Academic Freedom Media Review Archive

Scholars at Risk monitors reports of threats to academic freedom and higher education communities worldwide, including media articles, blogs, opinion pieces and other announcements. Scholars at Risk identifies situations of concern on its own and welcomes reports submitted by faculty, students and volunteers at participating higher education institutions. Subscribe to SAR’s weekly media review.

The below articles have been featured in all media reviews published in 2024 and 2025. View the most recent edition of the media review here.

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IRAN: Iran poised to criminalise unapproved academic collaborations
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 9/10
Iran’s parliament has approved a bill that would restrict all forms of academic collaboration with international universities. The legislation places academics in danger of imprisonment for up to 30 years for contact with foreign higher education institutions. If done without state approval, co-authorship and joint research would also be considered crimes.

AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN: Pakistan says Afghan students holding valid visas, enrolled in degree programs can continue education
Waseem Abbasi, Arab News, 9/10
Afghan students possessing valid visas and who are enrolled in degree programs in Pakistan will be allowed to continue their studies in the country, foreign office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan clarified on Thursday, reiterating that Islamabad has not imposed a “blanket ban” on Afghan students studying in the country. 

NEPAL: Nepal’s floods: A warning and opportunity for universities [COMMENTARY]
Min Bahadur Bista, University World News, 9/9
The human losses are substantial. Across 27 schools, 436 students, teachers, education personnel and others were reported as missing or swept away/deceased, although verification is continuing. Some educational buildings have also become part of the humanitarian response, serving as holding centres for displaced people and further interrupting learning.

GERMANY/UNITED STATES: US Research Cuts Drive Scientists to Germany
Kalohe Danbara, The Scientist, 9/9
Three years into his postdoctoral research on pancreatic and breast cancer, Ilias Tzelepis felt he was only months away from a breakthrough. He had been studying how these cancers operate at the molecular level to uncover new targets for treatment at University of Pennsylvania (Penn). That was until last year, when he was called into his supervisor’s office and told that the White House had frozen $175 million in Penn research grants. Without restored funding, the lab would no longer be able to afford to keep him. His supervisor immediately urged him to look for positions outside the US.

SOUTH AFRICA: Xenophobia row as South African university ‘cancels’ seminar
Georgia Luckhurst, Times Higher Education, 9/9
A leading researcher has claimed that her talk at a South African university was cancelled because of “institutional concerns about the participation of international academics”. ’Funmi Olonisakin, vice-president for international engagement and service at King’s College London, was due to speak at the University of Mpumalanga on 3 September ahead of the launch of the institution’s Nokuthula Simelane Center for Gender and Intersectional Studies. But she said that the event was cancelled two days before it was due to take place.

ISRAEL: Palestinian students ‘victims of two-track discipline’ in Israel
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 9/8
In a report, Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, says that Palestinians studying at Israeli universities have been suspended from their studies for merely “liking” social media content that relates to Palestine. A “two-track” disciplinary route is opening up in the country, the report alleges, saying that Israeli universities are imposing increasingly harsh sanctions on Palestinian students, while Israeli Jewish students go without punishment for similar actions.

GERMANY: University presidents demand academic freedom independent of politics [GERMAN]
Die Welt, 9/7
Following the AfD’s victory in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, universities are demanding the preservation of their academic independence. “Academic freedom, artistic freedom, and university autonomy must be removed from the daily political fray,” said Walter Rosenthal, President of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), and Folker Roland, President of the Saxony-Anhalt Rectors’ Conference (LRK), in a joint statement.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Top scientists lead growing exodus of Chinese academics from US
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 9/7
Talented scientists making the journey back to China are part of a structural trend that has been accelerating since the 2010s. However, this rise comes as technological and scientific rivalries between the US and China grow increasingly tetchy and with China boosting its output in elite global science journals and climbing in university and research rankings.

UNITED STATES: ‘Professors fear they could get in trouble for what they teach’: State laws bring censorship to US universities
Maye Primera, EL PAÍS, 9/4
The growing number of state laws that directly and indirectly regulate academic life has created a climate of censorship across U.S. colleges and universities. “There is a chilling effect,” says Neal Hutchens, a professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky’s College of Education, in an interview with EL PAÍS.

PHILIPPINES: Suspension of Maguindanao student journalist sparks outrage
Franck Dick Rosete, Bulatlat, 9/4
“The MSU–Maguindanao administration cannot invoke ‘discipline’ as a shield against scrutiny while leveraging its administrative authority over students and refusing to subject its own decisions to examination,” the [College Editors Guild of the Philippines] said. From July 2023 to June 2024, CEGP documented 206 cases of alleged campus press freedom violations. This is apart from the over 1,000 cases from 2010 to 2021. Censorship topped the list, according to the group.

KAZAKHSTAN: ‘We Are Horrified’: Academic Freedom at Risk With Uzbek Professor’s Arrest in Kazakhstan
Catherine Putz, The Diplomat, 9/3
The Kazakh authorities have not clarified the details of the allegations against Qoraboyev.What is clear is the shockwave Qoraboyev’s arrest has sent across Kazakhstan’s increasingly internationalized academic sector. If such a prominent scholar – one whose work touches on some of the most important topics and relationships in contemporary Kazakhstan – can be virtually disappeared for two months before news even surfaces of it, what hope do other scholars have of due process or fair treatment?

RUSSIA/EUROPE: Russia widens targeting of European research centres
David Matthews, Science|Business, 9/3
European academics say they are increasingly facing cyber-attacks and intimidation from Russia as Moscow’s attempts to stifle critical research expands into the EU. Several European research organisations that focus on the politics and history of eastern Europe say they have been hit by hacking attempts and designations as “undesirable” or even “extremist” organisations, which criminalise cooperation.

SOUTH AFRICA: Scapegoats? What the data say about ‘foreign nationals’ [COMMENTARY]
Divinia Jithoo and Tasmeera Singh, University World News, 9/3
South African public discourse has increasingly narrowed the question of internationalisation in higher education to a single, contested point: the presence of ‘foreign nationals’ in our public universities. Yet universities exist precisely as spaces for the collaborative generation of knowledge, and internationalisation, properly understood, is far broader than the nationality of who sits or teaches in a lecture hall or occupies an office.

INDIA: SC Quashes FIRs Against Youth Protesters, CJP Calls off September 5 March 
The Wire, 9/2
Invoking its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 1) ordered that [First Information Reports] lodged across the country against youth protesters in connection with their agitation carried out between July 20 and 25 stand quashed.

MALAYSIA: Call for deeper reform as Malaysia axes decades-old university law
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 9/2
The abolition of the main piece of legislation governing public universities in Malaysia could lead to more academic freedom and institutional autonomy – but there is a lack of clarity on what comes next, with some fearing “one restrictive law could be replaced by another”.

AFGHANISTAN: Knowledge Engineering in Afghanistan: Why are the Taliban eliminating three university majors? [PERSIAN]
Sharifullah Sangin, 8am Media, 9/2
These three disciplines are not the same, but they have one important thing in common: they make political power a subject of scholarly study. A student of political science might ask where the legitimacy of government comes from and how power should be accountable. A student of law might study the legal limits of power, the rights of citizens, and the rule of law. A student of international relations might examine the place of a state in the international system, international obligations, and the concept of sovereignty.

BELARUS: Authorities targeting European Humanities University students abroad and their families in intensifying crackdown
Amnesty International, 9/1
As the new academic year begins, the Belarusian authorities’ relentless campaign against the exiled European Humanities University has taken a disturbing new turn, intensifying its assault on the rights to education, freedom of expression and academic freedom. This campaign of intimidation is no longer confined to students and others connected to the independent Belarusian university in Lithuania. They now extend to relatives and associates in Belarus, illustrating how the authorities’ brazen repressive tactics reach far beyond the country’s borders.

AZERBAIJAN: “A Preventative Measure.” Why Ilham Aliyev Is Intensifying Repression [RUSSIAN]
Magerram Zeynalov, BBC Russia, 8/31
Igbal was accused of treason, collaboration with foreign intelligence services, and “inciting national, racial, social, or religious hatred and enmity.” Several months after his arrest, Igbal was recognized as a political prisoner. The Azerbaijan Institute of Peace and Democracy publishes lists of political prisoners several times a year . According to BBC calculations, in the previous four years (2022-2025), the average sentence for political prisoners ranged from four to six years. This year, it’s almost 12. Take action

EUROPE/GLOBAL: Mainland Europe seizes edge in global student race 
Andrew Jack, Financial Times, 8/31
Continental European universities are winning over international students as tougher immigration restrictions in the UK and US redraw the market for education and divert overseas applicants. Foreign students in the past drawn to universities in “Anglosphere” countries are looking to rival institutions in mainland Europe, as rising hostility to immigrants and a perception that students are reducing the availability of affordable accommodation have led to more restrictive visa rules.

AFRICA: Students must have meaningful voice in university governance – Prof. Appiagyei-Atua 
The Ghanaian Times, 8/31
A Professor at the University of Ghana (UG) School of Law, Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, has called for a student-centred approach to university governance to address the declining state of academic freedom on African campuses. He said the erosion of academic freedom across Africa could not be addressed without tackling weaknesses in campus democracy, stressing that students must have a meaningful voice in university governance.

UNITED STATES: Judge declares Rubio’s speech-based student deportations violate the Constitution 
Gregory Svirnovskiy and Ben Johansen, Politico, 8/29
Northern District of California Judge Noël Wise, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, sided with the Stanford Daily, which sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arguing that his use of the Immigration and Nationality Act to deport noncitizen students had foreign students refraining from writing opinion pieces critical of the administration.

PHILIPPINES: UPLB decries systematic red-tagging of constituents 
Jian Martin Tenorio, Bulatlat, 8/28
The alliance also called for government accountability for the persistent red-tagging of campus journalists which targets their right to freely “report, investigate, criticize, and hold institutions and those in power accountable. The government must be held accountable for continuing to fund and sustain avenues that manufacture malicious narratives. Instead of protecting students and upholding their rights, the state enables campaigns that criminalize legitimate dissent, and expose them to different forms of state repression,” the statement read.

CANADA/UNITED STATES: Canada Hires 48 Scholars Away From Top U.S. Universities
Vjosa Isai, The New York Times, 8/27
Twenty-one universities in Canada announced on Thursday the hiring of dozens of researchers to join their top academic ranks, poaching the majority of the recruits from the United States. Of the incoming 64 researchers, 48 will leave American campuses including Harvard, Yale and M.I.T., and the remainder are from Europe, Asia and Australia.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Joint Statement of Concern for US Citizen & Academic Min Zin’s Detention in China
Scholars at Risk, 8/27
The below letter, signed by over 100 US professors in the US and abroad, expresses grave concern for scholar of political science and US citizen Min Zin, wrongfully detained in China on June 3, 2026 while traveling to an academic event.

UNITED STATES: DOD Demands 30 American Universities Audit Foreign Partnerships 
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 8/27
The Department of Defense has directed a group of 30 research-focused universities to conduct an “immediate and comprehensive” audit of their partnerships with foreign institutions that it says could be a threat to national security. Each university has until the end of the month to submit its findings and terminate any relationships found to be “problematic,” the department said in a news release last Monday. Any university that does not comply could lose federal research funding.

