By Phan Le Ha. Asia is seen as the future for the internationalisation of higher education, and the globalisation of English is enabling this future. Countries in Asia have therefore started to align their internationalisation strategies towards this Asia focus. For example, Singapore’s Minister of Education Heng Swee Keat concluded in his talk at the Singapore Management University on 16 February: “Asia is going to be a critical part of our future. The more we understand what is going on in Asia, the better our future will be. We must position ourselves as a global Asian hub that connects Asia with the world.”
The internationalisation of higher education and the English language play a key role in Singapore’s endeavour to become a ‘global Asian hub’ and to identify and create ‘advantages that others find relevant’. Read more...

The new, European Commission-supported international university ranking U-Multirank announced last week that 540 higher education institutions had registered to participate, exceeding its goal of 500. Registration was “still open, but space is limited”.
The multi-dimensional ranking said in a statement last week that higher education institutions from more than 60 countries would be in the initial listing to be published for the first time in early 2014.
“The currently registered institutions represent a balanced sample in different ways. In line with recruitment targets, about 75% are in the European Union (EU) and 25% in non-EU countries,” said the release.
“Different profiles of higher education institutions will take part in the first round of U-Multirank, for instance, universities of applied sciences and universities with a technical profile (around 12% each), comprehensive (around 50%) and specialised universities etcetera.
“A large number of research-intensive universities are also represented.” U-Multirank has bumped up against some resistance from research institutions, with criticism led by Britain, home to the companies producing two of the top global rankings, and by Europe’s League of Research Universities. Read more...