30 October 2022  Issue No: 714

Newly launched global rankings, which measure universities’ contributions towards sustainability, were motivated in part by research that found that a majority of students held the view that universities could and should be doing more to address the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges.

Strengthening the transformative power of universities calls for us to go beyond the limitations of the ‘modernisation’ agenda which has been accompanied by a misplaced discourse focused on employability, excellence, efficiency and entrepreneurship, according to a speaker at the recent conference of the International Association of Universities.

The Saudi government’s recent unveiling of new educational visas for international students aims to send a message that the Kingdom is a welcoming and emerging environment for research and study and restates the government’s commitment to the country’s Vision 2030 educational ambitions.

The results of the new QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2023 show a bias towards Western universities and it is hard to avoid suspicions that products like this are compensating for the failure of Western universities to meet the scientific challenge from China.

Sri Lanka’s efforts to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals have suffered a major setback as a result of the current economic crisis, but academics are rising to the challenge by promoting low-cost and homegrown solutions, including the expansion of food gardens.

After decades of civil war in Colombia, a national programme aimed at reintegrating insurgents into society through education has seen five universities sign agreements giving former combatants and their families preferential access to tertiary education institutions. And this faith in higher education is showing results.

In a bid to attract top foreign universities to the new business district in Gujarat known as GIFT City, India’s government has selectively dropped its not-for-profit approach to higher education, clearing the way for international branch campuses operating in the area to repatriate profits.