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By Maina Waruru. In what seems to be a growing trend in Kenya, public universities are actively seeking investments in a range of sectors including manufacturing, real estate and agriculture. Read more...

By Maina Waruru. The African Virtual University or AVU, in partnership with the African Development Bank, has launched phase two of its multinational project aimed at expanding its network of centres of open, distance and e-learning and which will see 27 facilities opened in 21 countries. Read more...

By Wagdy Sawahel. The Tunisian Observatory for Higher Education and Scientific Research, or TOHESR, was launched on 8 October, as indicated in a press report published by a digital Tunisian website. Read more...

By Wagdy Sawahel. The Morocco-based Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation launched the pilot phase of the 'TAFAHUM' project to enhance quality by promoting collaboration between a number of Maghreb universities and the France-based Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie. Read more...

By Sharon Dell – Acting Africa Editor. In Africa Analysis, Amasa P Ndofirepi and Michael Cross argue that African universities should aspire to the status of ‘flagship’ rather than ‘world-class’ universities, and Southern African Regional Universities Association CEO Piyushi Kotecha writes about the significance for harmonisation of a new regional masters curricula in climate change and development.
In Africa Features, Gilbert Nakweya highlights the way in which universities in Kenya and Uganda are struggling to meet their mandates in the context of funding shortfalls, while Sharon Dell outlines the implications for higher education of a recent national report on skills demand and supply in South Africa.
In a series on Transformative Leadership in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Sharon Dell reports from a meeting of the International Association of University Presidents on the importance of forging equal higher education partnerships to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the context of global inequalities.
In Global Commentary, Natalia Shmatko encourages Russian PhD holders to further develop international academic cooperation and in particular consider simultaneous mobility, where a researcher works for several organisations located in different countries at the same time and is based either in one of them or in the home country. And Anand Kulkarni writes that global university rankings and comparisons with China indicate that India needs to do more to spread excellence and become more internationally oriented in its higher education system. Read more...

By Michelle Paterson – Acting Global Editor. In Commentary, Hans de Wit and Philip G Altbach warn that there is a lot at stake for higher education in the upcoming US presidential elections, with dire consequences for international higher education if Donald Trump is elected. Backing this up, Mark Ashwill says there is a rising tide of concern about the potential negative impact of a Trump presidency on international student flows to the US, as he has evidenced in Vietnam.
Given the overall fiscal difficulty many governments are experiencing, Alex Usher suggests alternative ways that higher education institutions might continue to push for world-class status other than seeking funds.
In World Blog, Nita Temmerman shares feedback from a survey on what students found annoying about their lecturers, which proved to be a good learning experience, and at times amusing.
In our Transformative Leadership series, Rebecca C Conklin reports on a debate, organised by University World News within the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program conference, on whether universities are doing enough to foster young women’s transformative leadership.
Lastly, in Features, Robert Dragan says that one of the positive developments of the EdTech revolution is the potential for personalised learning which can serve to enhance the student experience. Also on the educational technology theme, Paul Rigg describes the Wow Room, a classroom of the future established at IE University in Spain. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Features, Tino Brömme and Barnaby Britten warn that free trade agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could intensify the pressures on public education of privatisation and commercialisation. Yojana Sharma says academics are concerned that US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric, including talk of building a wall between Mexico and the United States, could jeopardise higher education collaboration between the countries. Jason A Scorza says remembering to think about the future does not come naturally but academic leaders must take seriously their moral obligations to posterity for the sake of generations to come.
In Commentary, Natalia Shmatko encourages Russian PhD holders to further develop international academic cooperation and in particular consider simultaneous mobility, where a researcher works for several organisations located in different countries at the same time and is based either in one of them or in the home country. And Anand Kulkarni writes that global university rankings and comparisons with China indicate that India needs to do more to spread excellence and become more internationally oriented in its higher education system.
In World Blog, Richard Holmes provides some tongue-in-cheek advice on how North Korea could facilitate a rapid rise of its universities in the global rankings.
In a series on Transformative Leadership in which University World News is partnering with The MasterCard Foundation, Sharon Dell reports from a meeting of the International Association of University Presidents on the importance of forging equal higher education partnerships to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the context of global inequalities.
Lastly, in our Student View section, Casey O’Brien pleads with professors everywhere to make students work for their trips abroad to arm them with knowledge about the complexities of their host country. Read more...