Universities, and the role they play in society, are under threat from the impact of the ongoing pandemic. While rarely a sector in financial crisis, university leaders in seven of the higher education systems in Europe now predict a fall in core national funding as a result of COVID-19, compounding the huge hits universities have taken on rental and commercial services and contractual research.

Fourteen national university sectors in Europe have also predicted a fall in income from international students, with travel restrictions limiting student mobility.

Estimates of losses to the United Kingdom university sector range from £3 billion (US4.2 billion) to £19 billion (US$26.7 billion) per year as a result of the coronavirus, while the picture is no less bleak across the pond... Read More

The University of the West Indies (UWI) has laid out a 10-point plan to boost revenue for the sustainability of the regional institution.

In a media conference on the university’s financial future, Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles outlined that UWI’s reputation is its primary asset and that the plan has both measures of expenditure reduction as well as revenue generation.

“Each time you reduce expenditure, that can be added to the savings, but critically, we realise that we cannot cut this university into the future. The only way we can move into the future with a new financial model and financial sustainability is to drive revenue,” Beckles reasoned.

High on the list is to roll out a global network to transition its Open Campus to a Global Campus, which has 10,000 students from 80 countries enrolled at present.

The UWI established the Open Campus 10 years ago with the objective of tapping students across the entire region and beyond, through remote access to academic content. Read More

 

India is set to greenlight dual and joint degrees awarded by Indian universities with international partners as part of its internationalisation plan being pushed through forcefully since its inclusion last year in the National Education Policy (NEP), a blueprint for the next decade.

Foreign universities had already started to explore such opportunities while noting the challenges of setting up joint or dual degrees.

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flagged up the change in her budget speech on 1 February, saying:.. Read More