11 September 2022  Issue No: 707

Changing geopolitical dynamics marked by China’s increasingly nationalistic internal policies and assertive foreign relations will undoubtedly affect global higher education to the detriment of collaboration and research, but they will also carry a significant cost for higher education and research within China.

For the rector of Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University, an institution displaced by conflict in 2014, the Magna Charta Observatory’s conference in the coming week is an opportunity to remind the global academy that the role of universities is to fight for academic principles, democracy and international cooperation.

The COVID-19-related lockdowns affecting major Chinese cities present ongoing hurdles not only for international students hoping to return to China, but also for those Chinese students planning to study overseas in the coming weeks as they cannot leave their cities to complete the necessary procedures.

While academic freedom itself might sound like a unique notion, it is simply the commonplace and understandable request of workers asking for the conditions they need to competently and effectively carry out their duties as expected, required and urgently needed by society.

As temperatures continue to rise, both literally and between nations, international research engagement – a precondition for finding and implementing solutions to global problems – risks becoming more regionalised and factionalised. Universities and the research community need to clarify what the rules for engagement should be.

In an ambitious closing plenary of the 24th annual International Education Association of South Africa conference entitled ‘Around the globe in 60 minutes’, leaders from eight member associations of the Network of International Education Associations reflected on how the current global, regional and national geopolitical and economic contexts were impacting on the internationalisation of higher education.

A recent conference at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, aimed at mobilising universities around SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and strengthening interactions with policy-makers, highlighted some alarming problems, but there were also examples of research that has had a positive impact on policies.

The safety of the university community who form part of the civilian population in Ethiopia’s Tigray region is in doubt following reports of airstrikes by Ethiopia’s air force on the regional capital, Mekelle, which caused deaths and injuries.