International features (World in Focus)

Beijing wants to supercharge its nation’s universities as it has its railroads, but might its ambitions falter for want of academic freedom and cultural change?

19 December

The state is confronting student protest with an iron fist while promising to relax its grip on the academy. Jack Grove reports from the country

5 December

Post-Sandy Hook, hundreds of American college presidents are taking on the gun lobby. Amid the US’ increasingly febrile and evidence-free policy debates, does the campaign signal a return to the ‘bully pulpit’ for the American academy’s leaders? Jon Marcus reports

14 March

The visa process can trap students in a costly Kafkaesque limbo. To improve life for foreign scholars, the sector should halt its failed lobbying over policy and focus on publicising the misery caused by Byzantine bureaucracy, argues Simeon Underwood

21 February

Financial models that have stood firm for decades are failing, technological revolution is opening new doors and a growing middle class is creating unprecedented demand. At a time of extraordinary economic and demographic change, Elizabeth Gibney explores five trends that are transforming the face of global higher education

31 January

Ireland’s government expects consolidation to play a big role in creating a financially sustainable higher education system. As the sector pores over a new strategy document that will inform ministers, Matthew Reisz considers the shape of things to come

24 January

Ireland’s government expects consolidation to play a big role in creating a financially sustainable higher education system. As the sector pores over a new strategy document that will inform ministers, Matthew Reisz considers the shape of things to come

24 January

Austerity has brought tragedy to Greece and the UK. Martin McQuillan reflects on the narrative and ideology of ‘fiscal discipline’ and what it means for both nations and their academies

3 January

All eyes are on Brazil’s academy and its rising research output, generous funding and willingness to team up internationally in a bid to become a major player. Elizabeth Gibney reports from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

13 December

Spring is dawning in the Gulf and the UK academy’s links with the region’s repressive, anachronistic autocracies look increasingly questionable, says Christopher Davidson

6 December

Weary of cronyism, many in Italy welcomed a metrics-based research evaluation - until they saw the catalogue of approved publications, ‘crazy lists’ that ignored many journals in favour of provincial newspapers, religious circulars and yachting magazines. Massimo Mazzotti writes

8 November

Joanna Sugden reports from New Delhi on the challenges facing Western institutions seeking to gain a foothold in India

25 October

The UK sector’s growing involvement in offshore education includes everything from branch campuses and institutional partnerships to validation and franchising. David Matthews weighs the different models’ risks, rewards and rationales

18 October

Chile’s education minister says reform is coming at last to its costly, largely privatised academy - but at a ‘slower pace’. Will it satisfy those who joined widespread protests calling for affordable study? Elizabeth Gibney reports

On most indices, a comparison of the Welsh and Scottish academies shows that the latter holds the aces. As the Saltire soars, will mergers allow Wales to cope with the shock waves generated by England’s funding big bang? David Matthews reports

As students cram for scarce undergraduate places, private institutions proliferate and research outputs rise rapidly, will China’s impressive growth spurts bring gains in quality as well as quantity? Carolynne Wheeler reports from Beijing

In a competitive world, Japanese universities are realising the importance of internationalisation if they don’t want to get left behind. But culture change can be a slow and difficult process. Jack Grove reports from Japan

7 June

It may be the birthplace of the academy, but Greece’s now-dysfunctional higher education system is on its knees and in desperate need of reform, argues George Th. Mavrogordatos. However, the country’s politique du pire and its organised violence threaten the possibility of progress

24 May

As the fallout from the Arab Spring continues, David Matthews reports from Cairo on the birth - and troubled infancy - of the student union movement in Egypt

Ahead of Lord Woolf’s report on the scandal of the LSE’s links with Libya, Christopher Davidson examines the issue of UK university funding by Gulf autocracies in the light of the Arab Spring

27 October