News Talks by Times Higher Education

We discuss the student protests appearing across Europe in countries like France and Serbia, and their wider political ramifications across the continent.  _ _ _ Countries across Europe are facing widespread political unrest as students don their placards and take to the streets in some of the biggest student protests seen in recent years.  While students in Italy, Spain and Austria are out in protest, it is students in France who have stolen the headlines. In what started off as demonstrations amongst high school students over discontent with the state of teaching in France and its opaque universities admissions system, has expanded to include university students and the wider public over discontent about the cost-of-living crisis. The protests have since exploded. Riots have ensued, universities have been barricaded, and buildings have been set alight in the protests which have spread all across France.  Despite the government agreeing to reform the university admissions process and create additional higher education places, the protestors have said they will continue to demonstrate, describing the measures as “crumbs”. Meanwhile in Serbia, a student movement has been attributed for even bringing down the government, following two years of political unrest, but questions are now being asked how it will turn a protest movement into a functioning government. Times Higher Education’s Juliette Rowsell talks to Europe reporter Seher Afar about the origins of the unrest, her first hand account of being in France at the start of the protests, and the power of student activism. 

We discuss the latest surge in student visa refusals and the potential implications for the UK’s position as a leading destination for international students.  _ _ _ The international student recruitment market in the UK is facing heightened levels of uncertainty. Universities are caught between a rock and a hard place: navigating more stringent regulations from the Home Office and still grappling with the implications of the recent drop in student visa applications to UK universities.  Under new Home Office rules, universities risk being barred from recruiting overseas students if visa applications are rejected for more than 5 per cent of students who receive offers.  According to reporter Jack Grove, who covers politics and policy for Times Higher Education, university leaders are split on the tighter compliance rules. Institutions are not equally affected by the new policy. Smaller teaching-focused universities rely heavily on students from Pakistan, Nigeria, and India - countries with the highest visa refusal rates. Times Higher Education reporter Rosalind Skillen talks to Jack about the emerging rift in an already divided sector. They unpack the reasons behind the surge in visa refusals and consider what international student markets are most severely impacted.  The suspension of a university's student visa licence is a serious matter, with huge financial implications for institutions. Vice-chancellors across the country are therefore seeking answers about how visa refusal rates are being assessed and calling for further clarity from government to help them understand the broader context for the changes.

With a new degree co-designed by Aardman Animations and the Royal College of Art announced this week, we examine the growing role of business in moulding degrees as universities face ever greater pressure to boost graduate employability - - - Universities are working ever more closely with business and industry to shape degrees in the UK, in order to meet skills needs and boost graduate employability. This week on News Talks, we discuss the different ways in which this can manifest in degree programmes, from co-designed courses to work placements, and examine how far such work-integrated learning can go towards addressing key challenges such as rising graduate unemployment and growing questions over the value of a degree. Campus editor Miranda Prynne is joined by THE reporter Juliette Rowsell to weigh up the potential pros and cons of proposals to get all UK undergraduates completing work placements as part of their courses and draw lessons from universities which have placed such work experience at the core of their offering. They discuss what is driving this trend towards more career focused degrees and how it might fit into the new Labour government agenda for devolution and for elevating vocational and technical training.

We discuss internationalisation efforts at Indonesian universities and whether the archipelago's institutions will achieve global recognition on a par with its east Asian neighbours. --- Over the last twenty years, Asia has cemented its universities among the top in Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, from the historic University of Tokyo to what Forbes has called China’s “power factory”, Beijing’s Tsinghua University. According to John Ross, APAC editor at THE, this direction of travel represents the rightful reclamation of the continent’s educational muscle, after decades of colonial upheaval and regime change. Indonesia, however, remains somewhat overlooked. But with President Prabowo Subianto, who assumed office in 2024, celebrating the country’s strongest first-half economic growth in more than a decade, there’s clear national ambition to spur it on further. On this week’s episode of News Talks, reporter Georgia Luckhurst talks to John Ross about what role Indonesia's universities may play in the government's ambitious plans? They discuss what Indonesian universities can offer the world, and how they are trying to assert their place on the global stage.

We discuss how Chris McDonald is progressing in his role as minister for science, and whether his appointment signals a major change in direction for research activities in UK universities. - - - Chris McDonald took up the role as minister for science in July, entering a newly created Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. The department positions science much more explicitly beside business and economic growth, which has raised immediate concerns about where universities will fit in the agenda. Two months into the job, McDonald has shown himself to be a minister who wants to make science more useful to the government and economy. But he is taking the helm at a time when researchers already feel anxious about cuts and the future of a cash-strapped sector. On this week's episode of News Talks, we discuss McDonald's unrelenting focus on science, his privileging of larger research grants, and whether new reforms build on interventions from the previous Labour government. Times Higher Education Asia reporter Rosalind Skillen talks to reporter Jack Grove, who covers science and research policy. Jack shares his observations from a recent Universities UK conference where Chris McDonald set out more of his stall, and he interrogates how McDonald's position could sit at odds with the Burnham administration's devolution agenda.