By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Brent White describes the micro-campus concept developed by America’s University of Arizona, which offers a new model for providing affordable, cutting-edge higher education to the globe. Graeme Atherton says the pledge by the Labour Party to abolish tuition fees in English universities – although unlikely to come to pass as the Conservatives are likely to clinch the forthcoming election – has value in that it should stimulate discussion on alternative approaches to delivering higher education. And Catherine Montgomery says while the UK, Europe and the US are distracted by chaotic internal politics, China is quietly expanding its global reach through higher education, including opening a business school in the higher education heart of England.
   In our World Blog, Roger Chao Jr calls on the UNESCO Asia-Pacific member states to ratify the Tokyo Recognition Convention, which could help launch the Asia-Pacific region as the next powerhouse in international higher education.
   In a Special Report on the British Council’s Going Global 2017 conference, Brendan O'Malley writes that the 900 delegates from 80 countries left the opening session with a stark warning from the keynote speaker of the challenges facing universities and cities in the near future; while Nicola Jenvey reports that a key message emerging from a discussion on innovation districts was that universities and innovation hubs should take care not to widen the social divide; and Yojana Sharma reports on Hong Kong’s aim to act as a ‘super connector’ to China and the Asian region through deepening international collaborations that include universities.
   In Features this week, Karen MacGregor focuses on the scaling up of the Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship Program with the implementation of an initiative that will support 10,000 diaspora academics across the world over 10 years to partner with African universities. More...