World policy

New programmes must dovetail with higher technical qualifications and higher apprenticeships, says Graham Baldwin

Links to journals’ genuine websites should be added to the government’s database of reputable publishing outlets, says Rameez Mahesar

Unreliable internet connections and underdeveloped pedagogies will blunt the potential impact of online options, says Mukhtar Ahmad 

Emilia Şercan has exposed a vast array of senior public officials for plagiarising their theses, writes Július Kravjar

The 10-year Idex process to reconfigure French universities and make them more internationally visible has reached its conclusion, writes John Ludden

The attempt to improve the country’s universities was stuttering even before the war broke out, says Ararat Osipian

A scandal over unfair appointments of lecturers to the civil service should spark a broader pushback against nepotism, says Fistra Janrio Tandirerung 

Requiring 60 per cent of graduates to go into managerial or professional roles ignores the reality of creative careers, says Bashir Makhoul

Kick-starting a conversation on national funding levels is useful, but collaboration on frontier-led research needs attention, says Jan Palmowski

Adapting and adopting US approaches to commercialisation offer an opportunity for the UK, says Chris Loryman

Enlisting miscreants to help improve understanding of contract cheating, as part of their punishment, could be a way forward, says Kholah Yaruq Malik

Funding for green campuses, levelling up and international links would be a gift from Santa Rishi Sunak to himself, too, says Nick Isles

Diversifying income stream also makes institutions less exposed to possible government cuts, say Ian Matthias and Mike Boxall

The country’s conservative government is wary of academia’s social influence and values, but a ministerial letter offers hope, says Agnieszka Piotrowska

Both industry and academia in New Zealand need people who can look past traditional subject boundaries, says Catherine Whitby

Would a seventh European Court ruling against Rome really force a change in attitude, asks David Petrie

Despite their above-average employability, engineering students are hampered by poor-quality provision, says Pushkar

When observance of university rules is subservient to internal political considerations, standards and fairness suffer, says Afroz Shah

A pan-European document could also boost institutional autonomy, budgets, policy visibility and common problem-solving ability, says Jan Palmowski

Amid languishing quality, introducing what could be a more expensive curriculum to deliver may not boost employability, says Pushkar

The EU’s massive cash injection with double Italy’s languishing higher education budget, says Ferruccio Resta

Even with automated translation technology, perfecting course materials in multiple languages will take time, says Mukhtar Ahmad

The election of the University of Ghana’s first female vice-chancellor has been overshadowed by unwanted political meddling, says Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua

Any savings on the student loan book will be dwarfed by the costs of making retraining harder, says Jo Johnson 

Dharmendra Pradhan faces an uphill struggle to implement the new National Education Policy, says Mukhtar Ahmad

A post-qualification applications system is the best way to ensure equity in admissions, says Sasha Roseneil

Initiatives on mental health and sexual harassment are welcome, but racial discrimination also demands greater attention, says David Mba

Software tools need to be properly valued for their vital role in facilitating research, say Bilal Mateen and Tariq Khokhar

When the country embarks on recovery from its brutal second Covid wave, public spending on universities is unlikely to be a priority, says Pushkar 

Policy should focus more on research’s benefits to a region than on where it is conducted, say Sarah Chaytor, Grace Gottlieb and Graeme Reid

Downgrading doctoral candidates to a master’s track raises questions about admissions and supervision standards, says Zhang Ruomei

A decline in admissions standards suggests that foreign outposts will have to up their marketing game, says Hongqing Yang

Poor incentives and oversight mean too many doctoral supervisors are unqualified or negligent, say Mehvish Riaz and Muhammad Rizwan Riaz

Government concern has not yielded concrete steps to address chronic faculty shortages and adjunctification, says Pushkar

The promise of the new lifelong learning loan allowance is undermined by the insistence on separate and impermeable tracks, says Tim Blackman

Pakistan’s labour shortages illustrate that well-rounded graduates also need to be properly prepared for specific industries, says Tahir Shah

Evidence shows that universities outside the golden triangle are among the best at creating successful companies, says Brian McCaul

Encouraging pandemic-hit graduates to continue their studies will only delay problems unless universities embrace student employability, says Sabrina Wang

Legislation is urgently needed to ensure good governance and fair pay and conditions, says Nahid Neazy

It makes no sense for universities to control all pre-specialism, hospital-based training, says Fistra Janrio Tandirerung

Gavin Williamson’s directive will embolden other groups to demand the enforcement of their interests by ministerial fiat, says Geoffrey Alderman

Regulation of international branch campuses can be onerous, but China has begun to show flexibility in areas of national strategy, says Hongqing Yang

Some locked-down students have no electricity at home, never mind broadband service, say Abdur Rehman Cheema and Mehvish Riaz

The establishment of online learning and the routine use of email were long overdue, argues Ali Adnan Mohammed

The country’s deep belief in cooperation coexists with a quiet opportunism about recruitment and funding, say Tim Seidenschnur and Georg Krücken 

Chinese universities’ pursuit of excellence with socialist characteristics aims to put them in the company of Harvard and Oxford, says Futao Huang

Recent attacks on high-profile scholars by government and by a university executive should give us pause, say Christopher Vaughan and Daniel Ncayiyana

The focus on conducting research in independent institutes is holding the country back, say four academics

Confining students with disabilities to ‘special-education castles’ within Chinese universities does not provide true opportunity, says Zhang Yuexin

System consolidation, regulatory simplification and undergraduate flexibility are positive steps, says Pushkar

Despite Auckland’s lockdown, the country’s handling of Covid-19 is increasing its attractiveness to students, says Roger Smyth

The Research Australia report has exposed the fault lines in health research funding, says Ross Coppel 

Falling staff-student ratios and low quality in some graduate programmes are prompting concern that more will mean worse, says Zhang Ruomei

Academic research is not having any significant impact on the national economy or health of society, laments Tahir Shah

There’s no evidence that lower fees will lead to more enrolments, and employability for ‘work relevant’ degrees is low, says Gavin Moodie

The government and universities are not doing enough to protect their students from the effects of the lockdown, says Futao Huang

Doctoral graduates’ occupation of Higher Education Ministry will do little by itself to solve a structural problem, says Kenneth Nsah

Historical data from New Zealand give cause for optimism on student demand. But how much is unclear, says Roger Smyth

A plan to put foreign students in supervised quarantine before studying could rescue international programmes, says Roger Smyth

England’s main skills challenge is not over-education but preparing workers for the emerging economy, says Tim Blackman