Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Binod Ghimire. The government of Nepal has decided to add three more universities including an open university in an attempt to decentralise higher education as Nepal becomes a federal republic. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. A greater share of research funds should be spent on free research or researcher initiated projects rather than being prioritised for particular subjects, according to the Swedish Research Council, or SRC, in its contribution to the Löfven government’s white paper on the future of research. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. More than 150 names have been put forward for membership of the high level group of scientific advisors being created under a new system for providing independent scientific advice in European Commission, or EC, policy-making. Read more...

By Mary Beth Marklein. The much-anticipated scorecard is a watered-down version of the plan promoted two years ago, when President Barack Obama asked the Education Department to develop a ratings system that had the potential to embarrass colleges that received low scores and put at risk their eligibility to receive federal student aid money. Read more...

By Mushfique Wadud. The Bangladesh government last week caved in after countrywide protests by private university students and announced it would withdraw a VAT – or value added tax – levy on tuition fees of private universities, medical and engineering colleges that had been agreed in its budget this June. Read more...

By Martin Todd. LERU launched a new advice paper on the topic "Gendered Research and Innovation: Integrating sex and gender analysis into the research process" in Brussels last Wednesday. The report shows how gendered research and innovation, or GRI, is an under-recognised issue, which too often is not incorporated into the design, process, content and implementation of research. Read more...

By David Jobbins. A crucial change in methodology designed to even out the differences between research universities and universities with broader subject mixes has produced a significant upheaval in the 2015 QS World University Rankings, announced on September 15.
No university in the Top 20 in the rankings is unaffected, but the changes are not as dramatic as some observers had expected. Read more...

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Hans de Wit and Philip G Altbach encourage universities around the world to spring to action in support of Syrian refugees, offering suggestions as to what they can do to help. Anthony Welch says that promoting a moderate Muslim message of peace and understanding in Southeast Asian universities should weaken the appeal of Islamic extremism to impressionable young students.
In Features, Suvendrini Kakuchi highlights the resolve of Japanese students, who are normally subdued, to protest loudly against their government’s insistence on pushing a controversial set of national security bills through parliament. Yojana Sharma says that compulsory military training for Chinese university students before the start of term appears to be less militaristic and physically demanding than in the past and has become more like a form of patriotic education, but discontent is rising. And Wachira Kigotho reports on a study which showed that the United States is by far the most popular destination country for prospective international students from Sub-Saharan Africa.
In our World Blog, Margaret Andrews suggests that competition for traditional top-ranked business schools might come from places one might not expect, like training firms and online content providers.
In a Special Report, Karin Goodwin covers the annual conference of the European Association of International Education which took place in Glasgow, Scotland, last week. Read more...