World-class universities should take the lead and work for the common good

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Lin Tian, Yan Wu and Niancai Liu say a shift to the global common good in higher education means world-class universities need to confront the challenges facing the world for the benefit of all. Pushkar and Madhvi Gupta write that academic inbreeding is common to most Indian universities even though it is widely accepted that it has a negative impact on institutional performance. Andrei Volkov says recent disagreements about the number of institutions that should be included in Russia’s Project 5-100 programme for elite universities have led to deeper discussions on how many world-class universities Russia should have.
   Also in Commentary, Athene Donald laments that British universities and researchers are having to live with chronic uncertainty on all fronts due to Brexit, but “on a good day” she’s hopeful the challenges can be met. Damtew Teferra urged African higher education stakeholders to strategically support follow-up action on priorities identified at the African Higher Education Summit and subsequent national summits, which aim to transform the African higher education sector. And Adriana Perez-Encinas says universities need to be aware of international students’ views and concerns, and implement strategies to fulfil their expectations.
   In our World Blog this week, Hans de Wit suggests how small, developing countries such as Curaçao might best go about developing a long-term international higher education strategy.
   In Features, Susan Murray and Sioux Cumming elaborate on a new framework which aims to assess and improve online journals in Africa, Asia and Latin America, while Stephen Coan reports on concerns that funding cuts for ‘rated researchers’ in South Africa, recently announced by the National Research Foundation, could have a negative impact on the national system.
   University World News invites all universities and higher education organisations who wish to raise their profile internationally and connect with a key audience of academics, university leaders, administrators and policy-makers to join its new partnership programme. More...