Current
Current

Philip G Altbach and Hans de Wit, published in University World News, 07 September 2018 Issue No:519
There is a crisis in academic publishing – too much pressure on top journals, too many books of marginal quality, the rise of predatory journals and publishers that publish low or marginal quality research and tremendous pressure on academics worldwide to publish.
The first industrial revolution saw the emergence of the steam engine and iron and textile industries. Electricity, gas and oil, the telephone and telegraph, automobile and plane were introduced as part of the second industrial revolution. The third industrial evolution was the era of electronics, the computer and nuclear energy.
Article by Nelishia Pillay, University World News, 12 June 2018 Issue No:511

Mail & Guardian, An article by Sean Mfundza Muller 25 Jan 2018
During his successful quest to win Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, Donald Trump told the state’s voters that colleges are fleecing taxpayers and enriching Wall Street.
“What a lot of people don't know is that universities get massive tax breaks for their massive endowments,” he told a crowd in suburban Philadelphia. “These huge multibillion-dollar endowments are tax-free, but too many of these universities don't use the money to help with tuition and student debt. Instead, these universities use the money to pay their administrators, or put donors' names on buildings, or just store the money away. In fact, many universities spend more on private equity fund managers than tuition programs.”
Article by David Sirota and Josh Keefe on 10 May 2017, Newsweek

To many of us in academia, social media is nothing more than a nuisance. Something we try to ignore, at best tolerate and secretly hate with a passion.
And who can blame us? With their smartphones and their hashtags our students are ‘liberating’ our campuses for causes of their own making. Like #FeesMustFall, #EndOutsourcing and #EndRapeCulture. Starting virtual firestorms raging through the hallowed halls of our universities. Consuming our most precious resources – time and peace of mind.
I’m being ironic, of course. Let me make that clear before somebody quotes me out of context. Probably too late already. Never mind – #TruthWillTrumpAll … yeah, right!
Article by Professor Wim de Villiers, in University World News 26 May 2017 Issue No:461

BOSTON—Academic advisers on university campuses face a common problem: Students rarely ask for advice at the right time. "They're either the high achievers who don't need much help, or students who are already failing out of their classes,” says Allison Calhoun-Brown, a political scientist who oversees advising at Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta. “What we need is an early warning system," she adds, a system that can flag a student who needs advising, perhaps long before the student is aware.

Higher education institutions will risk funds being withdrawn if they do not address gender inequality, according to a new report.
The national review of gender equality in higher education, which was done by the Expert Group and commissioned by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), outlined the need for a greater gender balance of staff.
Story by Marése O’Sullivan, UTV, Dublin, 27 June 2016

South Africa’s government is planning a major overhaul of its student funding system. This comes in the wake of protests at the country’s universities that saw students successfully freeze fee increases for the 2016 academic year.
Article by Temwa Moyo, Nimi Hoffmann and Sioux McKenna, 29 April 2016, University World News

Universities globally are increasingly challenged by disruptive innovation that is revolutionary, unpredictable and moving at an unprecedented pace. In this context, universities have to navigate demands for ever-increasing scrutiny from funders, regulatory bodies and societal stakeholders to be accountable for achieving public good purposes such as promoting social justice and equality.
An article by Heather Nel, 06 May 2016, University World News

In the US, 76% of academics are in casual posts with little job security, and some are even on food stamps. There are growing fears that it could happen in the UK.
An article by Mary O'Hara, 17 November 2015, the Guardian

Demands for free higher education and other social services such as health and basic education in Africa date back to the 1960s. These demands were common across countries with diverse ideological orientations – from socialist Mozambique and Tanzania to capitalist Kenya and Uganda.
An article by Patricio Langa, Gerald Wangenge-Ouma, Jens Jungblut and Nico Cloete, 26 February, World University News

This edition has been co-edited by UCT’s Professor John Higgins, Arderne Chair of Literature, and Peter Vale, director of the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study.
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