By Binod Ghimire. A Nepal student union election, to be held for the first time in eight years in one of the world’s largest universities, is being watched closely as a wider test of the popularity of the country’s political parties since Nepal became a federal republic in 2015. Read more...

By Brennan Weiss. Students and professors from Ateneo de Manila University, or AdMU, marched on campus on 31 January in the Philippines capital Manila against a bill that would reinstate the death penalty in the country. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. An expert group appointed by the government has proposed to change the procedures on how research funding from the Research Council of Norway is distributed and to cut the administrative budget of the research council by NOK80 million (US$9.6 million). Read more...

By Eugene Vorotnikov. The Russian parliament or State Duma is considering banning children of Russian officials based in Russia from studying at universities abroad, particularly in Western universities, according to an official spokesperson of the Duma press service. Read more...

By Mary Beth Marklein. Enrolments in United States universities of first-time international graduate students increased by 5% in autumn 2016, the same rate of growth as the previous year, says a report by the US-based Council of Graduate Schools, a Washington-based non-profit. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. In a week in which 330 more academics were purged from Turkish universities, dismissed academics have provided University World News with testimony of being subjected to indefinite arbitrary detention without access to a lawyer; dismissed with their passport and credit cards blocked and prevented from working in academia at home or abroad and denied a pension; or subjected to mob violence and threats of a lynching. Read more...

By Brendan O'Malley. An Iranian-born scholar imprisoned in Iran since April 2016 in connection with international collaboration with scholars from countries considered to be 'enemy states' has been threatened with a charge that carries the death sentence, according to human rights organisations. Read more...

By Munyaradzi Makoni. Africa’s ability to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals is closely tied up with its research capacity, which hands universities on the continent a particular responsibility for enhanced collaboration, and engagement with government and industry, according to African speakers at the sixth World Sustainability Forum held recently in Cape Town, South Africa. Read more...

By Munyaradzi Makoni. The task of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, are beyond the capabilities and interests of governments, which means universities around the world, including those in Africa, have a unique role to play, according to world-renowned economist Dr Jeffrey D Sachs. Read more...

By Gilbert Nganga. Private firms and foreign agencies are breathing new life into Kenya’s technical and vocational training sector as the government seeks new initiatives to revive the troubled institutions to secure the critical skills set needed to drive the country’s industrialisation ambitions. Read more...