By Jan Petter Myklebust. The government is to phase out its Quota Scheme for international mobility and plough 40% of the money saved into two-way institutional collaborations and research collaborations with BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and Japan. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. Countries should step up their investment in long-term research and development, or R&D, to develop frontier technologies that will reshape industry, healthcare and communications and provide urgently needed solutions to global challenges like climate change, according to a new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, report. Read more...

By Munyaradzi Makoni. When it comes to university league tables, open and distance learning providers are getting a raw deal, said experts at the biennial conference of the International Council for Open and Distance Education, or ICDE. “We feel pushed by the current rankings,” said Albert Sangrà, UNESCO chair in education and technology for social change at the Open University of Catalonia in Spain. Read more...

By Stephen Coan. While universities and other tertiary institutions increasingly expand their e-learning and online capacities, they often fail to back up the educational technology with adequate lecturer knowledge to deliver it effectively and sustainably. Read more...

By Stephen Coan. Given the competitive environment of higher education, institutions need to improve student retention and success and attract high-performing students while ensuring their employability, according to Jon Baldwin, managing director of market development for Tribal. Analytics can be key in responding to these imperatives. Read more...

By Sungula Nkabinde. Educators have no doubt over the efficacy and need for learning analytics, but the invasion of privacy that it entails makes it an ethically grey area – because more often than not, the data is collected without students’ knowledge or consent. Read more...

By Karen MacGregor. An ‘operational network’ that stretches across the world and will offer regional support structures for open, distance and e-learning institutions was launched on the final day of the biennial conference of the International Council for Open and Distance Education, or ICDE. Read more...

By Munyaradzi Makoni. MOOCs – massive open online courses – have the potential to build new learning pathways. Governments, universities and stakeholders have a duty to scrutinise how the opportunities MOOCs offer can best be harnessed for development, the International Council for Open and Distance Education, or ICDE, conference heard. Read more...

By Munyaradzi Makoni. As societies change, so must leadership. Today’s higher education leaders must be ready to adapt to the new era of fast-paced technology, and to understand and engage in the complex environment in which it operates. Read more...

By Sungula Nkabinde. The future of technology is being shaped in Silicon Valley and California’s global innovation hub will thus dictate the evolution of education technology. The digital revolution and the ‘sharing economy’ mean education will become more accessible, but education technology writer Audrey Watters believes that does not necessarily bode well for the greater good that is the transfer of knowledge to the world’s most economically vulnerable people. Read more...