The Union Government last week announced new norms for deemed universities that allow more academic, administrative and regulatory freedom for these institutions that are largely run by private education providers, writes Prashant K Nanda for Livemint. Read more...

The University of Papua New Guinea has suspended semester one studies for an indefinite period, effectively ending a student boycott of classes, writes Joy Kisselpar for ABC. Read more...

With an increasing number of Americans leaving religion behind, the University of Miami received a donation in late April from a wealthy atheist to endow what it says is the nation’s first academic chair “for the study of atheism, humanism and secular ethics”, writes Laurie Goodstein for The New York Times. Read more...

Britain's best-known universities have urged their students to vote to stay in the European Union, despite rules urging institutions to remain neutral ahead of the referendum, writes Harry Yorke for The Telegraph. Read more...

The Higher Education Amendment Bill narrowly passed in the National Assembly last week after the opposition Democratic Alliance staged a walkout in a failed attempt to block the passage of the legislation through parliament, writes Chantall Presence for African News Agency. Read more...

Students from various parts of the country organised a pre-budget rally demanding the allocation of 4% of gross domestic product for education. They also called for 25% of the total education budget to be allocated for higher education and for the introduction of immediate reforms in the higher education sector, reports Pakistan Today. Read more...

A Chinese internet billionaire launched the world's biggest education prize worth more than £5 million (US$7.3 million) in Hong Kong last week, writes Richard Vaughan for TES. Read more...

Earlier this month, individual university application results were released, showing the largest ever gap between the number of openings and successful applicants. Toko University had offered admission to 118 applicants nationwide, but only secured 20 new recruits, writes Christine Chou for TWN. Read more...