By Francis Kokutse. From the beginning of the 2016-17 academic year, six polytechnics – Accra, Ho, Koforidua, Kumasi, Sunyani and Takoradi – will operate as technical universities and the government said the institutions have upgraded laboratories and workshops. More...

By Stefan Lundberg and Jan Petter Myklebust. "I had a list of whom to fire in my drawer and I had attended a course in how to handle mass firing of staff. But I decided: I will not do it – I will not fire my staff – whatever happens to me," Kai Ekholm, Finnish chief librarian and director of the National Library of Finland, said to the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet last month. More...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Proposals to redirect funding from Denmark’s student financing system to universities, thus shifting more of the costs of higher education to students, have met with opposition from Akademikerne – the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations, an umbrella organisation with 25 associations and 336,000 members who are typically employees with an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. More...

By Nic Mitchell. Contrasting visions of the direction of international higher education – from MOOC-like masters degrees to undergraduate programmes in seven countries for students who want a true global experience – were presented to the first “Student of the Future” conference organised by Dutch-based StudyPortals. More...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary this week, Gearóid Ó Cuinn argues that transnational oversight of education programmes is not detached from human rights obligations and universities involved are responsible for due diligence and monitoring for abuses. Dean Hristov encourages universities to use big data and predictive analytics to predict future skills needs and thereby develop future-ready global talent. Terje Mørland and Stig Arne Skjerven urge the implementation of a European qualifications passport for refugees as a fast-track scheme to evaluate refugees’ educational background.
In our World Blog, Nita Temmerman points to one common denominator in all successful education systems – good quality teachers – and emphasises the importance of treating them like professionals.
And in Features Reuben Kyama outlines the ambitious plans for the African Leadership University, launched in Mauritius last month with the aim of training Africa’s future leaders, while Jan Petter Myklebust reports on the findings of a Swedish study on the use and effects of the tenure track system in six different countries. More...

By Nic Mitchell. The United States’ dominance of the international university rankings is challenged in the latest edition of U-Multirank released on 4 April. More...

By Michelle Paterson and Karen MacGregor. In Commentary, Richard Holmes and Waldemar Siwinski argue that while university rankings are justified in making changes to methodologies, they should play fair in order to limit the serious damage that can be caused to universities. Ross Paul looks into why there has been a sharp rise in the attrition rates of new university presidents in Canada, and concludes that governing boards should shoulder much of the blame.
Julien Jacqmin and Mathieu Lefebvre find that experience in both academia and politics is an ideal combination for a higher education minister, and Michaela Martin describes international research into effective internal quality assurance solutions for higher education systems around the world.
In World Blog, Patrick Blessinger argues that in a rapidly changing world, a framework is needed to understand the global higher education landscape and its trends – many of them positive.
In Features, Nic Mitchell outlines contrasting visions of international higher education presented at the first “Student of the Future” conference in the Netherlands. Andrew Green visits a refugee camp in remote Rwanda where an NGO is providing a university education to people who had little hope of accessing higher education, and Jenny Adams explores the history of student loans. More...