GREENLAND/UNITED STATES: Greenland research institutions halt new US collaborations citing mistrust 
Ole Ellekrog, Science|Business, 8/27
Over the summer, Greenland’s two largest research institutions, the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the University of Greenland, both announced policies of not starting new research projects with US researchers. Both institutions cite a mistrust of the US as a motivation for the decision. At the University of Greenland, the change of policy has already led to the rejection of specific proposals for new collaborations, rector Mari Kleist told Science|Business.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: New Student Visas Dropped 23% in 2025 
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 8/26
Twenty-three percent fewer student visas were issued in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to newly released Department of State figures. Some countries, like Iran, Myanmar and Venezuela, saw declines over 70 percent from year to year. India, the second-largest supplier of international students to the U.S. in 2024, also experienced a precipitous 56.6 percent drop.

IRAN: Repression against Iranian universities: A haven of knowledge and resistance [GERMAN]
Teseo La Marca, Taz, 8/26
On August 16, members of the hardline-dominated Iranian parliament approved a controversial bill that could further restrict freedom of research, art, and the media. The draft legislation is titled “Combating the Influence of Foreign Intelligence Services, Governments, and Organizations.” While its stated aim is to prevent the infiltration of the country by foreign agents, it actually places researchers, students, and artists and media professionals under general suspicion of espionage.

AUSTRALIA: Australia must enshrine university autonomy in law – UA chair
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 8/25
Australia’s government is being asked to give legal backing to university autonomy, as “creeping authoritarianism and populist pressure” threaten to straitjacket the sector. Universities Australia chair Carolyn Evans will tell the National Press Club that the “tide of government overreach” risks undermining the sector’s role as a bulwark of democracy, “especially when that means speaking truth to power”.

INDIA: India’s Summer of Youth Protests Is Boiling Over 
Alex Travelli, The New York Times, 8/25
The police trained water cannons on crowds in the city of Patna on Tuesday, 600 miles east of New Delhi, the capital, as protesters tried to storm the office of the chief minister, the top elected official in the state. The protesters were condemning irregularities in a civil service-entrance exam and demanding reforms of the testing system. Similar protests and clashes have gripped the nearby state of Jharkhand in recent weeks.

RUSSIA: Nearly all of Russia’s top 50 universities have begun recruiting students to sign military contracts 
Alexey Sidorov, Novaya Gazeta Europe, 8/25
At least 47 of Russia’s 50 top-ranked universities have begun recruiting students to sign military contracts, an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe has found. Thirty-two of the institutions also run training programmes for drone operators. At 43 of the universities, recruitment takes place at the main campus, while four more carry it out through satellite campuses.

INDIA: Deadly, inhumane and unlawful use of force against CJP-led protests, Amnesty investigation reveals 
Amnesty International, 8/24
In a new digital investigation, witness testimony and video and photographic evidence verified by Amnesty’s Evidence Lab confirm that police used pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas launchers, grenades, batons and electric shock devices against protesters between 20 July and 24 July in Delhi and Siwan town in Bihar state. The weapons were deployed in a manner that breached international law and standards, as well as domestic policing guidelines.

BRAZIL: Risks to universities clear as Bolsonaro’s son runs for presidency 
Georgia Luckhurst, Times Higher Education, 8/24
David Treece, an emeritus professor of Portuguese and affiliate of King’s College London’s Brazil Institute, said: “We’re looking at an election which is, on all fronts, very polarised.” Flávio Bolsonaro is running in the shadow of his father, a former army captain, who served one term as president from 2019 to 2022. His presidency was marked by the defunding of the country’s public universities and an anti-science rhetoric that forced many high-profile academics to leave Brazil.

AUSTRALIA/IRAN: PhDs in limbo amid vague national security warnings
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 8/23
Several universities have stopped considering PhD applications from Iran, citing government advice over sanctions and research security. It comes after the Education Department wrote to vice-chancellors in March, highlighting the need to “comply with the Australian sanctions regime” and make policies “fit for purpose” in “the current strategic environment”.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: As a Palestinian From Gaza, I Can Study Abroad in Safety, But Never Visit Home [COMMENTARY]
Sara Awad, Truthout, 8/22
For some students, obtaining a scholarship abroad is no longer a privilege to have; it is a necessity to reclaim a future interrupted by war. Many European countries and universities have opened their doors for those students, with scholarships and programs offering a chance for survival. Many Palestinians have managed to leave Gaza, but this comes with another kind of suffering: They can study in safety abroad, yet cannot return home to their families.

CHINA/MYANMAR: How an Academic Became Collateral Damage to China’s Interests in Myanmar 
Adam Bubanich, The Diplomat, 8/21
If backlash halts the projects or militia attacks endanger the lives of Chinese workers, the Chinese and Burmese governments would lose billions of dollars, and China would lose access to a strategic port. Burmese activists and academics, such as Min Zin, serve as the central node informing people about Chinese investments and projects in Myanmar, including their negative impacts. 

CHINA/UNITED STATES: US designates American held by China as wrongfully detained
Steve Holland and Michael Martina, Reuters, 8/20
The U.S. has designated Myanmar scholar and U.S. citizen Min Zin as wrongfully detained after his arrest by ‌Chinese authorities in June, the State Department said on Thursday, a move that makes securing his release a top U.S. priority. The designation for Min Zin, who is accused of endangering Chinese national security, comes just weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House.

INDIA: Will higher education prove to be the BJP’s Achilles heel? [COMMENTARY]
Saikat Majumdar, Times Higher Education, 8/20
How is it that this government, run by a party that swept state elections as recently as May, was shaken by youth-led protests about the state of higher education in the country? How did the invincible BJP come to lose its triumphal sheen? Shaken by the intensity of the student demonstrations protesting the leaks and eventual cancellation of the national medical college entrance examination energised by the mockingly titled “Cockroach Janata Party”, heads finally rolled in the government.

GERMANY: “We are closely monitoring the AfD’s proposals regarding science” [GERMAN] [INTERVIEW]
Christine Vallbracht, Forschung & Lehre, 8/19
“We are closely monitoring the AfD’s proposals regarding science. These are, of course, very similar to what we know from the Trump administration: banning certain research areas, denying the climate crisis, and politically driven changes to educational content. Given the party’s strong resemblance to the American far right, these proposals are not surprising. The AfD has been working for years to sow distrust and spread disinformation about science, researchers, and academics. This poses a serious threat. Now is the time for researchers, together with science-friendly citizens, to engage in dialogue with the public and their elected representatives.” 

ARGENTINA: Argentine universities begin five-day strike
The News Line, 8/19
Argentina’s university teachers began a five-day national strike yesterday (Tuesday) marking 300 days since Congress sanctioned the University Financing Law that right-wing President Javier Milei’s government has still not applied. The stoppage, called by the Conadu Histórica union federation, follows a 24-hour national strike on Wednesday 12 August by teaching and non-teaching staff, and comes together with a day of commemoration called by the National Universities Union Front for the 300-day anniversary of the law which increases salaries and funding.

UNITED STATES: Public trust and government trust aren’t the same for HE [COMMENTARY]
Jeremy C Young and Kathryn AE Enke, University World News, 8/18
But as we explain in a recent American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) report on public trust, the administration’s criticisms of higher education aren’t necessarily the same things the public is worried about. And while constructive engagement between higher education leaders and the government is a net positive, earning the public’s trust requires a different approach.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Pentagon orders audit of 30 universities’ partnerships with foreign institutions 
Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press, 8/18
The Department of Defense has ordered 30 U.S. universities to audit their partnerships with mostly Chinese universities and military training institutions as the Trump administration scrutinizes the country’s growing global influence. If the schools don’t complete a review and terminate any arrangements deemed problematic within the next two weeks, they face losing funding.

UNITED STATES: Whistleblower alleges political pressure, lack of evidence in antisemitism probes targeting schools 
Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press, 8/18
A Trump administration task force created to combat antisemitism pushed for settlements with Ivy League universities despite government investigations that were rushed and incomplete or that failed to establish legal violations by the schools, a former Justice Department lawyer alleged in a whistleblower disclosure obtained by The Associated Press.

MALAYSIA: Malaysia to scrap 55-year-old university law, but will campus reform follow? 
Iman Muttaqin Yusof, South China Morning Post, 8/17
Malaysia may finally scrap the university law that generations of students have blamed for stifling campus dissent, but activists and academics say the harder fight will be over what comes next. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has promised to abolish the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, better known by its Malay acronym AUKU, a law that has long sat at the centre of arguments over how much freedom Malaysian students should have to protest, organise and challenge university authorities.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: China Hunts for Scientific Talent. The U.S. Is Making It Easier.
Li Yuan, The New York Times, 8/17
In the competition for scientific and technological supremacy, that question rises above the rest. Not long ago, the answer was unequivocal: the United States. But while it remains the world’s leading destination for ambitious scientific minds, a combination of funding cuts, restrictive immigration policies and suspicion of Chinese-born scientists is eroding its advantage just as China, despite serious shortcomings of its own, is becoming a credible alternative.

GLOBAL: AI cheating, leaked papers and marking errors: how exam protests went global 
Deborah Solomon and Oliver Holmes, The Guardian, 8/16
Exam-related turmoil has led to mass student protests in Mexico after nearly 60,000 university applicants were forced to resit tests amid suspected cheating, while Portugal’s disastrous attempt to digitise school exam marking sparked the country’s worst education crisis in decades. By far the largest and most ground-shaking incident was in India, however, where an exam paper leak affected millions of students and was linked to more than a dozen students taking their own lives. The scandal forced the education minister to resign, and challenged the government’s hold over its 1.4 billion citizens.

AFGHANISTAN: Five years since the Taliban; higher education faces stagnation [PERSIAN]
Hossein Sirat, DW, 8/14
In the fifth year of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, students are complaining about the lack of specialized professors and the decline in academic standards, and experts say that Afghanistan’s educational centers have become centers for the production of extremism instead of training cadres. 

BANGLADESH: ‘Dirty politics’ dividing Bangladesh’s top universities 
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 8/14
Political divisions are threatening to tear apart Bangladesh’s top universities, with academics claiming that “scaremongering” has become the “new normal”. Dhaka University leaders were recently urged to take action against a list of 231 faculty teachers accused of supporting the previous government led by the exiled Sheikh Hasina.

AZERBAIJAN: Podcast | Reading Bahruz Samadov’s letter from prison 
Mariam Nikuradze, Dominik Cagara, Yousef Bardouka, OC Media, 8/13
OC Media co-founders Mariam Nikuradze and Dominik Cagara sit down with editor Yousef Bardouka to discuss the imprisonment of OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov. Samadov, who is serving a 15-year sentence on charges of treason for allegedly ‘collaborating with Armenian security services’, is an outspoken advocate for peace with Armenia and Azerbaijan. His work often focused on the peace process between the two countries, the decades-long conflict, and authoritarianism in Azerbaijan. Take action 

SUDAN/UNITED KINGDOM: Sudanese students to appeal after UK court upholds visa brake
Abhishek Nair, The PIE, 8/13
Sudanese students affected by the UK government’s study visa “brake” are preparing to appeal after the High Court ruled in favour of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, according to Sudan Scholars UK. The group said the decision upheld the government’s 18-month restriction on study visas, leaving students with fully funded master’s places at leading UK universities unable to begin their courses this September.

