Top Stories
GLOBAL
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Universities are ‘key enabler of all SDGs’, UN platform told
Nathan M Greenfield
A consensus statement on higher education’s role in “Building Sustainable Futures” has been approved by the participants in the Global Higher Education Symposium 2026, held on the sidelines of the UN’s High-Level Political Forum 2026 and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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INDIA
Shuriah Niazi
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PALESTINE
Tarek Abd Elgalil
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SOUTH AFRICA
Imraan Valodia
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News
AUSTRALIA
Shadi Khan Saif
Australia’s decision to triple the cost of its international student visa fee to help limit migration has triggered concern across the higher education sector, with universities and analysts warning the move could weaken the country’s appeal in an increasingly competitive global student market.
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SOUTH AFRICA-EUROPE
Desmond Thompson
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UNITED KINGDOM
Brendan O’Malley
A third of PhD students are dissatisfied with career guidance from their supervisors, at a time when academic roles are not keeping pace with the increase in the number of PhDs, according to a new report, published by the Higher Education Policy Institute in the United Kingdom.
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GLOBAL
A UWN Reporter
The Association of Commonwealth Universities – with 400 member universities in 40 countries – and the Institute of Leadership have announced a new strategic partnership designed to strengthen leadership capability across higher education and equip universities to navigate an increasingly complex and rapidly changing global environment.
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GERMANY-CUBA
Michael Gardner
ZaPF, an organisation representing departmental student councils in physics and related subjects in German-speaking countries in Europe, has published a resolution opposing the tightening of sanctions by the United States against Cuba, the country with the highest share of government spending on education in the world.
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Edtech, AI and Higher Education
GLOBAL
Muhammad Aamir Cheema
AI has stripped away the effort it once took to produce an academic paper, and with ‘publish or perish’ pressures, it is driving chronic over-publication. The uncomfortable response could be to limit how many papers each academic can publish, shifting focus from output towards the quality of scholarly work.
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World Blog
CHINA
Cheryl Yu
Transnational education, or TNE, in China is changing and operates differently in different institutions and regions. It continues to attract international universities but requires long-term commitment and a willingness to keep learning. In simple terms, we learn by doing, observing, thinking and then trying again.
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SDGs
SOUTHERN AFRICA
Birgit Schreiber, Nomalanga Mpofu Hamadziripi and Stephen Simukanga
A new landmark regional study by the Southern African Regional Universities Association calls for bolder leadership and national funding to transform research and advance societally impactful research in the Southern African Development Community, or SADC. The study is also a call to centre African knowledge.
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EUROPE
Saygi Ünlü
Sustainability is now everywhere in higher education. It has already entered the quality assurance agenda, but the response must be carefully calibrated. If it is too weak, sustainability will be superficial. If it is too strict, it will become yet another compliance exercise.
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AFRICA
Ngotho Gichuru
Transparent, just and merit-based promotion systems are not just a matter of human resource retention: they are about African universities’ ability to retain the intellectuals who are able to shape their graduates, their institutional futures and the future of the continent.
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Top Stories from Last Week
GLOBAL
Mohammad M Rahman
For decades the dominant story of higher education has been one of expansion. However, it is now entering a structural phase of contraction. To weather this change requires leadership that is willing to act early on the different choices available to them.
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CANADA
Rosemary Salomone
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GLOBAL
James Yoonil Auh
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EUROPE
Anna Przybylo-Józefowicz
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GLOBAL
Nathan M Greenfield and Suvendrini Kakuchi
Do cross-sectoral collaborations – with industry, government, the military or civil society – really serve the mission of the university, or do they perturb the university? Renowned chemist Jay Siegel put the question to panellists at the Association of Pacific Rim Universities Annual Presidents’ Meeting.
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EUROPE
Rebecka Lettevall, Annika Olsson and Andrea Petö
The idea of a unified and broadly aligned academic community defending academic freedom against external threats is misleading. It denies the reality of the ideological, professional and generational divisions that fundamentally shape how academic freedom is experienced. Acknowledging that makes us stronger.
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INDIA
Shuriah Niazi
In a major effort to boost India’s research capabilities and encourage top scientists of Indian origin to return from abroad, the government has launched the Prime Minister Research Chair Scheme offering substantial research funding, fellowships and institutional support to attract accomplished researchers.
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AFRICA
Emnet Tadesse Woldegiorgis
The gradual withdrawal of development-oriented funding by the German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD, has understandably generated concern across universities in Africa and beyond. Much of the debate has focused on what Africa stands to lose. That concern is justified. Yet, perhaps we are asking the wrong question.
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