Funding cuts threaten the mission of the great public universities

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Nicholas Dirks discusses how the great public universities in the United States came into being, why they are valuable, and why global solutions and public-private partnerships are needed to sustain them. At a conference in Malaysia this week, Graeme Atherton is joining other delegates in seeking solutions to the global problem of lack of equitable access to higher education. And from Vietnam, Ly Pham writes about the intense debate that has ensued after a self-financed public university announced that it would develop its own procedures for promoting professors.
In World Blog this week, Patrick Blessinger urges leaders to move higher education in a direction that values educational diversity, inclusion and lifelong educational opportunities for all.
In Features, Jan Petter Myklebust reports on the concerns surrounding the increased competition for funds and subsequent reduced success rate of universities bidding for Horizon 2020 research funding. And Karen MacGregor relates how universities of technology in South Africa are not only having to deliver entrepreneurship education, but are themselves having to become more entrepreneurial.
In a News report, Karen MacGregor examines trends in the expanded Times Higher Education World University Rankings released last week. Read more...