INDIA: JNU certified Umar Khalid’s PhD thesis. Now, it won’t discuss it [COMMENTARY]
P John J Kennedy, The Indian Express, 8/13
On Sunday, Jawaharlal Nehru University cancelled a discussion on Umar Khalid’s PhD thesis, later published as a book. The event had been approved, the venue booked. The university cited “non-disclosure of full facts.” However, the secretaries of the students’ and teachers’ associations have claimed that the Dean who granted permission was “fully informed.” Having spent a few decades inside a university system, I recognise the expression “non-disclosure of full facts.” It is the language institutions quickly reach for when caution has quietly overtaken judgement; a pattern too familiar across Indian academia.

AFGHANISTAN: Skills shortages mount, five years since Taliban return 
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 8/12
A “vicious cycle” caused by the ban on Afghan women accessing higher education is leading to shortages of teachers and health workers, Unesco has warned, five years since the Taliban returned to power. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world that has formally prohibited women and girls from accessing education beyond primary level, with the effects now being felt starkly by the population.

BANGALDESH: Who listed DU teachers accused of activities against July consciousness? [BANGLA]
Jannatul Tanvi, BBC News, 8/12
Meanwhile, the University Teachers Network, another organization of teachers that was most active in supporting the July Uprising at the time, has expressed deep concern over the list of 231 teachers and the decision taken by the syndicate against seven teachers. In a press release on August 2, the teachers’ organization said, “Preparing a list of candidates, publicizing the allegations in the media before they are proven, or announcing a mass investigation into all appointments made between 2009 and 2024 – these initiatives institutionalize a culture of ‘witch-hunting’.”

UNITED STATES: Palestinian Americans File Discrimination Lawsuit Against Columbia
Caitlyn Freeman, The New York Times, 8/11
Five Palestinian Americans, who include a professor, a former professor, a student and two former students at Columbia University, filed a lawsuit against the school on Monday, claiming it helped to foster a hostile and discriminatory environment on campus after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel.

INDIA: Police in India Use Tear Gas to Break Up Another Youth Protest 
Anupreeta Das, The New York Times, 8/10
Protesters in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand defied police batons, tear gas, barricades and water cannons as they marched to the state legislature on Monday, demanding investigations into alleged irregularities over qualifying exams for government jobs.

NEPAL/CHINA: Nepal forces Tibetan studies seminar online amid China pressure concerns 
Nation Press, 8/10
Nepal’s government verbally ordered Kathmandu University to cancel a premier global Tibetan studies conference days before it was due to open — with local media pointing to Chinese diplomatic pressure. Over 700 scholars had already booked flights and hotels. The IATS has moved the event online and warned of lasting reputational damage to Nepal as an academic host.

UNITED STATES: A new playbook for controlling universities [COMMENTARY]
David Wippman and Glenn Altschuler, The Hill, 8/9
Judicial support for academic freedom seems to have convinced the Trump administration and red-state legislators to escalate indirect remedies that may prove more difficult to challenge in court. Twenty such measures became law last year, almost three times the number of new gag orders adopted.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s Lingnan University student union ceases operations after 6 decades 
South China Morning Post, 8/7
Hong Kong’s student unions were once a locus of political activism in the city, but many disbanded or ceased operations amid heightened institutional and legal scrutiny following the enactment of the city’s national security laws. Thursday’s announcement leaves only the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with an active student union on campus among the city’s eight publicly funded institutions.

CANADA: Canada needs a national strategy to protect scholars at risk [COMMENTARY]
Encieh Erfani, University Affairs, 8/6
Canada does not lack expertise. It has universities committed to academic freedom, organizations supporting displaced scholars, government departments promoting research excellence, and policymakers who recognize the value of global scientific talent. What remains missing is a coordinated framework connecting these efforts.

INDIA: Why India’s Professors Stayed Largely Silent During the Student Protests
Ravikant Kisana, The Quint, 8/6
Beyond individual actions, there were no significant statements or actions by teachers’ bodies or by departments in any of the top colleges, universities, or institutions. There was mostly silence. This lays bare the extent to which the independent autonomy of professors has been destroyed within Indian academia.

ARGENTINA: University unions have called for a national strike on August 12. [SPANISH]
La Voz, 8/6
University unions have called for a national strike on August 12 to demand compliance with measures related to the financing of public universities, salary updates, scholarships, and funds allocated to the operation of university hospitals.

UNITED STATES: Trump’s university ‘compact’ is gone. That doesn’t mean the assault on education is over [COMMENTARY]
Kenneth Roth, The Guardian, 8/5
Universities widely pilloried the proposal, demonstrating the power of a collective defense. Higher education in the United States certainly needs reform, as many university leaders and the public would acknowledge, but not according to the dictates of Trump. Yet the administration’s withdrawal of the compact doesn’t mean that Trump has forsaken his crusade against what he sees as bastions of liberalism. Vigilance is still needed.

EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST: National security used to curb academic freedom, report says
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 8/5
Governments and universities across Europe and the Middle East are invoking counter-terrorism, national security and community safety to “justify” restrictions on freedom of expression and academic freedom, according to a new report. The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies’ (BRISMES) Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) said in a report published on 5 August that it had analysed 28 cases involving restrictions on lawful academic and political expression.

INDIA: Will the cockroach movement achieve lasting change in Indian HE? 
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 8/3
To onlookers outside the country, India’s biggest protests in years seemingly came out of nowhere and focused on an unlikely cause: examination integrity. But, in reality, they were the culmination of years of bubbling frustration among Indian youth, amid a sense that however hard they try, getting ahead is much more difficult than it should be.

BANGLADESH: Ensure due process, avoid ‘witch-hunts’ over alleged July roles: University Teachers’ Network
The Daily Star, 8/2
The University Teachers’ Network, Dhaka University, today urged the university authorities to ensure due process in taking action against teachers over their alleged roles in the July uprising, warning against blanket measures and a culture of “witch-hunt”. In a statement, the platform expressed concern over disciplinary measures taken against seven teachers and an investigation involving a list of 231 faculty members.

CHINA/PHILIPPINES: Philippines defends efforts to put China-linked education programmes under more scrutiny 
Reuters, 7/31
The Philippine Department of National Defense said on Friday that foreign state-backed academic and cultural exchange programmes needed to be put under greater scrutiny, amid ​concerns about the influence of Chinese state-linked institutions on local education. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro ‌said public scrutiny and institutional transparency regarding foreign state funding in local education were “fundamental duties of national governance” and were necessary to protect both academic integrity and national security.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Visa rules making scientists ‘despair’, says China-bound Nobelist
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 7/31
The departure of a Nobel-winning scientist from a top American research university to China has been hailed as a major coup for Chinese science, potentially marking the acceleration of a West-to-East brain drain that has until now mainly involved returning Chinese scientists. Speaking to Times Higher Education, Yaghi said he was disappointed by recent policy changes in the US but also other Western nations that had inhibited scientific mobility and cooperation.

UNITED STATES: Trump’s Proposed Rules for Funding Would Destroy American Science:
Political appointees, not scientists, may soon determine who gets grants. [COMMENTARY]
Anna I. Krylov and Evan D. Morris, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/31
Most alarming, the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed rule would require all scientific awards and funding decisions to be reviewed and approved by senior political officials. This would be an unprecedented step, upending a framework of scientific funding in which political leadership sets broad priorities, but the implementation of those priorities — that is, determining what specific scientific proposals would best fulfill them — is left to review committees composed of scientists.

ISRAEL: ‘Full cooperation’: How Tel Aviv University serves Israel’s security state
Meron Rapoport and Aharon Porath, +972 Magazine, 7/30
Interviews and documents point to a university that has, in recent years, increasingly made space for Israel’s military and security establishment in campus life — from partnerships with the army to efforts to recruit students into the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service.

PHILIPPINES: Youth activists remain under state repression, surveillance
Reynard Magtoto, Bulatlat, 7/30
“In Bicol University, students have experienced red-tagging and other forms of intimidation because of their participation in social issues and legitimate activities. While in Ateneo de Naga University, police officers entered the office of a student publication without prior notice or permission, took photographs of students without consent, sought information about its members, and made statements linking student activists with groups branded by the state as ‘pasaway,’” Kabataan Partylist Bicol said in a statement. “These incidents are not simply ‘visits’ or ‘documentation.’ They are part of a broader climate of surveillance, intimidation, red-tagging, and harassment against young people who organize and speak out.”

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Palestinian university raids after the flood [ARABIC] [COMMENTARY]
Alaa Kanaan, Al Jazeera, 7/30
Israeli military incursions into Palestinian universities since October 7th are unlike anything seen in previous years. What was once considered an exceptional event has now become a recurring part of the daily university scene, to the point that the relationship between students and their universities is fraught with considerable anxiety and anticipation.

GERMANY: ‘We’ll stand our ground’: German science prepares for AfD rise 
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 7/29
Germany’s top research organisations are preparing for the possibility of Alternative for Germany (AfD) taking power in a German state for the first time, drawing up plans that include relocating scientists facing political pressure and strengthening legal protections for researchers, as the far-right party pushes proposals to abolish entire fields of study.

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh Awami League: BSL students face mass expulsions, campus bans
Nation Press, 7/27
Bangladesh’s Awami League is alleging what it calls systematic collective punishment of its student wing: over 400 show-cause notices at Dhaka University alone, mass expulsions at Jahangirnagar, and campus bans enforced not by administration but by rival student groups — all since the 2024 political transition that the world has largely framed as a democratic reset.

UNITED STATES: US government discusses restructuring of research funding [GERMAN]
Forschung & Lehre, 7/27
Last Tuesday, Michael Kratsios, the US government’s top scientific advisor, published a strategy paper addressed to US President Donald Trump, outlining the future of US science. In ” Science: A New Golden Age ,” Kratsios proposes reforms such as a revised funding strategy to “revitalize” American research and development. This, he argues, should foster greater innovation and align research more closely with government goals. Almost simultaneously, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) published its own report on Wednesday, accusing the administration of interfering with academic freedom.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: U.S. Seismologist Detained by China for Alleged Espionage Charges 
Committee of Concerned Scientists, 7/27
Chinese-born U.S. citizen and seismologist Youlin Chen was recently arrested for nearly two years and faces trial on accounts of espionage. These charges have raised concerns over U.S.-China relations. Chen’s ​work as a seismographer focuses on publishing U.S. funded work surrounding North Korean nuclear tests. This arrest of a US citizen contradicts China’s reputation for producing and promoting outstanding scholars and research.

IRAN: Iranian universities are punishing students for political views [COMMENTARY]
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 7/27
Disciplinary committees, once intended to adjudicate breaches of university regulations, are increasingly being used to investigate political expression and personal belief. Rather than safeguarding academic standards, they are becoming instruments for enforcing ideological conformity. At Sharif University, according to a recent report by its student guild council, at least six students have been expelled and barred from studying at any university for five years (a penalty possible under Iran’s higher education disciplinary regulations), while more than 20 others have received lengthy suspensions.

