19 June 2022  Issue No: 697

Traditional universities have a lot to learn from what has been happening in emerging economies where hybrid models, bundling of learning content, crowdsourcing platforms and other educational shifts are threatening old models. Institutions that don’t start transforming now may become obsolete in future.

Teaching Russian and Ukrainian literatures today involves a deconstruction of the Great Russian Narrative – a colonial and imperial narrative that was actively advanced through Russia’s famous writers to deny Ukrainian agency – and a reclamation of the literary contributions of Ukrainian writers and filmmakers.

Whether the antitrust case against 17 of the United States’ elite universities and colleges accused of colluding in offering financial aid makes it to court will depend partly on whether the accused institutions can successfully defend their claim to be practising need-blind admissions.

While there has been criticism of some Indian government policies which are perceived as impinging on academic freedom, several other policies encourage greater university autonomy and internationalisation and highlight how important it is to take stock of the everyday social reality in the country.

Higher education institutions need to analyse and, in many cases, appropriate the mechanisms used by successful commercially operated businesses, particularly when it comes to eradicating administrative silos and harnessing data so as to better understand the real needs of all students.

Close cooperation between academia, government and the private sector in Chile at the onset of the COVID pandemic resulted in the design of award-winning advanced statistical tools which helped the country to manage its response to the pandemic more effectively and save thousands of lives.

Nigerian higher education leaders’ determination to protect academic and research integrity and curb student and faculty plagiarism has led to the development and launch of a new locally developed software system. So far, 230 institutions and 4,200 subscribers have signed up.

The United States declines across all metrics in the latest QS World University Rankings, with 50% of universities dropping places, despite Massachusetts Institute of Technology celebrating 11 years at the top. The United Kingdom and Canada also see declines, while several Asian countries make progress.