Breaking News
EUROPE
Suvendrini Kakuchi
Academics have welcomed a European Commission decision in December to allow Japanese universities and companies to participate in Horizon Europe, the European Union’s flagship research and innovation funding programme, describing it as a vital platform for academics to combat fallout from shifting geopolitics.
UNITED STATES
Nathan M Greenfield
DENMARK-EUROPE
Jan Petter Myklebust
Top Stories
GLOBAL
Soft power goals are receding, security is a first-order issue
Simon Marginson
The multipolarity of global higher education provides conditions in which countries and universities in the Global South and East can move into shared global leadership. While global higher education was forged as a hegemonic zone, this has never been the only possibility.
GLOBAL
Richard Holmes
UNITED KINGDOM
Louise Nicol
UKRAINE
Andrew Misura
News
INDIA
Shuriah Niazi
A landmark policy report argues that India has the intellectual depth and institutional capacity to reimagine itself as a global higher education destination rather than a supplier of global talent in a period marked by the global disruption of traditional student mobility patterns.
AUSTRALIA
Shadi Khan Saif
EUROPE
Brendan O’Malley
UNITED KINGDOM-EUROPE
Brendan O’Malley
EUROPE
Nathan M Greenfield
EGYPT
Wagdy Sawahel
Egypt plans to establish an international university linked to global scientific and research networks as part of efforts to position the country as a regional hub for knowledge, innovation and high-quality higher education, capable of producing graduates able to compete in regional and global labour markets.
SWEDEN
Jan Petter Myklebust
A new collection of essays by local and international former PhD students at Swedish universities sheds light on their experiences of doctoral study. It also contributes to a broader understanding of what motivates international graduate students to leave or remain after graduation.
NIGERIA
Afeez Bolaji
Five months after Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education launched the Bridging Research, Innovation, Development and Global Engagement, or BRIDGE, initiative, the diaspora platform has begun to record progress. However, Nigerian scholars abroad remain concerned about problems with similar projects in the past, like political will.
Edtech, AI and Higher Education
GLOBAL
Simone Hackett and Mark Dawson
From AI tutors and virtual intercultural simulations to multilingual chatbots and bias-detection tools, new technologies are supporting students’ intercultural competence. But what do they mean for Collaborative Online International Learning, or COIL, where human connection, dialogue and cultural negotiation remain at the heart of the learning experience?
World Blog
UNITED KINGDOM
Eva Hartmann and Sangwoo Lee
A recent study examined whether demand for British transnational education, or TNE, around the world is being driven primarily by the global reputation of British higher education as a system, or by the prestige of individual degree-awarding institutions? The results presented something of an irony.
Internationalisation and Rankings in Gulf States
GULF STATES
Paul Cochrane
Qatar University has changed its approach to using rankings metrics and data to identify progress in areas that align more closely with national priorities, rather than being overly focused on climbing the rankings ladder as a means to attract talent and benchmark against peers.
Features
GLOBAL
Louise Nicol
The defining feature of the current crisis facing higher education in countries around the world is not declining enrolments or squeezed margins. It is the steady erosion of university autonomy by governments that no longer believe higher education institutions can regulate themselves.
Special Report: Education for Sustainable Development XII – Roles for AI
GLOBAL
AI is advancing sustainability by helping researchers to analyse complex systems, personalising learning, expanding education access through new tools, and generating insights for decision-making around sustainability. In this 12th in a series of special reports, University World News explores the growing roles for AI in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals.
GLOBAL
James Yoonil Auh
AI is becoming part of the cognitive and environmental infrastructure of education for sustainable development. Universities now face a critical choice: whether to let AI narrow sustainability learning to data and dashboards or to use it to deepen global, ethical and ecological understanding.
GLOBAL
Patrick Blessinger
The greatest potential of AI lies in its ability to help students become more aware of the world’s interconnectedness, make more sound ethical decisions, and be dedicated to sustainability. AI-based Education for Sustainable Development, or ESD, can empower students to tackle the sustainability challenges of our time.
GLOBAL
Kalinga Seneviratne
“Artificial intelligence will increasingly take on routine thinking,” is the personal view of Yew Soon Ong, professor of computer science at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “AI becomes a thinking partner that supports exploration while humans focus on curiosity, purpose, ethical judgment, and cross-disciplinary understanding.”
GLOBAL
Karen MacGregor
There is a “critical gap” in studies using AI for sustainability research – only a few combine both advanced AI applications and deep sustainability expertise – researchers found in a global study. “While expectations for AI’s transformative role in sustainable development are high, its full potential remains to be realised.”
Statement by the Editor
AUSTRALIA
A UWN Reporter
In response to a University World News World Round-up story, Professor Manuel B Graeber wishes to clarify that he contests the legitimacy of actions taken by the University of Sydney regarding his work contract, which he says was terminated after he made public interest disclosures.
Top Stories from the Last Edition
INDIA
Shuriah Niazi
The number of Indian students pursuing higher studies abroad has declined for the first time in three years, according to Indian government data, pointing to significant shifts in expectations, global opportunities, and constraints that are changing the pattern of overseas study among Indian students.
GLOBAL
John D Kenny
GLOBAL
Brendan O’Malley
INDIA-AUSTRALIA
Shuriah Niazi
EUROPE
Natalya Steane and Rami M Ayoubi
University staff tend not to describe their work in diplomatic terms. Most see themselves as educators, but they highlight their role as international ambassadors of their institutions. Yet their actions – building partnerships, facilitating mobility, nurturing global alumni – are undeniably diplomatic in effect.
GLOBAL
Alex Usher
The year 2025 has seen international higher education across the world grappling with monsters – from United States President Donald Trump and his administration, to neglect, declining institutional enrolment and technological changes. Higher education systems haven’t cracked just yet, but 2026 could hold a reckoning.
AFRICA
Wagdy Sawahel
African universities are increasingly integrating drone technology into education and research programmes, recognising its value for humanitarian work and as a tool for accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. However, some challenges are affecting the use of drones in higher education.
DENMARK-EUROPE
Jan Petter Myklebust
An international consortium coordinated by Aarhus University has secured the contract for European Institute of Innovation and Technology Water, an EU Knowledge and Innovation Community that has the potential to impact positively upon water issues worldwide with substantial funding for innovations and solutions.