Launch of world’s largest research centre focused on higher education

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In our World Blog, Hans de Wit outlines a number of new initiatives in the development of research into international higher education, including the launch in London last week of the world’s largest research centre in this field.
In Commentary, Zenobia Ismail dives into the debate over removing the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University as well as memorials of other contentious historical figures. Robert Tijssen considers the extent to which current university ranking systems are keeping up with changing trends in science and higher education. Also on the subject of rankings, Frans van Vught and Frank Ziegele, as project leaders of U-Multirank, respond to the Coimbra Group’s critique of their university ranking system.
Focusing on Indonesia, Aulia Nastiti reflects on ways the country could enhance a multidisciplinary culture in its universities. And following the suicide in India of Rohith Vemula, a student who campaigned for the rights of Dalits, Ranjit Goswami suggests that the government partner with universities to address root causes rather than responding with knee-jerk reactions to media reports. On a very different subject, Sarah Porter says there is huge potential in the use of data analytics in universities and outlines the recommendations of a recent report on the subject in the United Kingdom.
In Features, Reuben Kyama speaks to Anastacia Mikwa, a student who was shot multiple times but survived the April 2015 terror attack at Kenya’s Garissa University College. And Nicola Jenvey reports on a lecture by the OECD’s Andreas Schleicher saying there is no shortcut to measuring the quality of higher education that bypasses student learning outcomes. Read more...