By Yojana Sharma. The westward drive from the northern Mexican city of Mexicali to Tijuana on the Pacific coast runs alongside the border fence with the United States. The fence is more than five metres high in some places and continues through rugged barren rocky landscapes and desert shrubland, along Tijuana beach, reaching almost 100 metres into the sea before it abruptly stops. Read more...

By Yojana Sharma. New measures to tighten up on the quality, financial viability and information provided by private higher education institutions in Singapore, including foreign branch campuses, that offer external degrees from foreign institutions – also known as transnational education or TNE – have been published by the Singapore government. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Thirty-five university rectors, including the rectors of the major universities – Lund, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala, Chalmers University of Technology and the Karolinska Institute – as well as the Swedish National Union of Students have criticised the government for a decision which sets aside the principle of autonomy for universities. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. A new study by the Swedish Higher Education Authority, or UKÄ, shows that 79% of those with a foreign degree who supplemented their qualifications with additional studies in Sweden were established in the labour force three years after having completed their supplementary studies. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Through the European Union research programmes there has been a growing ambition to include international partners from all over the world to participate in the formation of the European Research Area. One such ambition has been the opening up of the European Union ‘flagship programme’ Horizon 2020 to researchers and innovators across the world. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. Applications from European Union countries for places on medicine, dentistry and veterinary degrees in the United Kingdom and for all courses at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge have fallen by 9% in a year, ending a trend of annual increases over recent years, according to new figures. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. United States universities again dominate the US News & World Report Rankings, claiming the five top spots for the first time and taking 210 places out of 1,000 research universities evaluated, expanded from 750 last year – from 65 countries. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. A consortium has launched an open call for proposals for an ambitious initiative funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, or DFID, aimed at catalysing innovation and reform in higher education systems in developing countries, including fragile and conflict-affected states. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. Universities should embed a zero-tolerance approach to sexual violence, harassment and hate crime, highlighting up-front the behaviours that are expected from all students, as well as ensuring staff understand the importance of fostering a zero-tolerance culture. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. More than 150 internal members and doctors of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences have signed an open letter to Academy President Professor László Lovász, voicing concern about the “anti-democratic processes” that have taken place in the country in the past few years, especially the threat to freedom of the press, and demanding that the body investigate or initiate debate about the “urgent issues facing Hungarian society”. Read more...