INDIA: India’s ‘cockroach’ movement ousts minister, but can Modi calm youth? 
Diaa Hadid and Omkar Khandekar, NPR, 7/25
India’s education minister tendered his resignation on Saturday, meeting a key demand of students whose anti-government protests swelled this week beyond the capital New Delhi and onto the streets of more than a dozen cities.

COLOMBIA: Colombia may institute an Anti-Communist Week in schools. [SPANISH]
Brazil 247, 7/25
The proposal to create an Anti-Communist Week in Colombian schools and universities is likely to spark a debate about education, academic freedom, and secularism at the start of Abelardo de la Espriella’s government. The initiative was announced by Senator-elect Alejandro Bermeo of the National Salvation Movement and includes mandatory activities on the history and crimes attributed to communist regimes.

PERU: ‘Things could get nasty’: Peru’s new president takes aim at HE 
Georgia Luckhurst, Times Higher Education, 7/25
“Concerning developments” affecting Peru’s higher education system could get worse under the tenure of the newly elected president, Keiko Fujimori, Latin American specialists fear. Fujimori, who is set to be sworn in on 28 July, won the country’s closely fought election earlier this month, beating left-wing candidate Roberto Sánchez by fewer than 50,000 votes.

GUATEMALA: A forensic analyst and students explain why their files cannot be “lost” at USAC [SPANISH]
Alex Maldonado, Agencia Ocote, 7/24
Approximately 50 students from the University of San Carlos (USAC) were notified that they could not register because, according to the system, their records did not exist. The administration attributes the problem to the campus occupation in 2022-2023, but those affected—all opponents of Rector Walter Mazariegos and participants in recent internal elections—prove otherwise: they completed their semesters normally in 2024, 2025, and the beginning of 2026. 

AUSTRALIA: University courses covering Israel-Palestine should be audited, Julian Leeser tells royal commission 
Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian, 7/24
The shadow education minister, Julian Leeser, has called for universities to undertake an audit of any classes that teach about the Jewish community, Israel or Palestine. Appearing before the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion on Friday, Leeser said he had been “very concerned” about antisemitism on university campuses and was not satisfied with how vice-chancellors had addressed the issue after the 7 October 2023 Hamas terrorist attack.

SOUTH KOREA: Constitutional Court Rules Ban on Political Activities by University Faculty Unions, Including Professors, Unconstitutional… Deems Violation of Equality Rights [KOREAN]
Jeong Hwan-bong, Hani, 7/23
The Constitutional Court ruled that the current provisions of the Teachers’ Union Act prohibiting political activities by university faculty labor unions are unconstitutional as they infringe upon the right to equality. On the 23rd, the Constitutional Court ruled that a provision of the Teachers’ Union Act prohibiting political activities by teachers in higher education is unconstitutional by a vote of 7 to 2 in a constitutional complaint filed by the National Professors’ Labor Union and others. The provision loses its effect immediately.

TANZANIA: Detention of UDOM lecturer raises concerns over academic freedom
Jacob Mosenda, The Citizen, 7/22
The detention of a University of Dodoma (UOD) lecturer, Melkisedeki Kaijage, has reignited debate over academic freedom in Tanzania, with academics and their union warning that the incident could undermine universities’ role as centres of independent thought, research and evidence-based debate. The concerns follow confirmation by the Tanzania Police Force that  Dr Kaijage is being held over allegations linked to incitement. 

UNITED KINGDOM: Students challenge Mahmood’s visa ban on overseas applicants 
Holly Bancroft, The Independent, 7/22
Three Sudanese students are challenging the Home Office’s ban on certain visas for foreign nationals from four countries in the courts. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood halted study visas for people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan in March, accusing some of exploiting the system by using it as a gateway to enter the UK before later claiming asylum.

SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa immigration rows ‘discouraging foreign academics’
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 7/21
South African universities must resist political attacks on foreign academics and students as anti-migrant sentiment continues to ramp up across the country, experts have warned. Since June, anti-immigration marches and demonstrations have been taking place across South Africa, prompting the government to launch a crackdown on undocumented migrants, with over 50,000 foreigners processed for deportation in July.

IRAN: Publication of names of “student leaders”; fear of protests in Iran [PERSIAN]
Murad Rahmati, DW, 7/21
The Islamic Republic is concerned about the resurgence of protests and the role of students in leading them. In a preventive measure, Telegram channels affiliated with security forces have exposed the identities of some students, accusing them of being leaders, and threatened them.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Inside the ‘Culture of Fear’ at One American-Chinese University 
Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed, 7/20
Wenzhou-Kean is one of roughly 20 American-Chinese joint ventures established during a rapprochement of Sino-American relations in the 2000s and 2010s. Eight of the partnerships—including one between Tsinghua University and the University of California, Berkeley, and another between Georgia Tech and Tianjin University—have ended in recent years amid pressure from U.S. lawmakers concerned about suppressed academic freedom and national security risks.

SERBIA: Vladan Djokic, Rector of the University of Belgrade: “The reality is that Serbia is not free” [INTERVIEW]
Virginia Hernández, El Mundo América, 7/20
It is said that university people should be educated, stay quiet, and not speak about society’s problems, but I believe that is a mistake. Our role as university professors is not just to teach students to be engineers, doctors, or lawyers. Our role is to teach them to have a critical opinion about society, to maintain that critical spirit, to transform society, and to point out what is wrong and what needs to change.

INDIA: Police in India Use Tear Gas and Batons on Crowds Protesting Exam Scandal
Mujib Mashal and Pragati K.B., The New York Times, 7/20
Thousands of protesters gathered in New Delhi to march to Parliament on Monday, demanding the resignation of India’s education minister after botched college entrance exams disrupted the lives of millions of students. The protest, one of the capital’s largest in years, was met with road barricades and massed ranks of police officers after the authorities warned that the gathering was unauthorized. Officers at times fired tear gas and used batons to break up the crowds.

NIGERIA: How Nigerian Universities Harass Campus Journalists for Their Reporting 
Mukaila Habeebullah, Campus Reporter, 7/20
The reported violations against campus journalists include physical assault, harassment, summons and intimidation and are mostly perpetrated by university authorities. While some campus journalists have been forced to delete investigative stories they authored, at least one university has suspended a press outfit for publishing a story they found critical.

UNITED STATES: Yale caught between Trump administration pressure and a campus that wants to fight 
Susan Svrluga and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post, 7/19
The Trump administration’s battle with American higher education is heating up at Yale University, with students, faculty and prominent alumni urging the university president not to give in to White House demands. Those critics want the elite university to follow Harvard in fighting federal ultimatums.

INDIA: Kashmir: Are there lessons in school textbooks that glorify ‘separatists’? What is the debate over the latest orders from the authorities? [TELUGU]
Cherylann Molan and Aaqib Javid, BBC, 7/19
Authorities in Kashmir have ordered educational institutions to review textbooks for “inappropriate or objectionable” content, sparking a debate over who should be responsible for shaping the region’s history in schools. These orders were issued last week. According to these, schools, colleges, universities, and coaching centers will have to examine the books, research papers, and academic theses and research papers they have.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: US politicians push agencies to restrict research collaboration with China 
Dan Garisto and Mohana Basu, Nature, 7/16
Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives from both sides of the political aisle have expressed concerns about China exploiting US research, but have diverged on how to protect the country’s research and fund it. The worries, voiced at a hearing on Capitol Hill on 15 July, follow an announcement by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) a week earlier that it would ban collaborations between US scientists that it funds and international institutions that the federal government considers dangerous to national security — including many leading Chinese universities.

IRAN: Iranian universities ‘becoming security battlegrounds’ 
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 7/16
University campuses have become a key battleground for Iranian authorities since the outbreak of the war with the US, according to a new report that documents how more than 100 students have been arrested, expelled or jailed.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Women academics carry burden of war and keeping HE alive 
Tarek Abd Elgalil, University World News, 7/16
Yet the testimonies presented in Astana suggest that the survival of higher education in Gaza cannot be understood through destroyed campuses and casualty figures alone. It now also depends on the unpaid and largely invisible labour of women academics working to sustain teaching, student support and scholarship under war.

IRAN: Authorities Escalate Crackdown on Iranian Students Amid Post-War Repression
Center for Human Rights in Iran, 7/16
Iranian authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on university campuses, subjecting students to arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, expulsions, suspensions, and politically motivated disciplinary proceedings since the outbreak of the February 2026 war. The escalating campaign reflects a broader effort by authorities to suppress dissent on campuses and prevent the revival of organized student activism in the wake of still smoldering anti-government sentiment and anger over the government’s violent crushing of the January 2026 protests.

UNITED STATES: The Government Tried to Cancel Colleges’ Grants. Now It’s Rewriting the Rules for Awarding Them.
Shea Vance, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/15
The proposal seeks to cement a policy the Trump administration has been pursuing in force for over a year, wresting federal grant evaluation from independent peer reviewers and handing it to administration-appointed officials — and, ultimately, clearing the path for more cancellations. The changes would give the Trump administration broad discretion to terminate federal grants at any point during their active disbursement if political appointees determine that the grant-funded work does not align with the administration’s priorities.

CHINA: China’s Transnational Repression Is Being Met With a Deafening Silence
Joshua Kurlantzick, Council on Foreign Relations, 7/13
According to Scholars at Risk, which monitors attacks on academic freedom worldwide, Min Zin vanished on June 3, while traveling to the conference in Kunming. For more than a week, his family and colleagues had no idea where he was or whether he was safe. Then, on June 11, The New York Times reported that he had been arrested in Kunming. Hours later, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing confirmed Min Zin’s arrest on suspicion of “engaging in espionage and endangering Chinese national security.” 

BELARUS: “Magic Beyond Hogwarts.” Marfa Ryabkova — about years of imprisonment, Harry Potter, and freedom
Spring 96, 7/13
Human rights activist and former political prisoner Marfa Rabkova gave a candid interview to Viasna after her release. She recalled her years in prison — from the absurd trial with “camouflage” women’s pants and the destroyed notebook “My Cats Are My Wealth” to the singing of “Kupalinka” in the detention center. Marfa talked about the only tear in the “glass” of the police car, how she taught prison cadets humanity with the help of “Harry Potter”, and why even in freedom you have to learn to live and breathe again.

AZERBAIJAN: Igbal Abilov’s relatives reported his torture in pretrial detention. [RUSSIAN]
Faik Majid, Caucasian Knot, 7/13
Relatives and the lawyer of convicted Talysh cultural researcher Igbal Abilov have alleged that he was tortured in a Baku pretrial detention center. His relatives believe the pressure may have been triggered by Abilov’s appearance in court wearing a T-shirt with a Talysh inscription. Take action

SUDAN/UNITED KINGDOM: ‘Asylum isn’t the objective’: Sudanese students challenge UK visa ban narrative
Claudio Mecklenburgh and Adella Tobing, The Mancunion, 7/13
In response to the visa ban, The University of Manchester’s Sudanese Society joined the ‘Restore Sudanese Student Visas’ campaign, which argued that “the blanket ban punishes genuine scholars, Chevening candidates, and postgraduate researchers whose only connection to the asylum system is their nationality.” To further understand the impact of the ban on these prospective students, The Mancunion spoke to Sudanese nationals who had secured offers to study at the University of Manchester before seeing those offers withdrawn following the policy change.

