimately be measured by the degree of equality and diversity within programmes, activities and the academic community.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs have the power to unite people around a transformed future, but more young people still need to fully understand the true significance of the SDGs and they require support to reach out to their peers and to take action.

As part of a government drive to open up more English-taught higher education programmes, the Greek government has approved a new law that will aid the creation of new English-taught degrees run by Greek universities in collaboration with overseas higher education institutions.

Respected global medical journal The Lancet will continue to reject papers with data from Africa that fail to acknowledge African collaborators, in the interest of building African research and of promoting integrity, equity and fairness in research collaboration, according to Senior Executive Editor Dr Sabine Kleinert.