By Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera. A few months ago, New York University Professor Andrew Ross was denied entry to the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, on ideological grounds. The incident put academic freedom in the Arab World under a microscope, but the coverage failed to recognise that the US has similarly unethical restrictions for non-citizen scholars. Read more...

By Nader Habibi. The world’s largest oil exporter is trying to transform itself into a knowledge economy. This is the goal that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia set for itself nearly a decade ago and the former Saudi leader, King Abdullah, allocated a large amount of financial resources to modernising the country’s higher education system for this purpose. Read more...

By Simon Marginson. In the UK and US the growth of social and economic inequality is taking place in societies in which formal participation in higher education is at an historic high. Is higher education then responsible for the pattern of unequal earnings. Read more...

By David Jobbins. The Labour opposition in England has warned that the latest efforts by universities to increase the numbers of students from low-income families and other disadvantaged groups may not be enough to offset the effect of the abolition of maintenance grants announced in the 8 July Budget. Read more...

By Michael Gardner. Germany’s federal and state governments have called on the country’s major research institutions to review their employment conditions and career structures. They are particularly critical of the underrepresentation of women in these institutions. Read more...

By Ameen Amjad Khan. A senior US official has called for independent verification of Afghan government figures on the use of US education aid following claims by Afghan ministers that the previous government had provided data on US-funded school and higher education projects that were flawed, tempered and exaggerated, and had interfered with university entrance exams. Read more...

By Yojana Sharma. As Nobel laureate Amartya Sen last week stepped down as chancellor of the new Nalanda University, which is being revived on the site of the ancient institution in Bihar state, he slammed the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “extraordinarily large” interference in Nalanda and other higher education institutions in the country, accusing the government of jeopardising academic autonomy. Read more...

By Peta Lee. There are gaping holes in data analysis skills training which should be addressed by an upgrading of data analysis and skills provision at schools and universities, according to two new reports. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. A group of senior academics, university leaders, scholar rescue organisations and scholarship providers from around the world met at York University, England, on Friday to agree an accord on protecting higher education during conflict and rebuilding it afterwards. Read more...

The West African Economic and Monetary Union and UNESCO are equipping six of the region’s eight major universities with computer facilities and networks at a total cost of FCFA6 billion (US$10 million).
Sud Quotidien of Dakar reported that the initiative was being financed by the union – known by its French acronym, UEMOA – and carried out by UNESCO. Read more...