International News

China: Rising revolt wave

A series of victories for student-led activism against controversial professors suggests that the cult of the supervisor in China is increasingly being challenged. A 123-page report of evidence compiled by…

Russia: Plagiarist politicians pandemic

Researchers have exposed widespread Ph D plagiarism among Russian regional governors, which they say is part of a broader culture of academic corruption in a country where ghostwriters are routinely…

Australia: Agonising visa delays

Dozens of Pakistani students have been waiting up to 30 months to learn whether they will be allowed into Oz for doctoral studies as the pandemic exposes Australia’s dismissive treatment…

Pak Knowledge City: widespread scepticism. Inset: Imran Khan

Pakistan: Knowledge city mirage

Experts are sceptical of the merits and feasibility of the Pakistan government’s plan to create a new ‘knowledge city’. Prime minister Imran Khan tweeted that it was his “dream to…

United Kingdom: Rising redundancies wave

UK universities have made thousands of staff redundant since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Data, obtained by educational platform Edvoy using Freedom of Information requests and seen by Times…

United States: Research partnerships cloud

US research universities have tempered hopes for a Biden administration boost in their budgets and overseas partnerships, seeing security and political complications well beyond Donald Trump’s anti-science and nativist antagonisms.…

United States: Closed schools fallout

Closed schools are bad for all children, but especially bad for poor and disadvantaged pupils. This basic pattern recurs wherever and whenever researchers look for it — in the wake…

Germany: Work students woes

Students looking for part-time work are often caught between two less-than-ideal options. When they need extra money, they can take on low-skilled part-time work, such as stacking shelves in a…

Global: Tough choices time

For children themselves, Covid-19 is not a big threat. They usually have mild symptoms or none at all. Among children with symptoms, only 0.1 percent of those younger than ten…

United States: Google short-cut

University leaders Are watching closely after Internet behemoth Google jumped deeper into post-secondary education, offering six-month certificate programmes in technical fields that it promises to treat in its hiring as…

China: Liberalisation winds

For children from bottom-of-pyramid households, China’s infamous gaokao, a punishingly hard university-entrance exam taken by over 10 million students every year, offers the only chance to escape a life toiling…

United States: Police education initiatives

As the US continues to reckon with a string of deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers, attention is turning to a new focus: institutions that…

India: Academia inhibitions

A report sent to the United Nations warns that greater precarity of academic employment poses a threat to academic freedom in India, with scholars on insecure contracts potentially less willing…

Chinese universities: Internationalisation problems

Chinese universities must better integrate overseas students on their campuses and give them the freedom to develop a sense of responsibility if the country is to realise its goal of…

Germany: Trojan horse fears

The University of Hamburg has decided to cut ties with its Confucius Institute (more than 500 institutes have been established by communist China around the world to teach Chinese language…

United Kingdom: A levels U-turn problems

Universities in the UK have warned that they might not be able to find a place for every eligible student this autumn despite the lifting of caps on numbers to…

United States: Alarming pandemic depression

The share of US postgraduate students suffering depression has more than doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a major survey of students at nine public research universities. A survey…

Global: IT companies threat

One of the world’s most influential voices on higher education policy says tuition fees should be cut after coronavirus lockdowns removed the key reason students attend university — to meet…

Global: Massive pandemic cost

Of the 1.5 billion children forced out of school by lockdowns around the globe, 700 million are in developing countries. Like pupils in rich countries, their education is suffering. But…

United Kingdom: History revisionism debate

In his four years as UK’s education secretary, Michael Gove has learned that no subject on the curriculum is as contentious as history. As he acknowledged in a speech in…

China: Student bargaining chips

China has taken a much more assertive — some would say aggressive — global position in recent months as it defends itself against criticism on a host of issues, from…

United States: Remediation strategies

Last year Kiana Jones took a summer job at a trampoline park, supervising birthday parties and keeping an eye out for overzealous bouncers. This season Ms Jones, an undergraduate in…

United States: Reopening hesitation

US university leaders have been accused of “suffering from magical thinking” about their hopes of reopening campuses this autumn, as coronavirus cases surge across the country. Institutions have been forced…

Australia: International students dollar woes

The abrupt halt to international travel is more painful for Australian universities than their counterparts in other English-speaking countries, because they lean more heavily on revenue from foreign students. More…

Asia: Varsities normalcy preparations

In some parts of Asia, masked but cautious students and faculty are beginning to fill up classrooms, laboratories and dormitories once more. If the spread of Covid-19 continues to be…

United states: Digital education urgency

While publicly dangling possibilities and preparations for campus reopenings, US colleges must keep a serious internal focus on strengthening their remote learning options, advises their chief quality assurance advocate. US…

Europe: Cautious re-opening plans

First-year students are set to be a priority across Europe when campuses tentatively reopen in autumn (September), to avoid an increase in dropout rates — but low reliance on tuition…

The Asia Rankings: Chinese varsities dominate

Of all the regions covered by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Asia has arguably advanced the most in terms of higher education in recent years. Three Asian universities…

France: Falling confidence in scientists

A survey has revealed that the French public has lost confidence in scientists during the coronavirus pandemic, largely because of a policy U-turn over face masks and the antics of…

China: Unemployment spectre fears

“Graduation equals unemployment has long been a common saying in China (the nouns share a character). It is often used in jest by university students as final exams loom. But…

Hong Kong: Covid research grants

Hong Kong’s two medical schools, which have been important critical voices in global public health policy, have received significant government support for 26 studies related to Covid-19. The Health and…

Global: Shifting country preferences

A wide variation in different countries’ success in tackling Covid-19 could lead to major winners and losers in the coming battle to recruit international students, it has been predicted. Perceptions…

Australia: Varsities cost-cutting spree

Job security is emerging as the key battleground as Australian universities strive to offset the billions of dollars the Covid-19 crisis is costing them. Universities are scrapping construction and refurbishment…

United Kingdom: Public-private schools divide

Lucian Stiopu watches his son cycle round Central Park in Peterborough. Before the government imposed a lockdown, he says, the boy would spend about nine hours a day at primary…

United Kingdom: Social sciences major role

The voices of epidemiologists and public health experts have inevitably dominated initial responses to the coronavirus crisis. This has meant that other disciplines have been sidelined and risk being shut…

United States: Financial turmoil season

US college students are stepping up demands for partial tuition refunds for the spring semester, with a growing number pursuing legal action against institutions they accuse of overstating virus-related financial…

Thailand: Deadly sports education

The death of Anucha Thasako was supposed to change everything. After several sharp blows to the head during a Thai boxing bout in 2018, the scrawny 13-year-old fell to the…

Russia: Subtle clampdown

One of Russia’s leading universities has banned its academics and students from identifying their institutional position when making public political statements. This ban is being interpreted as a further erosion…

Germany: Chinese conditions row

A leading German university has been plunged into scandal after it emerged that it had signed a contract binding it to abide by Chinese law while accepting hundreds of thousands…

United States: Entrance tests controversy

Like any hotbed of scholarly activity, the University of California (UC) is no stranger to rows. Recently a debate over the use of SATS and ACTS, tests used in college…