SUDAN: Sudan’s lost generation: Students want to rebuild their future in refugee camp [GREEK]
News 24/7, 7/11
From universities to refugee camps – Students speak of lives frozen by a conflict that has torn families apart, shattered dreams and left many wondering if they will ever return to their homeland.

ISRAEL: Rights groups warn Israeli university ‘neutrality’ plan threatens academic freedom
Assiah Hamed, The New Arab, 7/11
Speaking to The New Arab on Saturday, Index on Censorship said the proposed measures – framed as promoting “institutional neutrality” – could significantly curb freedom of expression within higher education institutions. “The main concerns are that a series of measures, including efforts to ensure teaching is not impeded on campus, are being dressed up as benign when they’re anything but,” Jemimah Steinfeld, CEO of Index on Censorship, told The New Arab.

GLOBAL: Why we should teach students about academic freedom [COMMENTARY]
Kate Murphy, Tony Williams, Suzy Killmister, Times Higher Education, 7/10
In our undergraduate class of humanities and social science students, we set out to equip students with both a theoretical, interdisciplinary understanding of academic freedom (including critical analysis of its definition and limits) and hands-on experience in advocating for threatened scholars. In partnership with Scholars at Risk, students work in teams to develop advocacy campaigns for an imprisoned academic.
Start a Student Advocacy Seminar

UKRAINE: Ukraine ‘battles’ to rebuild its higher education system [SPANISH]
Miranda Escolar, Exito Educativo, 7/10
In the midst of war and with much of its university system under unprecedented pressure, Ukraine has decided to accelerate its integration into the European Higher Education and Research Area through a new package of measures aimed at strengthening international cooperation among universities, scientific centers, and innovation bodies. The initiative seeks to facilitate the participation of Ukrainian institutions in international projects, strengthen academic partnerships with foreign partners, and lay the foundations for rebuilding the university system closely aligned with European standards.

UNITED STATES: Campus Surveillance Is Out of Control: Colleges are investing in cutting-edge tech to suppress student protest. [COMMENTARY]
Anniyah Rizvi, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/9
Modern technology, particularly artificial intelligence, has created a vast, data-hungry surveillance apparatus. If wielded abusively, AI-assisted surveillance undermines free expression and circumvents human-rights laws, posing a grave threat to the university as we know it. Students have historically played a pivotal role in movements for political change.

AZERBAIJAN: Relatives: Bahruz Samadov’s eyesight has deteriorated significantly [AZERBAIJANI]
Azadliq Radiosu, 7/10
It is reported that the eyesight of imprisoned political scientist Bahruz Samadov is failing. Samadov’s relatives reported this, citing his lawyer, who met with him. They emphasize that being confined is having a negative impact on the political scientist’s health, and his eyesight has become significantly weakened as a result. Take action

AZERBAIJAN: Bahruz Samadov’s closing speech at Supreme Court
Free Bahruz Campaign, 7/9
Today marks 21 months since my arrest. For 21 months I have been held in closed conditions. For 21 months I have seen no sun, no flowers. Without retreating a single step from my peace-minded position, I say: flowers are superior to bullets. Holding me under a closed regime is part of a policy of terror directed against my person, and its purpose is to render me unfit for future academic and political activity. Alongside the enmity directed at me from the highest level, I am also witnessing a beautiful example of solidarity at the international and local levels. Take action

BANGLADESH: ‘No one is happy’ as research funding centralised in Bangladesh
Rosalind Skillen, Times Higher Education, 7/9
Academics in Bangladesh fear new rules to centralise research funding under the University Grants Commission (UGC) will slow down projects and undermine institutional autonomy, with work in STEM seen as now more likely to gain support.

INDIA: As L-G Asks for Greater Scrutiny of J&K Books, Questions on Academic Freedom, Erasure of History
Junaid Dar, The Wire, 7/9
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chaired a high-level meeting on July 7, directing authorities to conduct a comprehensive audit of educational institutions across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In the meeting, he directed officials to identify and remove books and publications containing what the administration described as “anti-national, separatist or objectionable content.” The L-G administration has also ordered universities, colleges, schools and libraries to certify that no such material exists on their premises.

HUNGARY: Hungary moves to overhaul university models banned from Horizon Europe 
Thomas Brent, Science|Business, 7/8
Hungary’s new government is aiming to overhaul the governance model of the institutions and universities that lost access to Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ funds “in a short timeframe,” according to Péter Horváth, the new state secretary for science policy and innovation. “As of today, the two non-university foundation-controlled institutions under my remit have been transformed,” he told Science|Business. “We hope the universities will follow and that this will be enough to satisfy the EU’s demands.”

IRAN: Higher Education in Iran: The Cost of Losing a Generation
The Borgen Project, 7/7
This student migration can have effects beyond the labor market; universities have been shown to thrive when their students are given full academic freedom to exchange ideas and research. Ongoing concerns about academic freedom, professional opportunities and political restrictions have contributed to growing frustration among some students and scholars, limiting Iran’s ability to retain highly educated talent and fully capitalize on its educational achievements.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Gaza: Many students leave, others remain in uncertainty [GREEK]
Jennifer Hollais, DW, 7/7
Mohammed Herzalah, 20, an Engineering student, also left Gaza last Monday to enroll at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. “Before the  war , I never imagined I would leave Gaza,” he told DW. “When the bombs were falling, I stopped thinking about my studies or my career,” he said. He hopes to return to his studies in Gaza after the war. “But the situation kept getting worse, so I applied abroad, even though I didn’t want to leave my family.”

GERMANY: Revolt of Reason [GERMAN] [COMMENTARY]
Gareth Joswig, taz, 7/7
When anti-liberal and authoritarian forces attack academic freedom, solidarity is needed within the institutions of science and research. This is one of the central insights of the broad alliance “Science Against Fascism,” which networked for a nationwide week of action at the beginning of June and did what scientists typically do when faced with problems: discuss them.

UNITED STATES: Comments Flood OMB Proposal to Cement Political Control of Grants 
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 7/7
The deluge opponents have called for has arrived: The proposal has already received roughly 90,000 public comments, and the comment period isn’t over until July 13. “We have launched a frankly enormous campaign educating the public and scientists on what is included in this rule,” said Colette Delawalla, chief executive officer of Stand Up for Science, a group she founded last year amid the Trump administration’s disruption of science.

BURKINA FASO: Burkina Faso Puts Study Abroad Under Junta Control 
Ilaria Allegrozzi, Human Rights Watch, 7/6
Burkina Faso’s military junta has approved a law requiring every Burkinabè student wishing to pursue higher education abroad—whether funded by a government scholarship or through private means—to obtain prior authorization from the Ministry of Higher Education. The Council of Ministers adopted the decree on June 25, but it has yet to go into effect. The government has presented the measure as part of a broader effort to strengthen oversight of higher education and promote “scientific sovereignty.”

GLOBAL: Steep increase in violent attacks on education globally 
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 7/5
The total figure of 8,566 attacks at all levels of education reported in Education Under Attack is 40% higher than the total during the 2022 to 2023 reporting period reported in 2024. At least 10,600 school and university students, teachers, professors, and education personnel were harmed in the 24 months beginning 1 January 2024, an increase of 6% during the same reporting period.

FRANCE: French court: Collège de France decision to cancel Palestine conference ‘disproportionate’
Mahmoud Al-Hajj, New Arab, 7/3
Nearly eight months after the Collège de France cancelled the “Palestine and Europe, The Weight of the Past and Contemporary Dynamics” conference, organised by the Paris branch of the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, an administrative court in the French capital held a hearing on Wednesday, 1 July, regarding a legal challenge to the decision.

GLOBAL: Beyond the crossfire: Universities are being hollowed out
Tarek Abd Elgalil, University World News, 7/3
The newly released Education Under Attack 2026 report by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) documents direct attacks on higher education institutions across the region. Yet the damage extends far beyond physical destruction. In country after country, the university is being weakened as a space for independent inquiry, social mobility and public trust.

IRAN: Iran rearrests prominent conservationists freed just two years ago 
Naina Rao, Mongabay, 7/2
Iranian security forces in Tehran arrested wildlife conservationists Houman Jowkar and Sepideh Kashani, alongside Sepideh’s sister, Sima Kashani, on July 1, 2026, according to reports from multiple Iranian news sources. Jowkar and Sepideh, who are married, are experts on the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and were previously arrested in 2018 on espionage charges related to their alleged use of camera traps.

TURKIYE: Turkey’s reversed university closure edict: cock-up or conspiracy?
Sehar Asaf, Times Higher Education, 7/2
So does the reversal of the closure decision mean that the Turkish government has decided, on reflection, to take a less aggressive stand with regard to political opposition – perhaps with a view to avoiding the fate of fellow right-wing autocrat Viktor Orbán, who was swept from power in Hungary earlier this year by a united opposition having spent a similarly long time in office – during which he too repeatedly clashed with universities? Not necessarily, commentators suggest. In fact, rather than signalling any political shift, most see the Bilgi incident as more cock-up than conspiracy.

SUDAN: The return of Sudanese universities: Hopes for normalizing educational life after a devastating war [ARABIC]
Al Jazeera, 7/2
Marwa Al-Taj, a design student, returned to her university in Omdurman after a long hiatus due to the war in Sudan . She said she felt saddened upon arrival, finding the place transformed into a scene of destruction and devastation. However, the presence of her classmates on campus gave her a glimmer of hope and restored her sense of belonging to the university.

CHINA/MYANMAR: Pressure on Beijing rises over prominent Myanmar scholar detained in China 
DVB, 7/1
International human rights organizations and U.S. policy institutes are calling on Beijing to “immediately and unconditionally release” Min Zin, a prominent Myanmar scholar and naturalized U.S. citizen, who has been detained in China for nearly a month on allegations of espionage.  

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Latitudes: American brain drain
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/1
One in four young scientists who had planned to stay in the United States is reconsidering because of federal-funding cuts, changes to research and immigration policy, and other disruptions to American science. A new working paper documents a striking swing in sentiment among Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers over just six months, before and after President Trump took office.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Southeast Asian academics unite vs acad freedom attacks
Dulce Amor Rodriguez, Bulatlat, 6/30
As Southeast Asian academics, students, and researchers face surveillance, harassment, criminalization, and political interference, educators and human rights advocates launched a regional initiative to defend academic freedom. The Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEACAF), together with academic institutions, unions, and civil society groups across the region, soft-launched the Southeast Asia Regional Principle on Academic Freedom during a consultation workshop at the University of the Philippines Diliman on June 25 and 26.

CHINA/SWITZERLAND: Why is Switzerland losing its “China expert”? [CHINESE]
Swiss.info, 6/29
“Conducting fieldwork in China is becoming increasingly difficult. Researchers like myself can no longer ask questions publicly without strict monitoring or prior notification, or directly meet with interviewees and academic partners in China, as we could twenty years ago,” she told swissinfo.ch.

