5 February 2023  Issue No: 725

China has suddenly reversed its temporary rules in place for over two years during the COVID-19 pandemic allowing online courses from foreign universities to be delivered to students within China, which is being justified in China as a crackdown on substandard online degree courses.

Universities need to work harder at diversifying target markets for international students, according to a new study which highlights a disjuncture between where potential study-abroad students are looking to study and where universities have been concentrating their recruitment efforts in the past.

The trends identified by a study of collaboration between United States and Chinese scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic provide valuable information to understand and support US and Chinese scientists’ international collaborations so that they are well positioned to respond effectively during crisis situations.

The introduction of performance-based funding at universities in some Canadian provinces and other current trends are cause for alarm, necessitating an urgent debate about what kind of society we hope to maintain, foster and create – and how universities can best serve that society.

As neither domestic nor international students, forced migrant students in the United States often fall between universities’ administrative cracks. While they qualify, like domestic students, for lower, in-state tuition rates and financial aid, they need specific support beyond that which is currently offered to most domestic students.

Just over a year ago Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole took over as the secretary general of the Association of African Universities, based in Accra, Ghana. Oyewole spoke to University World News about what he has been doing since taking office and what progress he has made in achieving the goals he set in 2021.

Just as United Kingdom universities celebrated a continuing surge in international student numbers, there was speculation in the national media of infighting between government departments over proposals to reduce the time foreign students can stay in the country to look for work after graduating.