One Belt One Road could see a China-dominated higher education area emerge

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Features, Yojana Sharma reports on an international seminar where delegates discussed the potential for China’s massive One Belt One Road initiative to reshape global higher education, in the same way that it has the potential to reshape international trade as it connects economies along its route.
   Also in Features, Gilbert Nakweya reports on a meeting in Kenya organised by the African Academy of Sciences in collaboration with Yale University to discuss the power of partnerships in strengthening university research in Africa.
   In our World Blog this week, Hans de Wit reaffirms the opinion expressed in a previous commentary that recent political changes are likely to have a significant impact on higher education internationalisation after his article elicited some critical reactions.
   In Commentary, Fernando Leon-Garcia writes about New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman’s talk during the CETYS Global Impact Series about how universities ought to prepare students for a rapidly-changing world. Michaela Martin contends that higher education needs to be backed by funding and admission policies that support the common good principle of higher education. And Marcello Scalisi says the Mediterranean Universities Union has petitioned the European Commission for the expansion of the Erasmus+ programme in the Mediterranean as it has become a powerful catalyst for cooperation in this politically important region.
   Also in Commentary, Aisi Li and Alan Ruby examine the conundrum in Kazakhstan’s universities, asking whether internationalisation can lift higher education quality or whether improving quality will drive internationalisation. And Sioux McKenna says South African universities, like those in many other countries, are losing hold of the academic project by becoming business-like administrative institutions. More...