GERMANY: Scientists fight back against far-right plans to restrict academic freedom in Germany
Diana Kwon, Nature, 6/29
“The AfD’s election programme explicitly proposes restrictions on, or even the prohibition of, research in certain fields,” and constrains the mobility of researchers in and out of the state, says Bettina Rockenbach, president of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, which has its headquarters in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. “Such proposals represent not only a serious encroachment on academic freedom, but also a broader threat to the principles of open, international and independent research.

FRANCE: France strengthens push to become leading destination for global researchers 
Kim Martin, The PIE, 6/29
“France remains a strong destination for scientific talent,” said Hissard, pointing to initiatives such as ‘Choose France for Science’, which has already enabled around 60 researchers to relocate their work to France after leaving the US, alongside the ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’ fellowship supporting postdoctoral research in climate change and biodiversity.

INDONESIA: Indonesians sour on Prabowo Subianto as currency weakens
Anantha Lakshmi and Diana Mariska, Financial Times, 6/28
The protests are the most substantial since deadly demonstrations last August over generous allowances for parliamentarians. The students are emerging as the most vocal opposition to Prabowo, whose coalition holds a supermajority in parliament, and whose administration has been accused by rights groups of intimidating critics.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Restrictions Are Destroying Academic Freedom at Balkh University, Students Say [ARABIC]
Nima, Hasht-e Subh Daily, 6/28
This student says that in academic theses, if there is even the slightest reference critical of the group’s regime, the thesis is rejected and the student may even face reprimand. According to him, there is no freedom of education or research, and professors and students alike live in fear of the Taliban.

COLOMBIA: New Colombian president ‘unlikely to follow Trump’s HE playbook’ 
Georgia Luckhurst, Times Higher Education, 6/28
Colombia has become the latest country to elect a right-wing ally of Donald Trump as its next leader but experts say it is not a given that Abelardo de la Espriella will follow the American president’s lead in attacking universities.

GHANA: ACAF report reveals sexual harassment remains biggest threat to academic freedom in Ghana’s universities
Christian Wilson, The Ghana Report, 6/27
Sexual harassment has been identified as the most pressing threat to academic freedom in Ghana’s tertiary education sector, according to the 2025 Africa Academic Freedom Monitoring Report released by the African Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF). The report, launched at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in Accra, assessed academic freedom across 30 African countries and highlighted persistent violations affecting teaching, learning, research, and institutional autonomy.

ARGENTINA: Supreme Court upholds ruling mandating university funding law be implemented
Buenos Aires Herald, 6/26
Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld on Thursday a ruling made by a lower court requiring the Milei administration implement the University Funding Law passed by Congress and rejected the government’s appeal to have the case thrown out. The news comes after an agreement was reached between the human capital ministry and public universities in early June after more than two years of protests, demonstrations, and strikes.

MALAYSIA: Malaysia’s universities are climbing the ranking, but are they intellectually free? [COMMENTARY]
Khoo Ying Hooi, Malay Mail, 6/25
As Malaysian universities rise in visibility, are we paying equal attention to the freedom that makes universities truly worthy of that name? Can a university be world-class if its scholars and students are not free to ask or discuss difficult questions? Across Southeast Asia, the deterioration of academic freedom is becoming increasingly visible.

NORWAY: UiO’s Human Rights Award to Pakistani Advocate for Education
University of Oslo, 6/22
The University of Oslo will present its annual Human Rights Award to Farida Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, who has led groundbreaking work related to academic freedom. This includes a 2024 report which, based on international law, establishes that academic freedom is a human right and a fundamental pillar of democracy as well as of social and scientific progress. SAR celebrates this recognition, and joins UiO in thanking Farida Shaheed for her tireless work for human rights, social justice and equality.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Southeast Asian universities are under threat. The region’s academics say: not on our watch
North Luzon Monitor, 6/22
The Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEACAF), together with the All UP Academic Employees Union, Network in the Defense of Historical Truth and Academic Freedom, KIKA (Indonesian Caucus for Academic Freedom), UP Office of the Faculty Regent, the University of the Philippines, and partner institutions across the region, will hold the soft launch of the Southeast Asia Regional Principle on Academic Freedom: a framework that affirms the right to academic freedom and sets out a shared regional standard for protecting scholars, students, and universities. 

VENEZUELA: New report from Aula Abierta warns about state policy aimed at stifling the civic space of the university community in Venezuela [SPANISH]
Aula Abierta, 6/19
Academic freedom and university autonomy in Venezuela and the Latin American region have ceased to be a secondary element in political crises and have become the strategic target of authoritarian regimes seeking to dismantle critical thinking and the activism of civil society organizations.

UKRAINE/YEMEN/SYRIA: What happens when a university burns in war? Science is difficult to rebuild [COMMENTARY]
Pranav Sharma, The Print, 6/20
When Karazin University in Kharkiv fell silent in the spring of 2022, what was lost was not a database. It was a living epistemic community—something more intangible that takes centuries to build. The particular culture of inquiry, the seminars and mentoring relationships and institutional memory that accumulate only across time and cannot be reconstructed by funding and ferocious exhortation alone. The distinction matters enormously for how we think about recovery, and for how we assign moral weight to the destruction of scientific institutions in wartime.

AFGHANISTAN/AUSTRALIA: Once locked out of tertiary education, now Alina is rebuilding her life as a refugee student in Australia [PODCAST]
Biwa Kwan, SBS News, 6/19
Refugee students are rebuilding new lives in Australia through a new settlement pilot program that connects their university study with industries where there are critical labour shortages like nursing. It has been achieved with the partnership of non-profits, Australian universities and businesses.

GLOBAL: Refugees remain severely underrepresented in higher education globally
UNESCO, 6/19
On World Refugee Day, the International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean highlights the importance of supporting the recognition of academic credentials for vulnerable groups, ensuring their access to education.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: Duration-of-Status Rule Change Clears White House Review
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 6/23
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has finished its review of a rule that would end duration of status, a long-standing regulation that allows international students to stay in the U.S. until they finish their degree. The Department of Homeland Security can finalize the change any day now.

RUSSIA: This Imprisoned Mathematician Has Global Support. Will That Help Him in Russian Prison?
Leyla Latypova, The Moscow Times, 6/9
Azat Miftakhov was 25 and in the fourth year of a prestigious graduate mathematics program at Moscow State University when he was detained in February 2019 on suspicion of manufacturing an explosive device. In 2022, Miftakhov was awarded Harvard University’s prestigious Scholars at Risk (SAR) Fellowship by unanimous vote.

AUSTRALIA: University of Sydney bans collaboration with rogue states
Sally Rawsthorne, The Age, 6/25
Staff at the University of Sydney are now banned from collaborating with colleagues from Iran, Russia, Belarus and North Korea “unless approved in exceptional circumstances.” The wide-ranging ban takes in research collaborations, technical advice, access to university data or facilities, co-authorship for publication, travel, educational arrangements and funding, gifts or donations, and comes off the back of updated government advice.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: China Arrests U.S. Scholar on Spying Charge
Edward Wong, New York Times, 6/11
Chinese security officers have arrested an American citizen who studies politics in Myanmar, an authoritarian nation on China’s southwest border, and accused him of endangering national security, according to people with knowledge of the arrest.

BELARUS: Crackdown on an Independent University
Human Rights Watch, 6/12
Belarusian authorities are carrying out a countrywide intimidation campaign against former and current students of the European Humanities University. The authorities have searched the homes of dozens of students and their families and harassed, interrogated, and detained them.

GLOBAL: Education Under Attack 2026 report
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 6/15
The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack has released its biennial flagship report documenting attacks on schools and universities, as well as violence against students and education personnel, in 2024 and 2025. 

GLOBAL: Violent attacks on schools, pupils and staff around the world up by 40%, says study
Sarah Johnson, The Guardian, 6/15
Attacks on education globally have surged by 40% with more than 8,556 recorded incidents and 10,600 students and staff killed, injured, abducted, arrested or otherwise harmed in 2024 and 2025, according to new research.

HUNGARY: Restoring Academic Freedom in Hungary [COMMENTARY]
Renáta Uitz, Verfassungsblog, 6/17
If the Magyar government chooses to engage in constitution making, it will face a robust architecture created by illiberal knowledge politics and nestled in transnational networks. It may decide to seize a historic opportunity to set a constitutional script that provides protection for academic freedom – (including research freedom) as an autonomous right – and safeguards university autonomy (in the public as well as the private sector) for a post-illiberal constitutional democracy.

CHILE: Universities have a role to play to stem school violence [COMMENTARY]
Ignacio Sánchez, University World News, 6/10
In recent years, serious incidents of violence have occurred and been reported within educational institutions in most countries, affecting both secondary schools and universities. We need to create educational communities characterised by dialogue, respect and harmony, with active participation and respect for diversity of opinion, academic freedom and freedom of expression within educational institutions.

CHINA: Understanding where global higher education is heading means understanding China’s next moves
Glen Noble, Wonkhe, 6/16
Chinese institutions have a renewed mandate for international cooperation. While some areas will become more difficult, the plan emphasises global scientific collaboration and access to international knowledge networks. These will be increasingly targeted, both to align with China’s science, technology, and industry strategies, and towards the most valuable partners.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: Judge Blocks USCIS Pause, but International Students Remain in Limbo
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 6/16
A federal court has blocked a Trump administration policy that paused the processing of nonimmigrant benefits for individuals from 40 countries and territories, but those impacted by the pause say it still left long-term impacts.

GLOBAL: What Can the Global South Teach a Fractured Knowledge World? [OPINION]
Vignesh Karthik K.R. and Philippe Peycam, The Wire, 6/16
In an increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden world, that may be the most practical definition of relevance the humanities, the social sciences and the arts can offer: not a defence of tradition, but the construction of shared reasoning infrastructures and institutions that allow plural societies to think, argue, and build together. It is through these operational transformations that a new South-South-North knowledge community can indeed prosper, and with it, one of the most necessary conditions for a pacified multilateral world order.

INDIA: India and the next knowledge transition [OPINION]
Syed Ata Hasnain, The Indian Express, 6/17
Encouragingly, parts of India are beginning to recognise the relationship between knowledge ecosystems and long-term strategic development. Economic modernisation can no longer rely only upon infrastructure and industrial expansion. Future competitiveness will depend equally upon research, innovation, and higher education.

GLOBAL: See how academic freedom is changing around the world
Jen Christiansen, Scientific American, 6/16
The ability to research and teach without interference from politics, wealthy donors or religious institutions produces more and better science and innovation, studies have found. Yet academic freedom around the world has been declining.

GERMANY: Professor reports on death threats at university: “Marburg has become a place of fear for me” [GERMAN]
Jan-Christoph Scholz, Anna Spieß and Rebekka Dieckmann, tagesschau24, 6/11
The university’s statement from December said that the death threats represented a “new level of escalation.” It noted that there had been repeated “anti-scientific and anti-feminist attacks” on researchers in recent years.

UNITED KINGDOM: Far-right radicalisation threat ‘only going to get worse’ 
Georgia Luckhurst, Times Higher Education, 6/10
Changes to how universities are expected to comply with the government’s counter-terrorism efforts will be revealed next month, as institutions grapple with a growing threat from right-wing extremism alongside other forms of radicalisation.

