What are the implications of the recent ‘closing’ of Chinese higher education?

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Philip G Altbach and Hans de Wit say the ‘closing’ of Chinese higher education due to rising authoritarianism in the country will hamper Chinese universities in their aspirations to world-class standards and in their collaborations with Western universities. Eric Fredua-Kwarteng and Samuel Kwaku Ofosu give some pointers on how lecturers in African universities can introduce innovative pedagogies to improve the quality of higher education on offer. Roger Brown asks why universities in the UK have been under such strong and sustained public and media attack of late – could the various criticisms be linked to government policies? And Anand Kulkarni writes that for India the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject highlight challenges in terms of the breadth of its higher education offerings and the need to address areas that are key for the country’s future.
   In our World Blog this week, Patrick Blessinger, Jaimie Hoffman and Mandla Makhanya say the challenge before higher education leaders and policy-makers is to put in place policies and practices that support ‘inclusive excellence’ – high quality teaching and learning as well as a culture of inclusion.
   In Features, Munyaradzi Makoni reports on a roundtable organised by the Academy of Science of South Africa to debate the relevance of global university rankings to African universities.
   In a Special Report on the international IE University ‘Reinventing Higher Education’ conference held in Spain last week, Paul Rigg reports on a discussion between the president of IE University, Santiago Íñiguez, and Thabo Mbeki, former president of South Africa and chancellor of the University of South Africa, on the global impact of higher education from an African perspective. Rigg also reports on a discussion on the future of work and whether universities will be able to adapt quickly enough to the changes that are coming, as well as another discussion on whether and why universities should fight the trend of anti-globalisation. More...