Young women are often on the receiving end of online violence. As the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women and Girls comes to an end, two students, who have been victims of this form of gender-based violence, call on universities to do more.

While education workers, educational institutions and civil society have been well represented in the governance structures of international education, the democratic voice of secondary and tertiary student unions has been formally absent for decades. But there are good reasons to believe that is changing.

This week sees the most significant political event for education in recent years: the United Nations Transforming Education Summit. Young people have fought hard for the inclusion of climate education and, hopefully, this will be visible in the results of the summit.

Higher education is not only about acquiring the skills to get a good job. It is about developing values, the maturity to accept other points of view and the will to solve problems – all of which are needed to build a more sustainable world.

International students in South Africa whose study visa applications are still pending were granted a blanket extension of their current visa status until 30 June 2022. If any of these applicants elect to abandon pending applications, they are allowed to leave South Africa by this date without being declared undesirable. But what is causing visa-processing delays?

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs have the power to unite people around a transformed future, but more young people still need to fully understand the true significance of the SDGs and they require support to reach out to their peers and to take action.

The climate crisis that we are facing is bigger than all of us. But we all need to play our part, and education as well as government and the media need to make people feel that they can make a difference in whichever field they choose to work in.

Students and academics fleeing Ukraine need support and help and student unions across the continent of Europe are mobilising – from providing practical help for Ukrainian and international students at the borders to offering support so they can continue their studies in new locations.

While the European Students’ Union welcomes some of the recent proposals on European higher education strategy, it wants to see stakeholders, including students, represented within the High-Level Group on Education and Training, and to see students involved at the national level, shaping governments’ positions on European Education Area issues.

Friday 10 December was International Human Rights Day and a fitting occasion to underline that students are a global social group with common interests who are often human rights defenders. We need an international students at risk programme to support students who are at the forefront of the struggle for democratic values and social justice.

Students who are neurodiverse and-or suffer from mental health issues can succeed in their PhD studies if they understand how this affects them and develop strategies to deal with it. Getting a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD helped me make sense of my own behaviours.

Many universities, particularly in Asia, still grade students using the Bell Curve system, arguing that it prevents grade inflation. But this advantage is outweighed by its negative impacts in limiting innovation and motivation, failing to reward hard work, and discouraging teamwork and collaboration.

Should we look at COVID-19 as merely about intellectual loss or as a period of movement towards a way of educating people for a more sustainable world? The lessons learned could shape a generation of students, teachers, researchers, institutions and society as well.

Being a Chinese international student at a British university in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic and then undertaking a tortuous journey home to China via quarantine to see out the crisis provides an interesting perspective on our different societies’ approach to COVID-19.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge negative impact on academics, including PhD and masters students, leaving them isolated, driving down their motivation and productivity. A new online initiative aims to break that isolation and could encourage greater international and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

When I first arrived in South Africa from Egypt, I had a desire to study theoretical physics and become a motivational speaker. I eventually achieved my academic goal in a journey that was filled with both beauty and days of uncertainty, fear and depression. Fortunately, I had a few tools that helped me along the way.

National survey findings showing that one in three students regularly miss lectures or classes to work validate the financial hardship that thousands upon thousands of Australian students experience every day, in what seems to be a perpetual war on young people.

Postgraduate students in all disciplines have a vital role to play in contributing to the public’s understanding of the world and in tackling the complex challenges facing it. They also need to make sure they do not lose their commitment to knowledge as a public good.

Students have been campaigning against new legislation on military service which forces them to serve an extra year if they defer to undertake their undergraduate studies, and prevents them from deferring until after completing postgraduate studies.

A student from Gaza who gained a masters at Oxford and a PhD at Cambridge says in this time of growing conflict worldwide, if universities want to be truly international, they need to think more carefully about how they support international students from conflict areas.

A student from Gaza who gained a masters at Oxford and a PhD at Cambridge says in this time of growing conflict worldwide, if universities want to be truly international, they need to think more carefully about how they support international students from conflict areas.

We should celebrate the role of students in the democracy struggle in Zimbabwe, but also be aware that despite Robert Mugabe’s resignation as president there is still much work to be done. We want free education, grants, academic freedom and jobs when we graduate.

The latest meeting of European leaders proposed reforms to higher education to build a stronger Europe, but students need to be included in discussions that shape their education if we are to have an inclusive and democratic system, addressing the needs of vulnerable groups.

Early specialisation in high school and formal support to identify individual strengths may be a good way of encouraging more young people to remain in the formal education system and pursue higher education qualifications.

United States universities should support students in resisting the Donald Trump administration’s policies. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Study abroad works better when students are properly prepared, do their reading and understand a little about the complexities of where they are going.

Why are Bulgarian students reluctant to take part in study abroad programmes? Lack of available information on the options is one big reason.

The distinction between race and language in South Africa is a fine one, and given historical racial politics the line is blurred in many places. Student protests against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in universities have sparked racial tension that cannot be categorised as strictly ‘black’ or ‘white’.

Protesting students achieved a 0% rise in tuition fees for next year. There are unresolved questions for the future but solidarity was able to secure our present. And we know we can be a ‘rainbow nation’ whose colours don’t only run parallel, but intersect to create a better country.

I have created a global managers training resource which takes a broad approach encompassing cultural issues and thinks a bit outside the box about what the new world of work needs.

