Austere European governments should keep the razor away from education and research, because it’s “growth-friendly expenditure”, according to the EU president. With European governments cutting tertiary education budgets in response to the global financial crisis, the continent’s universities have warned ...
More »Diversify or die
The financially threatened universities of Europe need more autonomy so that they can diversify their income streams – but staff are worried that new income streams will threaten their academic autonomy. Co-funding arrangements could be the biggest threat to the ...
More »China decline to get worse than India
China won’t prop up student flows to Australia any more, new data suggests. New student numbers will slump this year from all the top international education markets, with China now well and truly in decline as a source country, according ...
More »Indian students now safe: Delhi minister
The federal government’s efforts to improve international student safety didn’t impress many in the sector, but they appear to have satisfied the Indian government. Indian students in Australia no longer feel concerned about their personal safety, says the country’s External ...
More »Excess of graduates the spark that fired up Tunisia
The Tunisian government brought itself undone by over-investing in tertiary education, according to a Wall Street commentator – and there are lessons for the West. The recent popular uprising in Tunisia – and a potential domino effect in other authoritarian ...
More »Ireland looks to Australia in higher education revamp
HECS-style loans and technology universities are to be part of Ireland’s 20-year strategy, writes Annette Blackwell. An Australian-style fee-loan system is one of the main proposals of a report into higher education in Ireland. The idea has been tossed around ...
More »Uneven paying field
To fee or not to fee? It’s a question that elicits very different responses across Europe. And the differences are hampering brain circulation in a continent where collaboration is the name of the game, writes John Ross “Universities say one ...
More »Survey shows foreign students seek scholarships
The number of foreign students in Australia who were very highly satisfied with their overall study experience is down another 10 per cent since last year. Scholarships are increasingly imperative to prospective foreign students when choosing the country and institution ...
More »Sweden’s hubs with no tax perfect for students
A 2009 roundtable said Australia’s government should consider “hubs” for international students, and the Baird review agreed. Yet, Sweden’s Uppsala University has been doing hubs for nearly 400 years. Sweden’s got a lot of great qualities. But the price of ...
More »Looking out for the curriculum
Time abroad reaps benefits for staff and students at a UK university Associate Professor Betty Leask started her talk by sharing a recent dream. In a nutshell, she had dreamed she found herself floating/falling behind a glass wall, on the ...
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