A public relations spat has broken out between the African National Congress Youth League and its youth alliance partner in the South African Communist Party against the backdrop of rising tension at universities over the prospect of fee increases, writes Bekezela Phakathi for BDLive. Read more...

All Scottish universities have agreed to accept poorer students with lower exam grades in a bid to boost the number of working-class undergraduates, writes Andrew Denholm for the Herald Scotland. Read more...

The central government has been pushing Sanskrit as a study medium, but there seem to be no takers for the Vedic language. One-third of nearly 150 departments of higher education in Sanskrit had to shut down in the last three years due to low enrolment in Sanskrit courses, writes Richa Sharma for The New Indian Express. Read more...

Should higher education be a profitable commodity or a public good? That’s the central question in the documentary “Starving the Beast”. Filmmaker Steve Mims turns his camera on the complicated battle over public universities and comes up with a movie that might be dry, but also feels necessary, writes Stephanie Merry for The Washington Post. Read more...

The Netherlands’ universities of technology have warned they may have to restrict new admissions to their current level unless the government increases its funding, reports Dutch News. Read more...

The Association of University Heads in Israel asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to re-examine his position that equates Torah education with academic degrees, in a letter sent by the group recently, reports The Jerusalem Post. Read more...

The government of the Philippines is planning to introduce mandatory drug tests for all new college students, an official for the Commission on Higher Education said. The measure is the latest step in President Rodrigo Duterte's effort to battle illegal drugs in the country, reports Aljazeera. Read more...

An analytical publication on international relations, Russia Direct, issued a report on the modernisation of higher education in Russia. Its main conclusion: In order to stimulate start-ups it is imperative for universities to rethink the relationship between teaching and research, writes Victoria Zavyalova for Russia Beyond The Headlines. Read more...

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan will send 10,000 scholars to the United States for PhD studies from next year in critical areas of agriculture and food security, medical and allied health sciences, energy, water, climate change, and advanced digital technology, among others, reports Dunya News. Read more...

Cries of penury from universities facing a 20% funding cut are ringing hollow in light of new analysis that reveals the sector is 50% better off in real terms than it was a decade ago, writes Julie Hare for The Australian. Read more...