Universities want a more British Europe – not a less European Britain

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. With the British people due to vote on 23 June on whether to stay in the European Union, David Jobbins reports that most university leaders in the UK have expressed unreserved support for the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU. Our Commentary section brings you two opposing views on Brexit: Anne Corbett confirms that the university sector has been pro-EU from the start and explains the reasons for this stance. Alan Sked, on the other hand, argues that Brexit is the obvious future for Britain and that vice-chancellors in the UK should stop panicking and lobbying the press to push their pro-European agenda when British researchers will still be able cooperate with the EU after Brexit.
Also in Commentary, Manja Klemenčič says that students’ sense of belonging is key to student well-being and should be more carefully considered in institutional strategies. Adamu Ahmed describes some of the initiatives being undertaken by King Saud University to promote research excellence in Saudi Arabia. And Patrício Langa, Gerald Wangenge-Ouma, Jens Jungblut and Nico Cloete argue that South Africa should look to its northern neighbours in Africa to see that free higher education, which South African students are demanding, failed to universalise access to higher education in these countries.
University World News is a media partner to the British Council’s Going Global 2016 conference, to be held in May in Africa for the first time. Karen MacGregor previews this big international higher education event in an interview with Jo Beall, director of education and society for the British Council, and looks at university rankings in discussion with Gerald Wangenge-Ouma, while Brendan O’Malley explores how universities can respond to the refugee crisis.
In World Blog, Grace Karram Stephenson takes up the plight of the rising number of precarious, part-time instructors in academia, reporting that a recent conference in Canada highlighted the need for them to organise collectively. Read more...