By Jan Petter Myklebust. The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education or NOKUT, together with its sister organisations, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders or NVAO and the Swedish Higher Education Authority or UKÄ, have identified critical factors that are important for achieving high quality in masters education in economics and molecular biology. More...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. The European Medicines Agency or EMA will relocate to Amsterdam in the Netherlands when it leaves London in 2019, the General Affairs Council of the European Union has decided. More...

By Geoff Maslen. Universities Australia says that Australian research covered in the world’s top-cited scientific publications rose to more than 3% in 2016, up from around 2% a decade ago. But the nation’s total expenditure on research and development was a mere 1.88% of gross domestic product or GDP in 2015-16 compared with an OECD average of 2.38%. More...

By Yojana Sharma. Universities in China and elsewhere in Asia are belatedly joining global alliances to promote ethical practices in artificial intelligence or AI, which were previously being studied in university research centres in a fragmented way. More...

By Yojana Sharma. In an era when economic and trade nationalism is disrupting the multilateral world order, universities have a role to play in driving multinational cross-border collaborations, and preparing for a future thrown into uncertainty by the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. More...

By Kudzai Mashininga. Students have greeted the resignation of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe with jubilation, describing it as an early Christmas present, while urging the incoming government to guarantee academic freedoms and provide free higher education. More...

By Mary Beth Marklein. Contingent faculty, who once were tapped by United States universities primarily to bring a professional perspective into some classrooms, today teach more than two-thirds of university courses nationwide, federal data show. And many of them are living on the edge of poverty. More...

By Brendan O’Malley. European leaders and the European Commission have backed proposals to step up higher education mobility and exchanges and create a network of European universities with integrated study programmes and curricula that enable students to study abroad. More...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Features, Yojana Sharma says universities in China and elsewhere in Asia are belatedly joining global alliances to promote ethical practices in artificial intelligence or AI, as these countries invest heavily in research and development in the race for AI.
   Also in Features, Jan Petter Myklebust reports on a heated debate ignited when a Swedish lecturer blogged that the policy requirement that 40% of recommended literature should be women authors made it difficult to run a university course on fascism and totalitarianism. And Wagdy Sawahel looks at the growing incidence of violent physical assaults by university students on academic staff in Algeria and its impact on universities.
   In Commentary, Simon Marginson argues the case for liberal arts and science university education to be scaled up and says the ideal structure is for liberal arts and science first degrees to operate as foundational to professional programmes. Deren Temel says Japanese universities are not adequately preparing international students for success in Japanese society despite high demand for international hires, focusing in particular on Vietnamese students. And Ross VeLure Roholt, Jennifer Catalano, Robert Hollister and Alexander Fink urge universities and funders to explore the concept of ‘transformative entrepreneurship’ as this disruptive approach has much to teach higher education.
   In our World Blog, Budd L Hall and Rajesh Tandon explain why more community-based participatory researchers are needed to help achieve the ambitious United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
   In Student View, Makomborero Haruzivishe says students in Zimbabwe should not celebrate prematurely because of the resignation of President Robert Mugabe as much change is needed in higher education. And Helge Schwitters of the European Students’ Union warns that students need to be included in the current EU discussions on deeper cooperation and mobility in higher education.
   We ask readers to consider the new University World News partnership programme for universities and higher education organisations wishing to raise their profile internationally and connect with a key audience of university leaders, academics, administrators and policy-makers. More...