By Jason A Scorza. Close your eyes and imagine a university. If you are a graduate of a university, yourself, it will be hard not to picture the institution of your own youthful studies. Read more...

By Tino Brömme and Barnaby Britten. The awareness of the threat posed to the public realm by international ‘free trade’ agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, between the economies of the European Union and the United States has been heightened by the publication of new leaks and criticism from leading intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and Julian Assange. Read more...

By Richard Holmes. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has declared that Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang must become a world-class institution. No doubt there will be chuckles at Oxford, Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Iceland and the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, but it could be surprisingly easy if being world class means getting a high place in the rankings. Read more...

By Dean Hristov. How can universities deliver on their employability promise in times of rapid change in the workforce and workplace? When it comes to the world of work and its relationship with universities, I would say that higher education institutions ought to start thinking about the future! The Fourth Industrial Revolution is poised to disrupt every single sector of the economy and that will fundamentally reshape the workforce and the workplace as we know it today. Read more...

By Anand Kulkarni. In this season of university and other competitive rankings it is timely to consider the performance of the two most populous nations on earth, India and China, as they look to further develop their economies, not just in sheer size, but as innovation and knowledge powerhouses. Read more...

By Natalia Shmatko. PhD holders’ careers analysis shows that getting an academic degree is no longer enough for a career in research. The chances of getting a permanent job, of getting a good position at a university or research centre depend not only on one’s academic degree but also on one’s experience, competencies and portfolio. Read more...

By Mary Beth Marklein. An alliance of United States higher education, foreign policy, peace-building and national security leaders last week published an open letter urging America’s next president to pursue policies and practices that it said will make the United States "a more welcoming and globally engaged country". Read more...

By Michael Gardner. The MORE initiative was introduced last year by Universities Austria or uniko and now supports around 1,100 refugee students. The programme seeks to bring refugee academics together with Austrian university members and offers prospective refugee students language and prep courses to work their way into degree courses. Read more...

By Michael Gardner. The German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, have joined forces to support Syrian refugees studying in Turkey and the Middle East. Read more...

By Yojana Sharma. The coming year will see almost 20% slashed from the combined operating budgets of Malaysia’s public universities, according to the 2017 budget announced on Friday 21 October. It will be an even bigger cutback than the 16% drop universities suffered from the 2016 budget, which led to a public outcry. Read more...