By The Chronicle of Higher Education reporters. President Donald Trump laid out the spending priorities for his administration on Thursday, releasing a budget 'blueprint' that includes a US$9 billion cut for the United States Department of Education, more than 13%, as well as decreases at several agencies that provide money for academic research, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. More...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Minister of Education and Research Torbjørn Røe Isaksen said the Conservative Party will include a proposal to introduce “moderate tuition fees” for students from outside the European Economic Area, or EEA, in its party manifesto for the general election this autumn. More...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. The university that was successfully sued by an international student over the quality of its provision in a course for which she paid tuition fees, has been to the court of appeal to try to have the verdict of the district court annulled. More...

By Gilbert Nakweya. After 54 days of strike action, teaching and learning finally resumed in public universities in Kenya last week Tuesday with university councils being tasked with re-working the semester timetable to make up for lost time. More...

By Brendan O’Malley. Universities face a dual and potentially conflicting responsibility to address both the local demands of society based on the race for global competitiveness and local and global demands to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable society at local and global level, according to new report by the Global University Network for Innovation. More...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In our World Blog, Philip G Altbach warns that technology, greed, corruption, hyper-competitiveness and a lack of clear rules and norms have resulted in anarchy in the world of scientific communication.
   Academic Freedom comes under the spotlight this week. From Egypt, Ashraf Khaled says a new report concludes that state authorities have crushed a burgeoning democratic movement at universities by committing more than 2,300 human rights violations against students. In the United Arab Emirates, a prominent economist and academic, Nasser Bin Ghaith, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for tweeting criticism of the human rights record of the UAE and Egypt, despite a coalition of human rights organisations calling for his release. Also, Georgiana Mihut and Daniela Craciun contend that the targeting of the Central European University by the Hungarian government is an alarming action against academic freedom, and is part of an emerging trend of seeing universities as a threat. And Marit Egner describes how Scholars At Risk and other programmes have shown her that academic freedom should not be taken for granted.
   In Commentary, Ranjit Goswami says universities have an uphill task dealing with the post-truth era in an information-overloaded world under pressure to provide quality higher education for all, but deal with it they must. Eric Fredua-Kwarteng defends the Nigerian government’s plan to teach science and mathematics in indigenous languages at primary schools and cautions the academics who are opposed to the plan. Wesley Teter asks if the value of national qualifications frameworks has been overrated and what can be done about this given the importance of strengthening the evidence base for quality assurance mechanisms.
   In Features, Jan Petter Myklebust reports on the Norwegian government’s white paper which calls for a strengthened role for the humanities.
   The 2017 Worldviews Lecture on Media and Higher Education entitled “Populism and the Academy: On the ‘wrong side’ of history” will be presented this Wednesday 5 April by Peter Scott.
   And you are invited to register for the free webinar on the following Wednesday, 12 April, on “International Student Mobility Trends: Shifting recruitment priorities and strategies”, which is being hosted by University World News in partnership with DrEducation and StudyPortals. More...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Features, Yojana Sharma outlines new measures taken by China to lure overseas talent – including international students and Chinese who left for a foreign education – in its bid to become an innovation economy. And Tunde Fatunde reports on calls for government action in Nigeria after university students emerge as prime targets in a fraudulent Ponzi scheme.
   In Commentary, Anand Kulkarni says the Global Talent Competitiveness Index shows the importance of a broader set of capabilities in attracting and retaining the best talent than are covered in university rankings, such as lifestyle and tolerance for immigrants. Futao Huang outlines the changes that have occurred in doctoral education in China in the past decades – including a considerable shift from Soviet to US influence – and some of the challenges ahead. Robert Coelen describes how proposed changes to Dutch legislation will enhance higher education internationalisation, encouraging recruitment of young international scholars to the Netherlands and of more students at offshore campuses. Ruwayshid Ali wonders if dramatic cuts to student admissions and scholarships in Saudi Arabia amid falling oil prices are the right strategy. And Rahul Choudaha says universities will need to be innovative to overcome the challenges to international student mobility posed by the collision of political changes in leading destination countries with economic changes in major source countries.
   In World Blog, Nita Temmerman cautions university teachers to be aware of the effect their feedback to students has on the motivation and morale of the student.
   In our Q&A section, Ramadhan Rajab interviews Professor Mohamed Ahmed Jimale about the state of higher education in Somalia, which is beginning to recover after a 23-year civil war.
   Last but not least, you are invited to register for the upcoming free webinar on “International Student Mobility Trends: Shifting recruitment priorities and strategies”, to be held on 12 April, hosted by University World News in partnership with DrEducation and StudyPortals. More...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In a Special Report this week, University World News covers the Global University Network for Innovation’s sixth Higher Education in the World report. Brendan O'Malley interviews the lead editor Francesc Xavier Grau about the report’s focus on whether prevailing pressures mitigate against universities being both locally competitive and addressing global challenges. Andrew Petter puts forward a convincing argument for why universities should embark on an ambitious campaign of community engagement rather than concern themselves with rising in university rankings. And Barbara Lethem Ibrahim suggests a global civic engagement project for universities, to serve the goal of raising up all higher education around the world, including in places of repression or conflict.
   A second Special Report covers last week’s International Higher Education Forum organised by Universities UK. Nic Mitchell reports on the Institute of International Education president’s call for universities to continue to have the capacity to make their own foreign policies, which is necessary in these ‘tumultuous times’. Nic Mitchell also reports that the under-secretary in the UK Department for International Trade focused his presentation on the growth of transnational education as a key strategy for Britain post-Brexit, while Yojana Sharma says the British Council’s Matt Durnin called for British universities to be part of a broader research collaboration with China which matches China’s ambitions and economic aims.
   In World Blog, Marion Lloyd says steps taken by the Mexican government to ease the repatriation of migrants – particularly students, for whom university application processes are being streamlined – should be welcomed, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s threat to deport millions of illegal immigrants.
   In Features, Jan Petter Myklebust tells of some of the interesting predictions of the trends in global higher education in 2040 made by Bert Van der Zwaan in his new book.
   The 2017 Worldviews Lecture on Media and Higher Education, for which University World News is a media partner, will be presented on 5 April by Peter Scott. It is entitled “Populism and the Academy: On the ‘wrong side’ of history”.
   Another event for which you are invited to register is the upcoming free webinar on “International Student Mobility Trends: Shifting recruitment priorities and strategies”, to be held on 12 April, hosted by University World News in partnership with DrEducation and StudyPortals. More...