World policy

Australia’s new impact assessment exercise recognises cultural, social and environmental impacts, but there is a danger that economic impact will override everything, says David Lloyd

A single, comprehensive policy and funding infrastructure for UK tertiary education would empower learners and encourage innovation, say Paul Woodgates and Mike Boxall

The apparent defeat of Australia’s latest attempt at higher education funding reform prolongs the agony for both universities and ministers, says Conor King

Trump has little in the way of strategy on higher education, but the sector could still suffer collateral damage in the president’s desperate search for a legislative win, says John Aubrey Douglass

The populist New Zealand First party’s anointing of Jacinda Ardern as prime minister will have big consequences for tertiary education, says Roger Smyth

Contrary to the cultural meme, Canadian graduates in all subjects earn far more, on average, than coffee shop workers, say Ross Finnie, Richard Mueller and Arthur Sweetman

The research excellence framework’s panels will look at factors including adventurousness, disciplinary diversity and methodological clarity, predicts Martin Willis

Teaching students to attribute their failures to factors within their control can lead to big gains, say Rodney Clifton, Gabor Csepregi and Masha Krylova

Universities must support those responsible for the impact case studies that will carry so much weight in the next research excellence framework, says Jonathan Grant

PSL’s high entry position in the THE World University Rankings reflects one of the ambitions of France’s programme of mergers, say John Ludden, Philippe Le Prestre and Jean-Marc Rapp

The ending of Murdoch University’s agreement with its staff over employment conditions could herald a rougher ride for university staff, says Gavin Moodie 

A national postgraduate admissions system would allow universities to improve planning, enhance student satisfaction and widen participation, says Michelle Morgan

Universities should play a key role in teaching Canadians about their nation’s racist past and the possible ways to redress it, says Glen Jones

Singaporeans are starting to question the benefit of recruiting so much global research talent, say Pang Eng Fong and Linda Lim

Remuneration committees should pay less attention to other institutions when setting their leaders’ pay, says Nick Hillman

Australian legislation proposes to lower the country’s generous loan repayment threshold – but some argue that it should rise even higher, says Andrew Norton

Without more research funding, senior Indonesian academics are unlikely to be able to meet new government-imposed publication standards, says Martin Surya Mulyadi

Financial issues are not the central barriers to increased university access in Canada. It is cultural factors that must be tackled, say Ross Finne, Athur Sweetman and Richard Mueller

University leaders dismayed by factual holes in the revived debate over tuition fees should respond with some broad brush strokes of their own, says Andy Westwood

The $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a huge opportunity to build academic capacity in Pakistan, say Abdur Rehman Cheema and Muhammad Haris

The western provinces’ French-speaking universities reinforce a Canadian identity that is bilingual and multicultural, say Gabor Csepregi and Rodney Clifton

UK universities’ complacency in the good times has left them ill-equipped to respond to falling postgraduate master’s enrolment, says Michelle Morgan

Demand-driven funding in higher education but not vocational education will distort both provision and student choice, says Peter Noonan

His experiences on a panel reviewing Canadian grant allocation has convinced Jonathan Grant that the evidence base for current practice needs serious reinforcement

New leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, Andrew Scheer, promises research grant cuts to universities that offer safe spaces or speaker bans, says Creso Sá

A student funding system in Ontario that brings together sources of financial help will be watched closely by other provinces seeking to increase access, says Glen Jones

Removing the cap on subsidised sub-bachelor’s places in public universities will pull the rug out from under technical and further education providers offering similar qualifications, says Gavin Moodie

While the Higher Education and Research Act seeks to level the playing field between providers, an unregulated category could spook future politicians and see the law retightened, says Nick Hillman

Australian policymakers have moved to link funding to student retention. But they must accept that desirable trends don’t all arise in perfect harmony, says Andrew Norton

Conservative politicians emboldened by the president’s election could exact the heaviest toll on higher education, says Matthew Hartley

Research is a complex ecosystem; focusing on instrumental impacts alone fails to give the full picture of how advances are made, say Laura Meagher and Ursula Martin

While universities in parts of the West worry about immigration crackdowns, favourable political winds are allowing Canada’s institutions to flourish

Horizon 2020 could have more success getting technologies off the ground if it does not neglect the basic work that sparks breakthroughs, say Geert de Snoo, Floor Frederiks, Peter Lievens and Katrien Maes

Universities must play a major part in the emergence of the new technical education sector envisaged in the chancellor’s recent Budget, says Andy Westwood

Higher education funding from US state governments has always been volatile, but reforms to healthcare could put public universities’ income under even greater pressure, says Will Doyle

There is a growing recognition in Australia that the future of higher education must be considered alongside what happens to its struggling technical and further education sector.

The ‘indigenisation’ of Canada’s academy has had many positives, but some scholars are uneasy about universities’ reluctance to challenge native beliefs about the world, say Rodney Clifton and Gabor Csepregi

Less than a quarter of the country’s university research is curiosity-driven, and an assessment of impact is also in the offing, says Gavin Moodie

To avoid getting caught up in anti-establishment populism, UK science needs to pay attention to the shifts in public perception, says Jonathan Grant

Living next to the US is like sleeping with an elephant. But will the election of a divisive president see more Americans pack their trunks and trump, trump, trump up to Canada? asks Glen Jones