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According to a new study carried out by the European University Association (EUA), rankings in higher education are rising in importance on the higher education institutions (HEI) governance. ESU considers this a worrying trend for higher education.
Following the publication Rankings in Institutional Strategies and Processes: Impact or Illusion (RISP), it becomes clear that HEIs are using rankings to inform strategic or managerial actions. They are also using the results for marketing purposes. ESU fears that this has focus has a negative impact on higher education. More...

The 17th of November International Day of Students was celebrated, recognised and commemorated across the globe in many ways, reflecting the diversity of students, their ambitions and history.
The day has particular significance for some European countries: On November 17th 1939 students protested the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, in 1973 students rose up against the military junta in Greece and in 1989 students in Bratislava and Prague started the Velvet Revolution. As we reflect on the many ways the day was marked we look at some of the activities organised by member unions of ESU. More...

NORWAY: The government has backed down from plans to introduce tuition fees. The Norwegian student union NSO celebrates victory after a strong campaign.
The Norwegian government had proposed that students from outside the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) pay fees to study at Norwegian universities and colleges. But after a well-fought campaign by the National Union of Students in Norway, the measure has been scrapped. More...

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has released the latest edition of its Best Student Cities rankings. These combine data in five categories:
Rankings which includes the number of universities in the QS World University Rankings and their overall scores in the rankings;
Student Mix comprising the number of students as a percentage of the city’s population, the number of international students at ranked institutions and their percentage of the student body and a tolerance and inclusion score based on the Social Progress Index;
Desirability, which used to be called “quality of living”, composed of a liveability index from the Economist, a globalization and world cities index from the University of Loughborough, and scores for safety, based on an inverted crime index, pollution and corruption;
Employer Activity based on data from the QS survey of domestic and international employers in the World University Rankings;
Affordability which includes indicators based on tuition fees, the Big Mac Index, the iPad index and the Mercer Cost of Living Index.
The top six are:
1.  Paris
2.  Melbourne
3.  London
4.  Sydney
5= Boston
5= Hong Kong
Source
TOPUNIVERSITIES. More...

A new report from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Ernst and Young (EY) has presented a vision of a world class university system but notes the grim realities of the present.
Source
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry: Press Release. More...

Times Higher Education (THE) announced yesterday that it will overhaul its World University Rankings. The magazine has ended its five-year partnership with data suppliers Thomson Reuters and will now use data from the Scopus database and the SciVal research analytics tool. The changes will also apply to the various offshoots such as the Asian University Rankings, the THE 100 under 50, the THE Reputation Rankings and the BRICS and Emerging Economies Rankings.
Sources
Times Higher Education
elsevierconnect. More...

The new Nature Index suggests that an emphasis on universities may exaggerate American research prowess. Research institutes such as the Spanish National Research Council and the Russian Academy of Sciences are very productive. The Index measures contributions to 68 top journals in the natural sciences. It is published by Nature Publishing Group and Digital Science and its contents were selected by panels of scientists headed by John Morton of University College London and Yin-Biao Sun of King’s College London and then confirmed by a survey.
Sources
Nature Publishing Group Press Release
Nature Index. More...

8th EUA-CDE Workshop - Regional Engagement and Doctoral Education
Hosted by Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France - 22-23 January 2015
Universities have the potential to play a key part in developing their regions, and many of them already do. Universities ensure local employers have a pool of candidates with the right skills and make sure that knowledge is circulated between universities, private companies and the public sector.
Doctoral education combines these elements of human resources development and knowledge transfer. Doctorate holders sustain or further develop research capacity within universities as researchers, but also in a number of other positions outside academia. Moreover, the research carried out by doctoral candidates can often directly benefit regional development. They work in collaboration with local industries, they provide knowledge to regional authorities and they add to the research expertise and capacity of the region. This close connection between doctoral education and the regions has gained importance as EU structural funds have become directed towards projects in research and innovation.
How do universities manage their regional role? What initiatives do they take, and how do they establish a continuous dialogue with their regional authorities? These are the questions that the 8th Thematic Workshop of the EUA Council for Doctoral Education will attempt to answer in Marseille 22-23 January 2015. The workshop will present in-depth examples and good practices in regional engagement for inspiration and for discussion. More...