Emerging economies are investing in innovation but progress takes time

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Anand Kulkarni and Angel Calderon unpack the Global Innovation Index and examine how middle income economies, which are increasingly prioritising innovation, are faring and how they might progress. From Finland, Cecilia Pellosniemi gives good advice on how to prevent an academic culture shock among international students when they experience different teaching and learning practices in a foreign land. And Ivan Sterligov, Alfiya Enikeeva and Victor Trofimov discuss the tendency for Russians to publish more in the physical science disciplines, while some former Soviet states have shifted the disciplinary structure of their publication output. In our World Blog, Rajani Naidoo urges universities to work together to promote global wellbeing, despite the growing competition between universities for global positional advantage. In Features, Elizia Volkmann describes the dire situation for higher education in Libya, where civil war has closed some universities and impeded operations in others. And Nic Mitchell reports on a new study looking at the rise of English-language foundation programmes for international students.
In a Special Report, Yojana Sharma reports on a conference on access and equity in higher education held in Malaysia last week, organised by the Global Access to Post-Secondary Education initiative. Read more...