The South African Technology Network held its 9th Annual International SATN Conference in Cape Town from 12-14 October, under the theme "Partnerships for Innovation and Development – Making it happen. Making it matter". University World News reports.

Last week University World News published a special edition on the costs of higher education to students around the world, and how much debt they are accumulating. This week we continue to cover this globally important topic in a special report.

As part of this special coverage on what it costs the world’s students to obtain a degree, the following articles are based on information drawn from various chapters in the OECD report, Education at a Glance 2014, released last month.

At the 6th International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Ard Jongsma finds major developments underway in quality assurance and accreditation across the continent.

The OECD published its Education at a Glance 2014 report last Tuesday. University World News reports on aspects of post-school education across the OECD’s 34 member nations and 10 other countries.

The 4th Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture – RUFORUM – was held from 19-25 July in the Mozambique capital Maputo. Senior University World News writer Munyaradzi Makoni was there. RUFORUM, a consortium of 42 universities in 19 countries, celebrates the tenth anniversary of its establishment this year.

The global Talloires Network of engaged universities is holding its next leaders conference in Cape Town in December. University World News is the media partner. This is the first in a series of articles on civic engagement and social responsibility issues of significant interest to higher education globally.

The International Association of University Presidents, or IAUP, held its Triennial Conference 2014 in Yokohama, Japan, from 11-14 June under the theme “Creating the Future of Higher Education”. University World News was there and covers the conference in this Special Report and another to be published next week.

The Research, Higher Education, Development and Innovation initiative – RHEDI – held its second Executive Leadership Programme in Malaysia from 17-21 November. The global initiative aims to strengthen research, policy and practice in these crucial sectors in the developing world.

A series of special reports on the changing climate by science editor Geoff Maslen