6 August 2023  Issue No: 751

All students at India’s universities will have to study subjects such as environmental education, climate change and the national obligation to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals from this year, under new guidelines issued by the country’s apex higher education body.

Three student leaders under 20 were killed in a recent guerilla-style raid by Myanmar military troops on a student union office in a remote village. Since the February 2021 coup, all opponents of the military junta, including students, have been suppressed with ferocity.

The picture of internationalisation in North America that emerges from the 6th IAU Global Survey is one in which internationalisation is still very much defined by an economic rationale in which talent attraction still plays an important role and competition dominates over collaboration.

India has emerged as the second largest education ecosystem in the world after China. The country’s ability to deliver good quality education at a reasonable cost puts it in a unique position to become a destination country for internationalisation in the near future.

The role of higher education institutions in urban renewal – which has the potential to facilitate new approaches to a more sustainable future – is important because they are key actors in scientific discoveries, technological innovations and the nurturing of future leaders and knowledge workers.

A range of factors influences African students to study abroad. However, the question of whether to return to their home countries after completing their studies, in most cases, still remains to be answered. Some reasons are purely academic, others economic, and others political.

The African continent is home to four of the world’s oldest universities and also to some of the planet’s youngest, first-ever universities in a given country, with some established only about 10 years ago. The oldest institution that is still in operation, according to a new map, is based in Tunisia.

Higher education authorities in Cameroon have suspended PhD admissions in all 11 state universities for the 2023-24 academic year. Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo, the minister of higher education, urged the rectors and vice-chancellors of these institutions to halt PhD admissions until new conditions laid down by the government have been met.