By Jan Petter Myklebust. An expert group appointed by the government has proposed to change the procedures on how research funding from the Research Council of Norway is distributed and to cut the administrative budget of the research council by NOK80 million (US$9.6 million). Read more...
Plan to ban officials' children from studying abroad
By Eugene Vorotnikov. The Russian parliament or State Duma is considering banning children of Russian officials based in Russia from studying at universities abroad, particularly in Western universities, according to an official spokesperson of the Duma press service. Read more...
First-time international graduate enrolments rise 5%
By Mary Beth Marklein. Enrolments in United States universities of first-time international graduate students increased by 5% in autumn 2016, the same rate of growth as the previous year, says a report by the US-based Council of Graduate Schools, a Washington-based non-profit. Read more...
Purged academics faced violence, threats of lynching
By Brendan O'Malley. In a week in which 330 more academics were purged from Turkish universities, dismissed academics have provided University World News with testimony of being subjected to indefinite arbitrary detention without access to a lawyer; dismissed with their passport and credit cards blocked and prevented from working in academia at home or abroad and denied a pension; or subjected to mob violence and threats of a lynching. Read more...
Iranian scholar faces threat of death sentence
By Brendan O'Malley. An Iranian-born scholar imprisoned in Iran since April 2016 in connection with international collaboration with scholars from countries considered to be 'enemy states' has been threatened with a charge that carries the death sentence, according to human rights organisations. Read more...
University research collaboration is key to meeting SDGs
By Munyaradzi Makoni. Africa’s ability to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals is closely tied up with its research capacity, which hands universities on the continent a particular responsibility for enhanced collaboration, and engagement with government and industry, according to African speakers at the sixth World Sustainability Forum held recently in Cape Town, South Africa. Read more...
Universities better than governments at achieving SDGs
By Munyaradzi Makoni. The task of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, are beyond the capabilities and interests of governments, which means universities around the world, including those in Africa, have a unique role to play, according to world-renowned economist Dr Jeffrey D Sachs. Read more...
New lease of life for Kenya’s vocational institutions
By Gilbert Nganga. Private firms and foreign agencies are breathing new life into Kenya’s technical and vocational training sector as the government seeks new initiatives to revive the troubled institutions to secure the critical skills set needed to drive the country’s industrialisation ambitions. Read more...
Leading the way to high-skilled jobs?
By Alejandro Caballero. Creating high-skilled and relevant jobs will help the world’s youngest region – with close to 60% of its population under 25 years old – and to do that it requires dynamic new higher education leaders. Read more...
Chancellors moot centralised lecturer appointments
By Christabel Ligami. Qualified and reliable lecturers should be recruited and appointed by a central body, according to a proposal by Kenyan university chancellors that seeks to ensure quality education in both public and private universities. Read more...