Universities and their experts can help us ride the wave of disruption

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Barney Glover contends that universities are the institutions best equipped to buffer us against the fallout from the disruption which is refashioning the economy, reshaping the way we work and reimagining the way we engage with each other. Ngugi wa Thiong'o encourages every African university and government to become an advocate of African languages, as one step in building an Africa that is economically, politically and culturally empowered and secure in its base. Paul Benneworth, Franziska Eckardt and Matt Bucholski provide evidence that allowing students to learn through research benefits them and universities, as they develop the kind of skills that contribute to innovation. Rosemary Salomone suggests the Italian Constitutional Court’s decision affirming the primacy of the Italian language in the country’s universities may offer insights to universities across the globe as they ride the wave of English in the name of internationalisation. And Lisa Unangst encourages California’s policy-makers to take the lead in promoting equitable access to universities, as an enrolment crisis exacerbates disparities in access for students of colour and lower socio-economic status.
In World Blog this week, Margaret Andrews asks how universities might best prepare people for engaged and productive lives spanning a longer productive life, multiple careers, changing technologies and the new world of work.
And in Features, Munyaradzi Makoni reports on a study in South Africa showing that poor English language competence is hindering the academic performance of large numbers of second-language students but early interventions can help, while Kafil Yamin reports that researchers in Indonesia, especially in poorer parts of the country, are grappling with a 40% cut in research funding due to an economic slowdown, but are adapting by pooling resources in university consortia. Read more...