Politics

Leading anglophone nations risk squandering hard-built reputation for welcoming international students, say sector leaders

Businesses encouraged to fund roles equivalent to master’s degree level outside levy system as government focuses on creating new opportunities for younger people

Science minister says he took job in DSIT because he ‘didn’t feel like shutting up’

Institutions must focus on creating ‘well-rounded’ individuals equipped with both skills and knowledge needed for technological-driven world, according to academic-turned-politician

Planning cuts of more than €1 billion (£840 million), ministers opt to save academic positions and instead target ‘starter’ grants

Sussex leader tells ministers to go further than declaring war against universities is over

Increased support for students ‘has to be a part’ of Labour’s thinking on improving access, Baroness Smith tells party conference

Top universities have feasted on international students this year while other institutions withered

Outgoing Erasmus University Rotterdam president discusses the underappreciated value of the social sciences, managing student protests and the differences between Dutch and German higher education

Union calls for increase in corporation tax to address university funding difficulties

Critics question upfront expense, cost effectiveness, timeline and viability of Waikato proposal

Lord Johnson ‘extremely pleased’ by change of tone on international recruitment from new government

Administrators’ tolerance for ‘unacceptable’ behaviour tempered by ‘politicised’ winds, witnesses suggest

Success of anti-immigration AfD in Saxony and Thuringia alarms German sector

State must step in, according to submissions to major university review

Passions run deep, as views on proposed commission of inquiry split mostly along political lines

Wary of backing a ‘toxic’ big rise in fees, vice-chancellors are coalescing around a demand for more public subsidy for higher education instead. Despite the cost, could this option be more palatable for Labour?

Caps proposal sparks public spat among political stablemates, as analysis of social media chatter suggests student sentiment is plunging

Ursula von der Leyen names Ekaterina Zaharieva as European commissioner for start-ups, research and innovation

University umbrella groups welcome report’s emphasis on research while critiquing some proposals

College closures and job losses ‘inevitable’ as enrolment caps loom and visa waits lengthen

Latest Home Office figures show number of sponsored study visa applications from dependants has fallen by over 80 per cent since restrictions were introduced

Chi Onwurah and Helen Hayes elected to lead key committees for higher education sector

Senate committee inquiry extended as members scrutinise impacts on vocational colleges

Radical proposal to overhaul admissions to the UK's research-intensive universities would tackle ‘elite formation’, say LSE and Oxford professors

The UK’s austerity-fixated new government is highly unlikely to find significant extra money for universities, says Andrew McRae

Both sides of Australian politics need to stop treating universities as ‘a political pawn’

UK prime minister blames previous government for state of higher education sector, as his government continues to consider options for solving funding crisis

Graduates now keenly aware of loan scheme rules and how to avoid debt blowouts, figures suggest

Financial challenges facing institutions mirror those plaguing Treasury, asserts PhD-bearing science secretary, who jokes he ‘wouldn’t wish a doctorate on my own worst enemy’

Proposed Australian caps show how quickly policy environment can change, says new Manchester v-c, who has just made the switch from Down Under

Former universities minister agrees with King’s principal that ‘now is the moment’ for fee increase

Serving minister and former prime ministerial aspirant to lead capital city university

Regional institutions hope to benefit as they are handed quotas higher than current numbers at expense of rich Group of Eight universities. But will effect of the policy merely put students off Australia altogether?

Universities minister acknowledges ‘financial peril’ faced by UK higher education sector but insists potential remedies will ‘take time’

Universities should reflect upon the intellectual life and sacrifices of South Africa’s student activists as they mark milestones, says Mashupye Maserumule 

Commission needs standalone portfolio for research and innovation or Europe could lose ‘competitive edge’, prize winners warn

Latest figures showing that growth has fallen to lowest level in decades should be a ‘wake-up call’ for government, says Universities Australia

Author of report seeking to shape spending priorities says MPs should spend more time consulting the ‘people who know most about a subject’

Scheme that places researchers at heart of policymaking set to be expanded, but can evidence-based advice really make a difference in heat of politics?

Vice-chancellors can often overestimate the savings from institutional mergers and underestimate their complex challenges, says Malcolm Prowle

Academics question why some universities should be pushed to the wall while others swell their intake

Strategic silence of vice-chancellors within our national debate is a mistake when the quest for truth is so central to academia, argues Sir Geoff Mulgan

But flaws in controversial bill are already creating problems, according to top legal scholar and university leader

Metric used to inform new policy adds to confusion for top-ranked institutions while other vice-chancellors welcome ‘certainty’ provided by their allocations

Newly announced quota ‘like a levy by stealth’, analyst says, as universities evaluate the impact at institutional level

No currently enrolled students will be disadvantaged, bureaucrat insists, despite quarrels over data and assessment that bill ‘is more suited to national security legislation’

With a six-month sunset and short-term contracts off the table, administrators can no longer rely on insecure teachers for certainty

Security expert questions the approach, amid reports of Australia’s first ‘nationality ban’

Canberra yet to clarify future of ‘ministerial direction 107’ despite touting enrolment caps as a replacement

New Labour government believes decade-long budgets will lead to more industry investment in science and fewer precariously employed researchers, but not everyone is so convinced

Universities of all types are embracing the earn-while-you-learn qualifications but government can do more too, says Exeter’s vice-chancellor Lisa Roberts

Speculation over imagined backstabbings and betrayals is rife but the joining of two of Australia’s universities is more of a meeting of minds than clash of clans, insist vice-chancellors Peter Høj and David Lloyd

Vice-chancellor says it is ‘fine’ for international students to make up nearly half of Melbourne’s enrolments

University lobby demands revocation of ‘ministerial direction 107’, after education minister insists student quotas will be a ‘better mechanism’

Security body cautions agents against unpatriotic messaging as Chinese applications receive greater international scrutiny

Short-stay students should be exempted from both quotas and fee hike, says representative body

Student-led downfall of autocratic leader has catalysed national conversation about the place of politics on university campuses typically beset by violence 

City dwellers appreciate international students’ economic contribution but think they add to housing unaffordability

Baroness Smith suggests new UK government will not bail out at-risk institutions but says she wants to secure ‘financial stability’ of sector