19 May 2019  Issue No: 243

A new report on research publishing in South Africa offers a timely evaluation of the publishing landscape but falls short when it comes to attempting a scientific understanding of the forces that have shaped that landscape.

Formal training for dedicated quality assurance officers and more support for senior staff are needed if quality assurance systems in African universities are to achieve maximum impact, according to discussions at the ninth annual forum of the East African Higher Education Quality Assurance Network held in Uganda last week.

Will the much-vaunted fourth industrial revolution (4IR) have the massive impacts on human life and work that its proponents suggest? Will it usher in an era of artificial intelligence and redundant workers? Or is it simply an intellectual trend that, like others, will fade away under the weight of unmet predictions?

Despite a crackdown on bogus universities in the United Kingdom, often viewed as aiding illegal immigration, the incidence of fake or fraudulent providers is relatively rare despite scant official oversight of the education sector. There is far greater risk of substandard provision than outright fraud.

Times Higher Education’s new University Impact Rankings, based on 11 of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, include a broader range of institutions from India and show how community-based criteria could shake up the global rankings system and raise questions about the role of universities.

The leading global environmental authority has warned that many universities are struggling with the concept of ‘greening’ and has urged higher education institutions worldwide to replicate exemplar universities who are pioneering green innovations and developing and implementing strategies to reduce their carbon footprint.

Few Australian politicians can claim to have had such a profound effect on the nation and on higher education as Bob Hawke, Australia’s 23rd prime minister and the Labor Party’s longest-serving head of government, who died in Sydney on 16 May at the age of 89.