15 January 2023  Issue No: 722

Last month’s abduction of marine biologist Volodymyr Vorovka marks the continuation of Russia’s brutal and criminal campaign against Ukrainian intellectuals and civic leaders that predates the 24 February 2022 invasion and recalls the active destruction of Ukraine’s intelligentsia by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s.

Despite record numbers registering for China’s 2023 national postgraduate entrance exam, many people did not turn up for the first part of the exam held in late December 2022. The high level of no-shows appears to be, in part, due to confusion over COVID-19 restrictions.

The concerted efforts of national, regional and international networks are showing great promise to make university social responsibility a central dimension of higher education around the world, and in the next decade we expect to see socially engaged universities become the dominant model.

Elections can profoundly impact on universities and colleges. New leaders and parties have new political agendas, and higher education is frequently prominent on their lists, with implications for funding, teaching and research, staff and students, and interactions with society and the economy. For two weeks University World News investigates recent elections and higher education in countries the world over.

United Kingdom international higher education faces strong challenges in the new year from a government that appears keen to reduce dependant visas and cap student numbers, despite the economic benefits international students bring, to a housing crisis that deprives students of a first-class experience and damages the reputation of UK universities.

Recent attempts by the University of Toronto’s leadership to acknowledge and address the longstanding history of antisemitism in its faculty of medicine are viewed as timorous by its Jewish critics and have elicited a highly charged debate about Zionism and the state of Israel.

We need to measure social inclusion at higher education institutions. But we need to measure the same thing if we are to make comparisons, and to boost inclusion. U-Multirank has developed concrete guidelines at the institutional level for social inclusion indicators, to be discussed at a webinar on 17 January.

The European Union is to broaden and increase its strong cooperation and support of higher education and research in Southeast Asia as part of a €10 billion (US$10.7 billion) package under its new Global Gateway scheme, focusing on ‘sustainable connectivity’ and the green transition.