Purdue and Kaplan venture is a bizarre muddle of very different institutions

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Liz Reisberg and Philip G Altbach condemn the move by the respected Purdue University in the United States to buy the for-profit Kaplan University, calling it “an immense mistake” that will inevitably redefine Purdue’s vision. Roger Chao Jr is upbeat about the launch of the Asian Universities Alliance and the possibility that it will foster the dawn of an Asian higher education regionalisation. Ellen Hazelkorn believes we sit at a historic junction at which higher education has the opportunity and responsibility to play a critical role in building a shared sense of societal purpose and identity. Anne Corbett imagines the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France will be of great interest to UK higher education and research in terms of impact on Brexit negotiations and also in terms of future strategies against extreme nationalism. Marcelo Knobel and Robert Verhine contend that, while the trend towards for-profit growth in the higher education sector in Brazil is clearly a cause for concern, its rise could be a harbinger of a worldwide trend.

   In World Blog, Hans de Wit says that, in a changing international higher education market, the increasing cross-border activities undertaken by the developing world deserve closer attention.

   And in Features, Reuben Kyama writes about a Ghanaian-born Coventry University graduate who has received recognition for launching a centre for counter-extremism in West Africa to turn young people, including students, away from terrorism. More...