Politics

Revolt by four-year campuses in US shows challenge of expanding federal role

Conservative mistrust of the existing research funding system demands a re-examination of its uneasy compromises, says John Womersley

Michael Murphy fears universities are now seen as being in ‘perpetual opposition’ by politicians

New figures raise question of whether government has thwarted progress on its own policy priority

As mistrust between the EU and UK deepens, politics could scupper British association to the next framework programme, says Jan Palmowksi

Augar response, TEF direction and research funding plans could all remain at a red light while UK goes to the polls

Talks unlikely to take place until referendum clarifies whether country will undergo its own ‘Brexit moment’

Ankara may be seeking long-term presence in Syria through campuses that will bring influx of non-Kurdish refugees, according to experts

UK and Switzerland risk missing out on beginning of €100 billion (£86 billion) programme, alongside potential newcomers Australia and Canada

Government Accountability Office says number of religious-based hate crimes in universities nearly doubled in eight years

As government takes interventionist stance, education experts call for deeper measures on social and institutional inequality

Commentators laud ‘exciting’ political pairing of seasoned bureaucrat and entrepreneurial icon

Federal institutions vow to fight back against Jair Bolsonaro’s restrictive policies

Alberta joins Ontario in cutting university funding and hiking tuition fees

Trump education chief resisted aiding students defrauded by for-profit college chain

Repository of research findings to help social scientists see ‘what we’re actually grappling with’

Investment will create 2,700 new PhD places in biosciences and AI research

Tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China students play out at universities

Chris Skidmore reiterates desire for UK to associate to Horizon Europe, but says negotiations are unlikely to begin until the second quarter of 2020

Liberals’ likely partners equally committed to reducing burden on graduates

Criticism grows as the government is accused of causing ‘unforgiveable havoc’ amid protests  

Julie Bishop tells Times Higher Education interview that Australia’s universities should rank better

If the point of missions is to win taxpayers’ support for an increased science budget, accountability will be vital, says Harry Farmer

Constitutional Council decision could strike a blow against expansion plan for international students and grandes écoles’ fees policy

Experts sceptical of free-college methods, but welcome party-wide commitment for 2020 poll

The REF is a prime example of the sort of elaborate, burdensome process that potentially adds comparatively little value

Cho Kuk and his wife, both professors, are accused of giving their children unfair advantage in a deeply competitive education system

Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser appears to have big plans for the research community, but his ‘scientist-as-hero’ vision may misunderstand the nature of modern scholarship

Revelations that a Chinese university suspended an academic for ‘moral misconduct’ provoked weeks of online controversy

Queen’s Speech raises question of whether Dominic Cummings would seek to reshape entire research funding system

Time, money, planning and monitoring are key to improving standards, say Eric Fredua-Kwarteng and Samuel Kwaku Ofosu 

Hepi poll finds students show little preference for £7,500 fee above £9,250 status quo, casting doubt on electoral benefit of plan

Green Paper under consideration to explore nature and scope of ‘mission’ approach, while funding increases under discussion could range to the ‘eye-popping’

‘Under these circumstances, high world rankings are just not going to happen,’ professor warns

Trump administration defied court order to protect former for-profit students

Munira Mirza claimed some academics wished to suppress intellectual freedom, in article written while working for King’s College London

Focus on graduate employment means universities will be judged on an issue over which they have limited control

Main political parties take different approaches to improving affordability of higher education

New Social Democrat administration drops annual 2 per cent saving target, but could end teaching subsidy for humanities and social sciences

Improved citation performance amid falling funding is the result of gaming, say Alberto Baccini, Eugenio Petrovich and Giuseppe De Nicolao

Some parliamentarians hope Bulgaria’s Mariya Gabriel will reshape the EU’s new research package to spread grants more evenly across the continent

Historically black colleges and universities in the US have never had the funding or the prestige enjoyed by many other institutions. Yet, argue Marybeth Gasman and Thai-Huy Nguyen, they may have much to teach us all about diversity

Julia Buckingham also aims to protect funding, as response to Augar review is debated

Graduate employment given double the weighting of other metrics in TEF-style assessments

Ministers expected to reject Augar fee cut plan, raising question of what will be election offer on university fees and funding

Chris Skidmore tells Tory conference meeting he wants UK research funding to emulate EU’s approach

Hesa data show how Labour’s 7 per cent proposal would potentially shake up the sector

History suggests that universities will lure students with the chance to repay fees via post-graduation work, says Peter Brady

Chris Skidmore says Augar review recommendation to cut tuition fees in England would lead to university closures

A cross-continental push to improve Europe’s best universities will make them more globally competitive, says Jan Palmowski

Cornell, New Mexico and Morehouse schemes highlight importance of debate at federal level, say experts

As governments around the world increasingly look to follow US states’ lead and link university funding to the recruitment, retention and employability of students, Paul Basken surveys the results of the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education US College Rankings 2020 for clues about the strategy’s effectiveness 

Weeks after Trump vow to strengthen HBCUs, key Republican senator causes row by tying funding to wider HE legislation

Fringe event also hears v-c complain that marketisation forces universities to ‘waste’ a ‘huge’ amount of money on marketing

University study centre ‘positive’ on Islam but not Christianity, objects senior Department of Education official

Lack of scholarly freedom in China threatens future progress for its universities and harms overseas partnerships, warns Scholars at Risk

Education secretary’s backing for subject-level exercise before publication of TEF review prompts university warnings of ‘significant diversion of staff time’

Capping universities’ intakes from private schools would require ‘highly controversial’ legislation on admissions, says one legal expert

Hong Kong Baptist University unrest comes as mass demonstrations in city pass 100-day mark, with major impact for universities

President Bolsonaro’s education cuts and opposition to racial quotas will hit current policies, says Marry Ferreira