GLOBAL: Latitudes: Will foreign academics skip American conferences? 
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/10
It’s not unique to NAFSA — since President Trump’s return to office, academic groups have grappled with members who balk at attending conferences in American cities. More than 2,500 people from 75 countries signed a petition pledging to boycott the International Congress of Mathematicians if it is held as planned this summer in Philadelphia.

UNITED STATES: Trump’s Assaults on Scientific Research Just Got Worse [COMMENTARY]
Melissa L. Finucane, The New York Times, 6/9
The new rules expand their power over which grants get approved based on whether the projects align with political ideology. The incentive to prioritize loyalty to a political leader over quality and America’s needs would be strong.

BANGLADESH: How the Dreams and Aspirations of Bangladeshi Students Have Been Crushed [COMMENTARY]
Sangita Gazi, The Diplomat, 6/8
Following the ouster of the Awami League (AL) government on August 05, 2024, the Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration violated this principle by expelling and suspending students allegedly associated with the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the students’ wing of the AL, from public universities in Bangladesh without any hearing, charges, or even the constitutional rights granted to students.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Arbitrary arrests of students, expulsions, and self-censorship: critical thinking is a greater target than ever across Central America [COMMENTARY]
Sara Læssøe Nielsen and Pablo Mendoza, Global NYT, 6/8
As a leading figure in the student resistance movement against the government, the appearance of government flags at the university has had much more than symbolic consequences for Adela Espinoza, who has lived in exile since 2024, after spending 383 days in prison and exiled to Guatemala along with 134 other political prisoners. Her experience reflects a deeper change unfolding across parts of Central America where academic freedom is under growing strain.

DENMARK: The government framework leaves a strikingly narrow picture of what research is and should be. [COMMENTARY] [DANISH]
Maria Toft, Altinget, 6/8
It is of course not wrong that research can contribute to technology, health, security and economic development. It can, and it should. But research is also something else and more. Academic freedom, including the protection of independent knowledge institutions, is one of the core pillars of enlightened democracy.

IRAN: Student protests over university entrance exam rules continue across Iran
Iran International, 6/7
The student protesters have been critical of the Islamic regime’s handling of domestic duties amid the war, with many reportedly feeling that the war’s impact and the closure of academic facilities have not been taken into account when it comes to final assessments or university entrance exams.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: The Sound of Silence: Foreign Students Are Self-Censoring in Trump’s America
Abigail Riely, WhoWhatWhy, 6/7
Student protests over Iran’s university entrance exam system continued on Sunday, spreading across at least 20 provinces as pupils demanded changes to rules that give school grades a decisive role in university admissions.

INDIA: Supporters of India’s Gen Z ‘cockroach’ party stage first protest in New Delhi 
FRANCE 24, 6/6
The protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, marks the movement’s first foray into street politics after weeks of dominating social media feeds and news headlines, attracting millions of online followers and widespread support among young Indians. The immediate trigger for Saturday’s protest was reported irregularity in a recent exam that has dominated headlines in India, angering a large community of students.

CHILE: Resurgence of student occupations divides academic community and foreshadows a second semester of radicalization [SPANISH]
Andrés Cárdenas Guzmán, El Mostrador, 6/6
The Confech student federation returned to the streets, but divisions within the university community also resurfaced. With student occupations, criticism of Kast’s reforms, and warnings of a more turbulent second semester, the student movement has once again taken center stage in the debate.

UNITED KINGDOM: Universities face international student ban if visa abuse is suspected 
Holly Bancroft, The Independent, 6/4
Universities will be stripped of the right to recruit international students if too many drop out from their courses over fears they are being exploited for visa abuse. In a bid to bring down asylum claims from students further, the Home Office unveiled the reforms on Thursday, saying they would “tighten the screws” on those using universities as a way to enter Britain on false pretences.

UNITED STATES: Researchers say this new Trump rule could destroy American science as we know it. They’re fighting back
Ella Nilsen and Andrew Freedman, CNN, 6/4
Scientists across multiple disciplines are sounding the alarm after the White House proposed taking greater control over how scientific research gets funded and allowing political appointees to decide whether to approve scientific grants.

EUROPE: To defend liberal democracy, Europe must defend academic freedom [COMMENTARY]
John Morgan, Research Professional News, 6/4
As our lead feature in this issue of Research Europe examines, this political moment is one of acute danger for academic freedom in Europe. Beyond Hungary, the actions of governments in Serbia and Georgia—candidate countries for EU accession and members of the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme—are deepening fears about political attitudes towards university autonomy. The rise of the radical right AfD in Germany could give the party control of state governments, which are responsible for education policy, and thus power over universities.

INDONESIA: Saiful Mujani Responds to a Summons from the Jakarta Metropolitan Police in Connection with Alleged Incitement Case [INDONESIAN]
Riyan Rizki Roshali, SindoNews, 6/4
Saiful Mujani, founder of Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), complied with a summons from investigators at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police (Polda Metro Jaya) on Thursday (June 4, 2026). The UIN Jakarta Political Science professor appeared as a witness in the alleged incitement case against the authorities related to his statements regarding President Prabowo Subianto.

CHILE: Protesters clash with police in Chile’s capital over President Kast’s education cuts Nayara Batschke, Associated Press, 6/3
Thousands of students, teachers and social activists clashed with police in the Chilean capital Wednesday during a massive march against President José Antonio Kast’s education cuts and austerity measures. Since taking office on March 11, ultraconservative Kast has pledged to cut roughly $6 billion in public spending over 18 months in an effort to improve the country’s fiscal accounts.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Kremlin Slashes University Places in Social Sciences While Rewarding Families of Fallen Soldiers
Dariia Mykhailenko, United24, 6/3
Russia is deliberately reducing access to higher education in the humanities and social sciences while expanding benefits for those connected to its war effort against Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) on June 2.

EUROPE: Academic freedom isn’t a privilege – it’s a preparedness strategy [COMMENTARY]
Curt Rice, Wonkhe, 6/3
Knowledge capacity can’t be built on demand. It develops over time, through sustained investment in research across a wide range of fields, including those that may not appear immediately useful. And it depends on a condition that is often defended in abstract terms but rarely explained in practical ones – academic freedom. Without the freedom to pursue questions whose value isn’t yet obvious, societies make themselves smaller than their futures.

IRAN: New Wave of Student Repression Sweeps Iranian Universities
Poorang Novak, Iran News Update, 6/2
Iran’s universities are witnessing a renewed wave of repression as authorities intensify disciplinary actions against students across several major academic institutions. Reports published by the regime-affiliated newspaper Shargh and student organizations indicate that hundreds of students have been summoned before disciplinary committees, while many have received suspension or expulsion orders.

ISRAEL/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Israel Arrests Four Female Birzeit Students in West Bank Raids
Palestine Chronicle, 6/2
Israeli forces arrested four female students from Birzeit University during overnight raids across the Ramallah area on Tuesday, according to local sources and Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups.

BANGLADESH: Condemned before being heard: 403 students and the death of due process on Bangladeshi campuses [COMMENTARY]
Sangita F Gazi, Firstpost, 6/2
Following August 5, 2024, the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus violated this principle by expelling and suspending students allegedly associated with the Bangladesh Chhatra League from public universities in Bangladesh without any hearing, charges, or even the constitutional rights granted to students.

PERU: Student Federation confirms strike in 16 regions and warns of new protests against cuts to public universities [SPANISH]
Jazmine Angulo, Infobae, 6/1
Student mobilization once again filled university spaces in various regions of the country. This Monday, representative organizations from the education sector led a day of protest involving students from universities, institutes, and schools. The action unfolded against a backdrop of questioning public policies related to higher education and demands for greater student participation in decision-making.

HUNGARY: Hungary to rejoin Erasmus and ‘phase out’ university foundations
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 5/29
Hungary will rejoin the Erasmus student exchange programme “as early as the next academic year” and “phase out” state-linked foundations that have taken control of universities, the European Commission president has announced.

TURKIYE: 72-hour university shutdown exposes systemic vulnerability
Tarek Abd Elgalil, University World News, 5/29
The shuttering and re-opening of Istanbul’s liberal-leaning private Bilgi University 72 hours later, on the orders of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has exposed deep vulnerabilities in academic freedom and institutional autonomy and the political fragility of Türkiye’s higher education system.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: Learning falters as Ebola and conflict cripple universities 
Augustin Sadiki, University World News, 5/28
Although universities have formally remained open, the Ebola outbreak adds another layer of turmoil to the safety and security situation in the eastern DRC, which has already severely impacted higher education.

ARGENTINA: University demands against Argentina’s Milei escalate with student protests and faculty strikes 
Javier Lorca, El País, 5/28
The demand over funding and salaries at public universities in Argentina shows no signs of abating. Protests and strikes resumed this week to demand that the government of Javier Milei respect the university financing law, while the academic community awaits a ruling from the Supreme Court of Justice on the government’s noncompliance. Since Tuesday, schools affiliated with the country’s largest university, the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), have been occupied by students. And faculty unions are staging strikes across the country all week.

PAKISTAN: Baloch rights activists condemn CM Sarfaraz Bugti’s remarks targeting intellectuals
Nation Press, 5/28
Several Baloch human rights activists on 28 May strongly condemned what they called ‘inflammatory’ remarks by Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, who reportedly linked the province’s intellectual community to the militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and told those with ‘no love for Pakistan’ to leave the country. The remarks, made at a press conference that circulated widely on social media, have drawn sharp criticism from activists, scholars, and political leaders across the region.

YEMEN: Yemen universities unite to rebuild global academic links 
Tarek Abd Elgalil, University World News, 5/27
The moment itself appeared administrative: signatures placed beneath memoranda of understanding and governance documents. But for the academics involved, the launch of Yemen’s first national network of university international relations offices (IROs) represented something far larger – an attempt to rebuild Yemen’s connection to global academia after more than a decade of isolation.

UNITED STATES: Fired for Criticizing Charlie Kirk, They’re Now Getting Big Payouts
Jeremy W. Peters and Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times, 5/27
Ball State University in Indiana has agreed to pay $225,000 to a former administrator who was fired for her Facebook post accusing Charlie Kirk of spreading fear, the latest legal settlement awarded to a worker dismissed for criticizing the conservative activist after he was assassinated.

TÜRKIYE: Turkey reverses move to close university after student protests
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 5/26
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reversed a controversial decision to close a private university in Istanbul just three days after the announcement sparked protests by hundreds of students and staff. In a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on 25 May, authorities announced that they would revoke their initial decision to remove Istanbul Bilgi University’s licence.

CUBA/UNITED STATES: US fuel blockade ‘brutal’ for Cuba’s universities, minister says
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 5/25
The US fuel blockade on Cuba has been “brutal” for its universities, the deputy minister for higher education has said, with operations heavily disrupted because of a lack of power. Fuel imports have been prevented from reaching the Caribbean nation for the past four months as the Trump administration pushes for regime change in the country.

EUROPE/UNITED STATES: European academics shun US business conference over Trump fears
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 5/24
Many European academics are opting out of one of the largest annual gatherings for business scholars because it is being held in the US, citing concerns over data privacy, their opposition to travel bans and the political climate under the Trump administration.

