The shift, amid COVID-19, to engaging students through social networks speaks volumes to the call for transformation in pedagogy and learning practices but are we doing the right thing by adopting social networks in lieu of course or learning management systems?

International students can now join the nearly 245,650 or 40% of South African contact students who have already obtained permits to return to their university campuses.

Steps taken towards the establishment of a differentiated higher education system in Ethiopia should be seen as a major achievement. However, the successful implementation of such a system requires much more than merely identifying institutions in terms of new institutional categories.

Universities have been challenged to be more responsive to the diverse needs of students, adapt their teaching methods and sharpen their research focus to contribute to the solving of global problems.

India has the talent necessary to develop world-class research universities and there are some promising initiatives from the government. The challenge is not a lack of ideas, it is the absence of sustained support and effective implementation, and in India these are formidable obstacles.

European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel has announced a sweeping range of initiatives designed to ensure that higher education and research play a central role in the European Union’s recovery plans from COVID-19. But politicians fear European budget cuts could derail plans to strengthen research.

Education needs to end the “corrosive culture” of vast student debt and stop servicing league tables and competitive metrics which force universities and staff to compete rather than collaborate, according to Professor Jo Littler of City, University of London in the Worldviews 2020 lecture.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented spurt in global research collaboration in the quest to find a vaccine. Over three weeks, University World News examines the phenomenon that has so far allowed for more than 200 clinical trials to be launched within months of the virus spreading across borders.