By Joy Chang. Education Minister Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said that the number of universities in Taiwan should be reduced to 100 while attending a Legislative Yuan Education and Culture Committee interpellation session yesterday.
Since lower birth rates are impacting higher education enrollment, Wu said that the number of Taiwanese universities should be reduced 30 to 40 percent. In 2016, the number of students applying for universities may decrease by 30,000. Wu said he hopes that the Ministry of Education will come up with a proposal for universities to reform by the end of the year. More...

By Fiona Rutherford. Nature Communications will be the first Nature-branded open access-only journal - a huge step in the right direction for the progression of scientific communication.
Nature Publishing Group(NPG) has announced today that Nature Communications will be their first Nature-branded open access only journal, in an attempt to move the frontiers of open access forward. More...

A new draft law will let university heads expel staff members without legal action - which critics say opens the door to breaches of power and corruption.
Egypt's university professors have sounded alarm bells over a draft law that they say will give university heads full sway to unfairly lay off faculty members. More...

The education ministry has said it will help finance the globalization and personnel training programs of 37 universities in the country, including the University of Tokyo, to strengthen their international competitiveness.
The selection of the 37 schools as top global universities comes after the Education Rebuilding Implementation Council set last year the goal of having at least 10 Japanese universities on the list of the world’s top 100. Applications were submitted by 104 universities. More...