World policy

The country’s leaders must recognise that emigration is not a betrayal but a symptom of deeper societal issues that must be addressed, says Roohola Ramezani

Scholars who win foreign scholarships will have no jobs to return to in Afghanistan if they decide to take them up, says an Afghan academic

The controversy over Dhankhar’s poor choice of words has overshadowed the wisdom of calling for poorer Indians to be better informed, says Pushkar

Civil servants appreciate a relational approach that responds to their needs and convenes evidence they will actually find useful, says Sally Hogg

Veterans face many barriers to attending university. Let’s give those who have served our country free access, says Zlatko Skrbis

The new administration must also adopt systemic measures to rebuild trust within the academic community, says Roohola Ramezani

A boom in international enrolments has brought many benefits, but public concerns about visa abuse are rising, says Kyuseok Kim 

Boosting access to higher education is important, but closures and mergers will create better institutions for students to attend, says Manigandan Ganesan 

Degrees taught in Hindi might play well with Modi fans but this shift risks IITs’ global reputation for producing outstanding graduates, says Eldho Mathews

Successive governments have a long history of suppressing freedom of speech, thought and association on campus, says C. Rashaad Shabab

The government must recognise that lower international revenues will make research costs unsustainable, says John Carroll

Ministry support will be vital, but a lack of political imperative could limit motivation, say Hyejin Kim, Erik Mobrand and Sylvia Schwaag Serger 

Students’ aspirations to succeed in the high-tech job market are reshaping Indian higher education, says Eldho Mathews

Reversing the gains made by the protests against a woman’s death in police custody could see the nation erupt again, says Roohola Ramezani

Leaders’ claims that their appointments owe nothing to their political affiliations are wide of the mark, says an observer

The troubled excellence initiative has approved only one new institution since 2020. Has the government lost interest, asks an observer

The BJP’s ideological pressure is causing religion and politics to intrude into academia, risking a disastrous brain drain, says Eldho Mathews

New legislation opens the way for quality-focused branches to drive up standards across a traditionally public HE sector, says Ianis Matsoukas

India’s surge in patent applications and awards resembles China’s pathway towards becoming a knowledge economy, says Pushkar

Historical ties and cultural cachet mean that even as outbound South Korean student numbers fluctuate, the US remains the top choice, says Kyuseok Kim

Amid creeping political influence over universities, both academics and students are oddly quiet, says Mukhtar Ahmad

The recent election result underlines that international student recruitment is encountering limits, both physical and political, says Michèle Wera

As academics are replaced by religious scholars, those that remain fear the worst, while student interest is plummeting, says an Afghan observer

Government retaliation against criticism could undermine not just the universities but also their founders’ businesses, says an Indian scholar

Young women’s mental health has been badly hit by the Taliban’s ban on their attending school or university, says a scholar in Afghanistan

Grouping the likes of Brazil or Argentina with much bigger spenders will only raise the barriers to publication even higher, say three researchers

The internationalisation process should centre on quality assurance – but this is not necessarily a top priority in post-conflict regions, says Michèle Wera

The changing nature of work and technology, as well as an evolving population and environment, call for a more inclusive system, says Alec Cameron

BJP ministers and supporters are largely limiting themselves to discrediting and suppressing evidence of government failings, says an academic

Rationalising resources is the official reason for proposed mergers, but Albanian history suggests a darker motive, says Arjan Shahini

While domestic student numbers are declining, India’s vast underserved student cohort offer solutions for both nations, says Kyuseok Kim

Working together to tackle specific teaching and research needs could seed high-quality research institutes, say Diya Dutt and Sudarshan Saha

It is proving difficult to accommodate even the fraction of South Sudanese students who have already made it back home, says Kuyok Abol Kuyok

Use of the CSAT is likely to increase US enrolment of South Koreans but could bode ill for some of the latter’s domestic institutions, says Kyuseok Kim

Climate income schemes can help institutions live up to declarations of a climate emergency, say Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs and Wolfram Möbius

Infrastructure might be repaired, but the loss of historical artefacts and Sudan’s reputation for safety are irreparable, says Kuyok Abol Kuyok  

It is widely accepted that Indian curricula need to become more relevant. Links with the business community are key, says Amarjit Singh

Ministers’ metric-based boasts about the country’s scientific prowess are belied by the reality, as a recent incident illustrates, says Roohola Ramezani

Aligning Kurdistan’s higher education system with European norms has given hope to Iraq’s students, but international help is still needed, say Aram Mohamad Qadir and Amanj Saeed

Many university graduates choose to remain unemployed rather than take a job they do not consider commensurate with their degrees, says Pushkar

Oversupply of poorly trained workers in some fields contrasts with undersupply in others. Universities and students need better information, says Pushkar

No policy initiative within research-intensive universities can be sustainable without researchers perceiving clear added value, says Sari Lindblom

Vice-chancellors must challenge populist ideas around who belongs to the nation and whether equity goals can end at its borders, says Srila Roy

Despite policy pushes, joint degrees remain a regulatory maze. The new European Degree might be the solution, says Kurt Willems

A lack of financial incentives, on top of academic freedom concerns, is likely to put off many overseas institutions, says Saikat Majumdar 

The Armenian government’s aborted attempt to amalgamate three universities has left a bad taste, says Karine Harutyunyan

Central government representatives are increasingly rejecting candidates selected by political foes in state governments, says Mukhtar Ahmad

Iranian academia was previously going through a phase of chronic depression in terms of socio-political activism, says Roohola Ramezani

The EU and the AU’s new innovation agenda is promising, but implementation will be a challenge, says Jan Palmowski

While students are exempt from Russia’s mobilisation, African students’ financial precarity leaves them open to pressure, says Ararat Osipian

The country’s cultural deference to authority means students lack the courage and the motivation to challenge current thinking, says Aus Abdulwahhab

What the country really needs is a common school and evaluation system that compensates for background inequalities, says Gowhar Rashid Ganie

Fine words in support of academic freedom are welcome, but deeds are also required, says Agnieszka Piotrowska

Ambitious plans announced at China’s National Congress will push elite universities towards supporting research spin-offs and graduate start-ups, says Hao Ni

Making appropriate decisions is difficult for students when information is scarce and inaccurate, say Kaibalyapati Mishra and Krishna Raj 

The economic downturn is beyond their control, but degree programmes could be better tailored to industrial need, says Wu Keming

The latest bribery scandal is a reminder that even as the country fights for its survival, bad habits persist, says Ararat Osipian

Studying images, rather than texts, would allow history students to better grasp colonised peoples’ agency, says Apurba Chatterjee

But affordability holds these non-profit innovators back from fully competing with top public institutions, say Philip Altbach and Eldho Mathews

The push for lifelong learning should revive the ‘I can’t decide which of these exciting subjects to study next’ model of learning, says Andy Grayson