What are the implications when a country abolishes university tuition fees?

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Ariane de Gayardon says introducing free-tuition policies, as New Zealand has most recently done, relies on the unrealistic expectation that governments will be able not only to fund higher education budgets but also consistently increase those budgets. Andrej Arsovski draws attention to an array of measures that can be used for screening applicants to professional schools such as medical schools to ensure selection of the best candidates and to promote diversity. And Christine Dranzoa writes that bold institutional leadership is required to deal decisively with cases of sexual harassment and gender-based violence in African higher education.
   In our World Blog, Grace Karram Stephenson wonders if Doug Ford’s victory in Ontario’s elections and the voting in of the Progressive Conservatives in the Canadian province will spell funding cuts for higher education or rises in the cost of tuition, or both.
   In our section on Academic Freedom, Elif Ceylan Ozsoy suggests ways to show solidarity with the ‘Academics for Peace’ in Turkey, hundreds of whom have lost their jobs and-or been charged with terrorist offences, all for signing a peace petition.
   In a new series on Pacific Rim higher education and research issues, Yojana Sharma highlights the pertinent issues that will be discussed when university leaders from Pacific Rim countries meet in Taiwan next weekend for the Association of Pacific Rim Universities conference entitled “Our digital future in a divided world”.
   In Features, Nic Mitchell reports that Gerry McGovern, one of the top visionaries of web developments, speaking at a recent conference, urged universities to wake up to how marketing to young people has shifted in the digital age. And Sharon Dell reports that the South African medical deans have offered to make available expertise in the university sector to help the country deal with a crisis in the national health system and the “systemic failures” in the provincial health departments that are affecting patient care and the training of medical professionals. More...