By Robert Coelen and Jiang Bo. Once every five years the Communist Party of China holds its National Congress in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing. The news in China since 18 October has been dominated by this event. What was once a closed meeting is now an event that attracts the world press in larger numbers than ever before. More...

By Jane Knight. An international joint university, frequently referred to as a binational university, is often confused with an international branch campus. A joint university is an independent higher education institution founded through collaboration between foreign higher education institutions and host country institutions or government. More...

By Grace Karram Stephenson. You may be hard pressed to find a university mission statement that expounds the importance of managing campus real estate. But in an era of rising property prices and urban land shortages, universities are forced to understand the real estate market or get left behind in the urban hustle for property. More...

By Paul Benneworth. It is interesting to see the ‘world-class university’ wrestling with some of the tensions that exist when they try to justify themselves on anything more than their own excellence. More...

By Gilbert Nganga. The East African region risks missing its long-term economic growth targets due to a widening disconnect between labour market skills needs and the graduates of higher education institutions, a World Bank report has warned. More...

By María Elena Hurtado. The central headquarters of Universidad de Chile or UCH, the country’s largest university, was taken over by students last Tuesday as part of a spate of demonstrations in the main universities against sexual harassment. More...

By Brendan O'Malley – Managing Editor. The first issue of University World News was published on 14 October 2007, which means that this 478th issue marks our 10th anniversary. In a Special Report to celebrate this auspicious occasion, former and current editors Geoff Maslen, Karen MacGregor and Brendan O’Malley look back at the past decade and forward to the next, while our distinguished contributors and readers explain why University World News is regarded as a must-read for all stakeholders in higher education.
   In Commentary, Futao Huang says the US general education model for undergraduate studies, which seeks to produce students with all-round skills, has emerged with surprising prevalence and gained high status in both mainland China and Hong Kong. Michael Gaebel says recent survey results on learning and teaching at Europe’s universities support the purpose of the European University Association’s learning and teaching forum, held recently in Paris, with the next forum scheduled for 2019. Rajesh Tandon encourages universities to deliberate on the roles higher education can play in realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. And Nader Habibi suggests Turkey would be better off investing more in the quality of higher education rather than massively increasing the number of students in higher education, considering the inadequate supply of graduate-level jobs.
   In World Blog this week, Patrick Blessinger and Barbara Cozza consider the purpose of internationalisation of higher education and how global university partnerships are helping universities to increase their international engagement.
   In Features, a presentation by leading higher education expert Simon Marginson explains why the overall outcome of some of the best known international university rankings – particularly if they are multi-indicator rankings using weighting – should be viewed with scepticism, while Gilbert Nganga describes how politics and protest action in Kenya have caused major disruptions to the academic calendar.
   In News, Yojana Sharma reports on a debate among European and Asian university leaders meeting in Singapore about how universities can prepare graduates for a future that is unknowable. More...