By Karen MacGregor. “Any wasted neuron on this planet is a waste for humanity,” says Professor Jelel Ezzine, president of the Tunisian Association for the Advancement of Science, Technology and Innovation. When people are non-educated, problems are generated – locally and globally. Read more...
Strategy session in a box – Part one
By Margaret Andrews. In a great 2013 article, “We’re All to Blame for MOOCs”, Professor Patrick J Deneen from the University of Notre Dame in the United States pointed out how so many higher education institutions are susceptible to becoming obsolete as MOOCs – massive open online courses – take hold. Read more...
Skills and research – Are universities relevant enough?
By Yojana Sharma. Politicians and policy-makers have been putting pressure on universities, insisting on relevance of both research and teaching. They argue that universities must respond better to national economic and social needs in their research; and to the labour market by turning out employable students. Read more...
University partnerships are vital to China’s ambitions
By Yojana Sharma. China is using international university partnerships to cement its regional and global position, making higher education a jumping-off point not just for research collaboration but also for city to city and industrial partnerships. Read more...
Can internationalisation be a negative force?
By Brendan O'Malley. Universities around the world are continuing to internationalise at an ever faster pace. They want their students to have trans-continental horizons when it comes to the world of work, and are hungry to be involved in worldwide research collaborations. Read more...
Why China’s HE system has 'feet of clay'
By Jingyi Dong. I was interested to read the recent University World News article by Philip Altbach, "China's Glass Ceiling and Feet of Clay". By "feet of clay" he meant that "China has developed an unbalanced higher education system". Read more...
Global learning for global citizenship
By Hilary Landorf. Florida International University, or FIU, has been recognised for innovation in preparing its students for living and working in an increasingly diverse world. Read more...
Making US-Cuba academic cooperation a reality
By Clare Banks. Later this month US President Barack Obama will visit Cuba as yet another step forward in the historic warming of United States diplomatic relations with the country. Read more...
A ‘third force’ in higher education student activism
By Nico Cloete. South Africa has a long history of ‘third forces’: the communists, the Central Intelligence Agency, the neo-liberal global conspiracy and, most recently, even the United States ambassador – who laughed when presented with this theory, although he has to admit that the two concrete bunker embassies in Pretoria and Cape Town at least look sinister. Read more...
Fewer school leavers qualified to enrol at university
By John Gerritsen. Provisional figures show changes to New Zealand's University Entrance, or UE, standard have cut the number of school-leavers qualified to enrol in the country's universities by several thousand for the second year in a row. Read more...