By Karen MacGregor. Governance models in African higher education have evolved over the decades, but their impact on university leadership appears not to have been highly significant. The key drivers of quality leadership are factors such as individual capacities, leadership training and state funding, according to new research. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Copenhagen University will admit no students in 2016 in a raft of smaller subjects including Finnish, Polish and Eskimology – despite being the only place in the world offering a bachelor and masters degree in the language, society and culture of Greenland, where Denmark has a special responsibility. Read more...

By Mary Beth Marklein. The United States firm that owns the SAT, a college entrance exam accepted by many US colleges and universities, cancelled plans to administer the test this weekend at centres in China and Macau following concerns that some students may have obtained information about questions in advance. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust and Ian R Dobson. The latest austerity measures announced by the Finnish government are likely to bring the total number of posts cut since 2012 at Finnish universities and polytechnics to 5,200, the equivalent of two universities and one polytechnic, according to reports. Read more...

By Suvendrini Kakuchi. Japan’s education ministry officials have softened a controversial stance publicised in June 2015 to favour university science courses over the humanities and social sciences for state funding after it sparked an uproar among the academic community. Read more...

By Munyaradzi Makoni. Academics are demanding better security for education institutions after a brutal terrorist attack on Wednesday morning on Bacha Khan University in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that left at least 20 dead – including students and two staff members – and many injured. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley and Michael Gardner. The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, which has 80 member organisations across the world, has issued a statement demanding that the Turkish government “desist from threatening academics”. The statement is supported by 28* Nobel Prize laureates. Read more...

By Ameen Amjad Khan. Academics are demanding better security for education institutions after a brutal terrorist attack on Wednesday morning on Bacha Khan University in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that left at least 20 dead – including students and two staff members – and many injured. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In News, Ameen Amjad Khan reports that academics, locally and overseas, are calling for a step-up in security at Pakistani universities after last Wednesday’s brutal terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University, which left at least 20 dead and many injured. And, as reported by Brendan O'Malley and Michael Gardner, academics from around the world are also making their voices heard in their condemnation of the Turkish government’s threats against academics who signed a petition criticising military operations in south-east Turkey.
In Commentary this week, Lawrence Phillips suggests that a liberal education, delivered in an international environment, may be a good way to combat the spread of extremism and radicalisation. Phan Le Ha describes the ‘New Flagship University’ model put forward by John Douglass as inspirational and feasible, and considers its application in Australia and Vietnam. Carolina Guzmán-Valenzuela says that providing free higher education to Chile’s poorest students is a first step in doing justice to higher education as a social right, but there are many challenges to be addressed. And Thanh Nguyen proposes that universities in Vietnam adapt to teach students more of the skills that employers want.
In our World Blog, Nita Temmerman says the demands on young people to be international in their outlook and able to recognise and work with diversity are only going to increase and education systems should adapt to prepare them adequately.
In Features, Robin Lally describes how Donald Roden, an associate professor in the US, has dedicated the past decade to demonstrating that people behind bars deserve second chances and that educating them pays off. And Brendan O'Malley reports on student protests that have broken out in India following the suicide of a student who was a campaigner for the rights of Dalit communities.
In a Special Report on university leadership in Africa that will run as a series of articles over the coming weeks, Karen MacGregor reports on research on the evolution of governance models and leadership quality in African higher education. Read more...