Times Higher Education (THE)

2 days ago | timeshighereducation.com | Jack Grove

No institution outside North America receives more grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than the University of Cape Town. The vice-chancellor of Africa’s premier research university, Mosa Moshabela, recently told a council meeting that 155 projects, with a total value of 2.5 billion rand (£100 million), are supported by US funding, mostly linked to HIV or tuberculosis research. More than 140 of those are funded by the NIH.

5 days ago | timeshighereducation.com | Patrick Jack

Funding cuts may be having an impact on the support universities can provide for commercialisation and community engagement, experts believe, after drops in the number of new spin-out companies and public events. Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows that 5,111 new spin-outs and start-up companies were registered across the sector in the last academic year. This was down from a peak of 5,281 in 2022-23 and the first annual fall since 2018-19.

6 days ago | timeshighereducation.com | Peter Sutoris

“You can’t have a career in academia without winning a large grant,” a colleague told me in my early days as a university lecturer. He was not exaggerating. Recent moves to cut unfunded research at Newcastle University and elsewhere in the Russell Group suggest that many academics may soon face a stark choice: win a grant, do your research in your free time, or don’t do research at all.

6 days ago | timeshighereducation.com | Patrick Jack

Canadian academics have been advised against travelling to the US, highlighting the rapid “sea change” in research collaboration between the near neighbours, with scholars warning of potentially “catastrophic” effects. Amid an “evolving political landscape” and reports of difficult border crossings, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has strongly recommended that academics cross the border only if essential and necessary.

1 week ago | timeshighereducation.com | John Ross

UNSW Sydney has confirmed plans to overturn contentious changes to its academic calendar, but it will take another three years to reverse its 2019 introduction of trimesters, citing the need for a “smooth transition”. Australia’s fifth biggest university’s “3+” timetable, featuring three 10-week terms and a shorter summer session, will be replaced by a “flex-semester” calendar of two substantive 12-week semesters and optional six-week summer and winter terms.