Born in Mainland China, a citizen of Hong Kong and now a PhD student in Britain, fundamentally I am an outsider. Perhaps I can see the big picture. As tension rises in Hong Kong between the Umbrella Movement and the government, it is time for writing.

Studying abroad in Italy as part of a programme for first generation prospective university students gave Jalessa Caples a new perspective on her own country and culture and a greater confidence in herself.

There are two main arguments for charging international students in Finland tuition fees, but both are based on fallacies. Indeed, charging fees may prove more costly than offering tuition-free education.

The consultation on the European Area of Skills and Qualifications has highlighted concerns about the creation of parallel structures and an instrumentalist approach which views higher education as merely about the economy.

In February Swiss voters approved plans to restrict immigration. This put on hold European programmes like Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020, restricting Swiss students' ability to study abroad and other European students' ability to study in Switzerland.

Quality assurance often focuses on issues such as employability, but students have a much more multi-layered appreciation of quality. Many do not know about the quality assurance initiatives undertaken by universities. They should be better engaged in the process, according to a recent project.

As a young South African, I have asked myself a somewhat odd question: Who was Nelson Mandela? I have been taught that he was the first black president of democratic South Africa, a martyr who was imprisoned for 27 years, a Nobel peace prize winner.

Two student debates on access to higher education demonstrate the gulf between the corporate attitude to access and systems that promote greater social responsibility. The student movement is determined to fight for access through universal funding.

The European Students’ Union is spearheading a fight for higher education as a public good and against those who would reduce it to serving the labour market as well as policy-makers who cut funding when Europe needs education to rebuild.

Malaysia’s decision to extend an Islamic and Asian Civilisation Studies course that is compulsory in public universities to private universities is an attack on university and student autonomy and freedom.

As a young South African, I have asked myself a somewhat odd question: Who is Nelson Mandela? I have been taught that he was the first black president of democratic South Africa, a martyr who was imprisoned for 27 years, a Nobel peace prize winner.

Debates about employability are sometimes manipulated to suggest that all higher education should be tied to economic needs. Education is a much wider social good and one in which all members of society have a stake.

Plans to raise tuition fees in Armenia up to 30% could have devastating consequences for Armenian society, as it would severely limit students’ chances of gaining access to higher education.

The protests in Turkey are due to frustration with an authoritarian-style government, low levels of opposition and a desire among young people – in particular students – for a more open, more modern and younger politics.

Students have voted against the European Masters Degree Loan Guarantee Scheme, on the basis that loans are not the way forward and that they could result in students being hunted down for money owed.

Adapting to studying in a different country presents many challenges, including overcoming language and cultural differences and being accepted by the local community. International students need to be viewed in ways that are mutually beneficial to them and the community.

Higher education has been blamed for graduating too many students without the skills necessary for the job market. But debate is needed about the causes of graduate unemployment, before starting on narrow university reforms.

The European Union’s Social Dimension is a key part of the Bologna process. But social integration is likely to suffer as a result of the financial crisis, so now is the time to push for more action on access to higher education.

A study of financing of students in Europe shows that, although student numbers are rising, funding is being cut and students are being asked to foot the bill. The effect on higher education access and quality is yet to be evaluated.

I am the offspring of South Africa’s current generation of domestics and garden workers, mine labourers, security guards and waitresses. We are referred to as the ‘born frees’ – children who have grown up post-apartheid.

Privatisation and attacks on the humanities impoverish education and society. Chilean students and their colleagues across the Americas are fighting for a diverse and equitable public education system.

In retrospect, anything the human mind can conceive, it can achieve. It is no wonder that humans, endowed with this grandiose ability not evident in other creatures, have the ability to conquer even the harshest environments and make a home for themselves. Yet I remain sceptical about our future in the universe.

High numbers of postgraduate and international students in a university are major requirements for successful evaluation and ranking. African universities are now preaching ‘internationalisation’ and collaboration with foreign institutions through various programmes, for both research purposes and international recognition.

Somali students in the US are joining together to help first-generation Somalis get into higher education, and are linking up with fellow students in Mogadishu in a research project to promote positive change.

The number of home student applicants to UK universities has fallen significantly this year. Some university figures are playing down the impact, but it could be just the tip of the iceberg after a decade of changes to university funding.

I had been working in Dubai for the last few years [says Jagdeep Singh Sadal] and my company said a masters degree would give me better opportunities. From TASMAC (Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communications) in Pune, India, I was diverted from going to Canterbury Christchurch University in the UK, which I also looked at.

After a year of leading the European Students' Union, the umbrella organisation for 45 national student unions from 38 countries, and being intensively involved in higher education politics at different levels for the past six years, I am convinced that the momentum for investment in higher education is now. Ironically, only a few governments in Europe realise this.

Internships as part of education courses are increasingly seen as the key to better integration of young people into the labour market. The transition from full-time education to jobs is taking longer and becoming more difficult for young people.

I have been living in Cairo, arriving a few months prior to the revolution that began in September last year, and saw then how oppression permeated every aspect of life. Most people are familiar with the features of an unjust and dictatorial regime: police brutality, vote-rigging, media censorship and rampant corruption. However, the reality is much more sinister.

The International Students' Office at the University of Sussex has been inundated with emails and inquiries from foreign students worried about the proposed clampdown on visas and employment rights for non-EU students.

I was previously a member of the student union and the Islamic Student Association at Amirkabir University. I was also the executive officer and editor-in-chief of the student publication Rivar for which I wrote articles on culture and politics, critical of the government and in favour of democracy and human rights.