By John Gerritsen. Provisional figures show changes to New Zealand's University Entrance, or UE, standard have cut the number of school-leavers qualified to enrol in the country's universities by several thousand for the second year in a row. Read more...

By Wachira Kigotho. The World Bank has provided a US$70 million loan to Tunisia to improve the quality of teaching and management at universities, amid efforts to reduce high levels of graduate unemployment. In 2014, about 32% of university graduates were jobless, with women particularly vulnerable. Read more...

By Yojana Sharma. A new scheme to promote 20 universities to become world-class teaching and research institutions – 10 public and 10 private – was announced in India’s budget last Monday, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. He also announced a new higher education funding agency to leverage public and private funding for university infrastructure. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. The Swedish parliament has backed the proposal of the education committee for a new model for quality assurance of higher education, to be implemented this autumn. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust and Brendan O'Malley. The government is proposing a substantial cut in student study grants, bringing them down to the same level as grants for secondary school students. It also plans to limit the duration of grants and establish study progress criteria for continuing eligibility for them. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley. By using on-site tutors and learning communities, massive open online courses or MOOCs can be successfully adapted to support the expansion of access to higher education to refugees in fragile situations and maintain learner motivation, a study carried out in refugee camps and urban settings in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East has found. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley. Jo Johnson, the minister for universities and science, has announced that the government is increasing restrictions on European Union nationals accessing student living cost support in England from 2016-17. Read more...

By Karen MacGregor. The first comprehensive global survey of science academies and gender has found that only 12% of the members of 69 national science academies are women – and just 6% in maths and 5% in engineering. It recommends data collection and reporting on gender, and permanent structures to implement gender-mainstreaming activities. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In News, Karen MacGregor reports on a global survey that has found that only 12% of science academy members globally are women – and just 6% in maths and 5% in engineering.
In Commentary this week, Pushkar argues that the Indian government’s actions at Jawaharlal Nehru University undermine free expression on campus and may well be a sign of worse to come, while Nico Cloete contends that a ‘third force’, which drives a political agenda, has emerged on South Africa’s protest-disrupted campuses.
Clare Banks says US and Cuban universities are forging a new chapter together in the wake of a thawing of relations between the two countries. And Jingyi Dong says the roots of Philip Altbach’s contention that China’s higher education system is unbalanced with ‘feet of clay’ lie in rural-urban segregation and Communist Party control of universities.
Continuing our Special Report previewing the British Council’s Going Global 2016 conference in May, Brendan O’Malley asks if internationalisation can be a negative force, and Yojana Sharma explores what impact China’s growing ambition will have on global higher education.
In a second Special Report Nic Mitchell covers Universities UK’s International Higher Education Forum held in London last week, including what can be done to reverse the decline in numbers of Indian students coming to the UK.
In our World Blog, Margaret Andrews suggests that universities gather their team and examine their strategy to ensure they are not in danger of becoming obsolete in a fast-changing world. Read more...