By Brendan O’Malley. Days before the United Kingdom's EU referendum vote, vice-chancellors of 103 universities wrote a joint letter voicing their “grave concern” over the impact of a UK exit from the European Union on UK universities and students, warning that it would undermine the country’s position as a global leader in science and innovation and “impoverish our campuses”. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley. European Union research funding generates more than 19,000 jobs across the United Kingdom, £1.86 billion (US$2.6 billion) for the UK economy and contributes more than £1 billion to gross domestic product or GDP, according to new figures published on Friday by Universities UK. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley. The European Union should reform its legal labour migration policies and make it easier for people graduating in the EU to obtain a work permit in the EU, in order to attract its fair share of the global talent pool, according to a new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD report. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. Following the momentous Brexit vote in favour of the UK leaving the European Union, Yojana Sharma reports on the consternation and incomprehension among staff and students in British universities, with grave concerns about the future status of EU funding, faculty and students and the standing of UK research in the world. In Commentary, Alan Ruby contends that the unfortunate repercussions of the Brexit vote will be that the UK will be perceived as insular and unwelcoming, with English academic life becoming poorer for the losses in mobility, diversity, exchange and reciprocity.
Other Commentaries this week focus on South Africa, China, Europe, Latin America and Saudi Arabia. Zenobia Ismail says protesting South African students who set fire to university buildings need to reflect on the costs and benefits of making the university the frontline in another struggle as there is little victory in the ashes. Catherine Montgomery looks at what drives transnational partnerships in top Chinese universities, from aiming to partner with elite Western peers to seeking partnerships based on local social and cultural factors. Andrée Sursock says few European universities have so far linked up e-learning with internationalisation to help enhance internationalisation at home. And Angel Calderon gives pointers to Latin American universities on ways to improve their ranking positions in the wake of the release of the QS Top 300 ranking for the region.
In our series on ‘Transformative Leadership’ in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Mary Beth Marklein interviews US journalist and author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon about women and leadership and the impact of higher education.
In Features, Nicola Jenvey reports that, despite massification of access to universities in Latin America, students from poor families still do not have access to the same quality of higher education as those from wealthier families. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. The United Kingdom’s referendum to decide if it will stay in or leave the European Union will take place on Thursday 23 June. Our World Blog examines possible Brexit implications, with Elspeth Jones and Hans de Wit speculating about the impact of Brexit on the numbers of international students choosing to study in the UK, and particularly students from the EU.
The Brexit debate is further explored in a Special Report. Nearly a quarter of all public competitive funding for research in the UK comes from the European Union and Daniel Hook wonders if the UK government will plug the funding gap should Britain vote to leave the EU. And Chris Bickerton and Lee Jones say the Brexit referendum is too significant a political decision for British academics to be campaigning for their own self-interests – they should look at the bigger picture.
In Commentary, Gerard Postiglione and Xiaoyu Chen say that major changes made in universities in China over the past 20 years indicate that they are shifting from the Soviet model of the past towards the international mainstream of research universities. Other Commentaries focus on higher education in India. Anand Kulkarni and Angel Calderon maintain that India’s new national university ranking scheme has much to commend it but there are opportunities for improvement. William G Tierney says the Indian government’s goal to have 20 highly ranked world-class universities is praiseworthy but unrealistic, requiring not only huge investment but reforms promoting institutional autonomy and academic freedom. And Renu Modi and Rhea D’Silva write that racism against Africans in India is a reality that must be countered by promoting greater intercultural understanding.
In our series on ‘Transformative Leadership’ in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Zuleika Arashiro says that universities claiming international status need to address historical inequities so that, for example, women academics from the Global South are more than a superficial reflection of a university’s diversity.
In Features, Sharon Dell reports on how South African universities of technology are positioning themselves as partners in the field of waste recycling and management, a relatively new and potentially lucrative research and job creation area. Read more...