TÜRKIYE/UNITED STATES: Remember Bilgi? A rallying cry for US higher education & democracy [COMMENTARY]
Robert Quinn, LinkedIn, 5/22
Earlier today the government of Türkiye revoked the operational license for Istanbul Bilgi University, effectively forcing it to close. Anyone who believes in free inquiry and expression, in the US or elsewhere, anyone who believes that the government shouldn’t tell its citizens what they can read, teach, and discuss – should heed this as a warning.

SERBIA: Serbia’s protesting students renew pressure on Vucic with a big weekend rally
Jovana Gec, Associated Press, 5/22
Serbia ’s protesting university students are gearing up this weekend for their first big rally of the year, in a renewed push for major political changes in the Balkan country run by authoritarian President Aleksahttps://www.chronicle.com/article/where-are-all-the-student-protestors-nowndar Vucic. Thousands of people are expected to gather on Saturday from all over Serbia in the capital, Belgrade.

AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court rejects Bahruz Samadov’s appeal
Aytan Farhadova, OC Media, 5/22
Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of imprisoned political scientist and OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on treason charges in June 2025. Following Thursday’s decision, Samadov chanted slogans including ‘Freedom!’, ‘End illegal arrests!’, and ‘End repression!’.

AFRICA: UTGFSA, ACAF launch consultations on African Principles on Academic Freedom
Olimatou Coker, The Standard, 5/21
The University of The Gambia Faculty and Staff Association (UTGFSA), in partnership with the Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF), hosted a one-day consultative workshop in Banjul to shape the African Principles on Academic Freedom (APAF). Held at the UTG Conference Hall, the workshop is part of a five-country regional initiative spanning The Gambia, Morocco, Uganda, Angola, and Botswana. The goal: gather direct input from academics, legal experts, civil society, and students to build a framework grounded in African realities.

BRAZIL: Students and union members in São Paulo hold march against Tarcísio. [PORTUGUESE]
Guilherme Bianchi, Metrópoles, 5/20
The demonstration was called by the Central Student Directory (DCE) of USP and brings together around 5,000 people. According to the organizers, the objective of the march is to denounce the increase in police violence, the privatization of Sabesp (water and sewage company), transportation and highways, evictions, and the lack of housing policies.

HUNGARY: Does Hungary’s election mark the end of Orbánisation in HE? [COMMENTARY]
Jo Dillabough and Andrea Peto, University World News, 5/20
Voters’ decisions finally brought an end to 16 years of illiberal and autocratic governance and, with it, a hope of reversing a technocratic science-policy regime that had profoundly reshaped Hungarian higher education, research and the concept of academic autonomy in Hungary and beyond.

EUROPE: Joint Statement by Executive Vice-Presidents Virkkunen and Mînzatu and Commissioners Zaharieva and McGrath on International Academic Freedom Day
European Commission, 5/19
When academic freedom is limited, societies lose access to independent knowledge, critical thinking weakens, innovation suffers, and democratic debate becomes poorer and less informed. The EU’s response is clear: we will always defend academic freedom as a cornerstone of democratic society, as recognised in the European Democracy Shield. This is why education systems must remain places where knowledge is built on evidence, debate is encouraged, and young people are prepared to think independently.

MALAYSIA: ‘Cowards’ or cautious? Why Malaysian scholars stay silent [COMMENTARY]
Khoo Ying Hooi, Aliran, 5/19
Malaysian universities have long operated within legal, bureaucratic and political constraints. This matters because one cannot demand public intellectuals without first creating the conditions that allow them to speak. They are produced through debating, disagreeing, writing for the public, speaking without fear, and making mistakes without career-ending consequences. In Malaysia, many academics have been trained in the opposite direction. Many are trained to be careful, to seek approval, to avoid “sensitive” topics, to protect institutional reputation, and to treat public communication as a risk rather than a responsibility.

YEMEN: Houthi escalation to subjugate Yemeni universities ideologically and financially [ARABIC]
Asharq Al Awsat, 5/18
A series of measures taken by the Houthi group in recent weeks at a number of Yemeni universities has sparked a new wave of concern in academic circles about the group’s relentless efforts to complete its control over higher education institutions. These measures included canceling university courses, depriving outstanding students of their education, and forcing students and academics’ families to participate in mobilization courses.

BRAZIL: Universities replicated political antagonism in election year with reports of censorship [PORTUGUESE]
Gustavo Zeitel, Acessa, 5/18
Months before the election, the university becomes a conflict zone, the target of disputes that mirror the polarization of national politics. Professors published a manifesto, reporting episodes of censorship and the suppression of debate, with harassment and even physical aggression. According to them, the attempts at silencing come from both the right and the left, in the context of intolerance. 

PHILIPPINES: Youth groups condemn military harassment of Tarlac student leader
Jian Zharese Joies Sanz, Bulatlat, 5/17
Progressive youth groups condemned the military harassment experienced by student leader Rafael Jay Valix. According to the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), two individuals, who presented themselves as members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) visited Valix’s house around 9 a.m. of April 28, 2026. They spoke with his mother and sister, claiming they wanted to “educate” him about his involvement in organizations and offer him “guidance.”

IRAN/SWEDEN: Opinion: Iran must free Swedish-Iranian doctor Ahmadreza Djalali [COMMENTARY]
Irwin Cotler and Judith Abitan, National Post, 5/17
The case of Ahmadreza Djalali should have been resolved years ago. A Swedish-Iranian physician and disaster medicine scholar affiliated with leading European institutions, Djalali has spent the past decade in Evin Prison under a death sentence issued on fabricated charges following a sham trial.
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SUDAN/UNITED KINGDOM: ‘Punished for being from Sudan’: Students accuse UK of denying the right to education after study visas refused
Shaheena Uddin, The Independent, 5/17
Now as a result of the ban, Ms Abdallah is unable to apply for a UK visa and take up her offer to study Neuroscience and Public Health at the University of Liverpool. Ms Abdallah, she says the Home Office decision has “punished” genuine students and “denied a right” to their education, after Sudan has endured a brutal war over the past four years.

SERBIA: ‘Bruises All Over’: Experts Document ‘Punitive’ Police Violence in Serbia
Jelena Zoric and Milos Katic, Balkan Insight, 5/15
Extensive injuries sustained in a police crackdown on anti-government protesters in the western Serbian town of Valjevo in August last year show the use of force was often ‘punitive’ rather than an immediate response to danger, according to a report compiled by forensic medicine experts.

UNITED STATES: Where Are All the Student Protesters Now?: The new surveillance state violates the university’s democratic mission. [COMMENTARY]
Rachel J. Webster, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/14
This new sense of vulnerability is even more acute for students. Colleges are increasingly international, and the presence of ICE on campuses and in college towns like ours means that there are significant risks to students becoming too visible. Students are weighing the risks of protest based on their own status, as well as the citizenship statuses of their loved ones. And in this age of digital surveillance, even online protest is perilous.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Researching while Chinese 
Jeffrey Mervis, Science, 5/12
The impact of the prosecutions has rippled across both campuses, with some scientists calling them racially biased and an overreaction to minor infractions. “It’s had a chilling effect on both faculty and students,” says cell biologist Dawen Cai, co-president of the University of Michigan Association of Chinese Professors.

EUROPE: Call for EU to leverage academic freedom in global talent race
Ole Ellekrog, Science|Business, 5/14
The G6 alliance of Europe’s largest research funders wants the EU to double down on protecting academic freedom and woo researchers from around the world who are looking for a safe haven. As academic freedom is increasingly under threat across the world, the EU should try harder to attract and retain global talent that would contribute to the bloc’s ambitious plan to revive the competitiveness of its economy, the G6 alliance said in a joint statement.

EUROPE: Academic freedom: A lived, institutional, collective skill [COMMENTARY]
Rebecka Lettevall, Annika Olsson and Andrea Peto, University World News, 5/13
Rather than focusing only on researching, monitoring and delegating the definition of academic freedom to politicians and policymakers, academics must take responsibility themselves by acting accordingly. That means doing so in meetings with students, in teaching, in their research and in conversations with society outside academia. Academic conferences, indices, laws and policies are not enough. We need to learn and practise academic freedom as a skill.

ARGENTINA: Argentina experiences new massive protest over crisis in public universities [SPANISH]
Fernanda González, Wired Mexico, 5/13
Higher education in Argentina is going through a profound crisis. That was the slogan championed by thousands of students, professors, and university workers who participated in a massive protest held in various cities across the country, including the capital, Buenos Aires, to reject the education budget cuts implemented by the government of President Javier Milei.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE: “Nothing will happen to me.” The first known Russian student recruited into the UAV forces died in Ukraine. [RUSSIAN]
Olga Ivshina, Anastasia Platonova, BBC Russian Service, 5/12
The BBC has identified the first known death of a Russian student who went to war amid a new large-scale recruitment campaign for university and college students to serve in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) forces. Valery Averin, a 23-year-old resident of Buryatia, signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense on January 3, 2026, completed training as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operator, and died on April 6 near Luhansk — just three months into his service.

SWEDEN: Ten Years with Scholars at Risk
Linnaeus University, 5/11
Linnaeus University is part of the global community of higher education institutions and organisations connected to higher education at local, regional, and global levels. Examples include Scholars at Risk (SAR), the European University Association (EUA), and the International Association of Universities (IAU). In recent years, Linnaeus University has taken a more active role in these networks.

NEPAL: Academicians wanted loosening of government control of universities. Yet the prime minister’s grip has only tightened
Sudeep Kaini, Kathmandu Post, 5/10
Educationists, professors and civil society leaders have criticised the Balendra Shah-led government for introducing university reforms that they claim tighten the prime minister’s grip on universities instead of curtailing political interference. The criticism follows a series of ordinances that removed vice-chancellors, rectors and registrars from 16 universities, along with senior officials from health science academies.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Exams on the beach: Israel laid waste to Gaza’s classrooms – now students sit on the sand
Ezz Al Din Abu Eisha, The Independent, 5/9
Gaza’s education system has lost irreplaceable human capital. More than 20,000 students from schools and universities have been killed. The sector has also lost more than 1,000 teachers and administrative staff in addition to more than 220 university professors and scientists, many of whom were internationally recognised authorities in specialised academic fields.

JAPAN: Concerns about the gradual expansion of dual-use research: Let’s not forget the fundamentals of academia. [JAPANESE] [COMMENTARY]
Asahi, 5/8
While dual-use technology is an inherent characteristic of science and technology, it is sometimes used for military purposes unintentionally. Where can we put a stop to the blurring of the lines between science and military applications across a wide range of fields? This has been a concern for scientists worldwide since the aftermath of the devastating Great War.

ISRAEL: Education Minister Kisch Threatens Funding Cuts for Israeli Universities Promoting Political Agendas
Media Line, 5/7
Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch called on university presidents to commit to keeping political activity off campuses and warned that institutions refusing to comply could face legislation imposing financial sanctions.

PHILIPPINES: Teachers reject Ched’s plan to reduce General Education units
Anne Marxze Umil, Bulatat, 5/7
Courses in the humanities, social science and ethics are reportedly affected by the plan to reduce the number of GE units. Ramota said that eliminating core GE courses compromises critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and civic engagement. “Ultimately, this undermines the university’s mission and the very essence of holistic education.” He said that the said proposal is “another neoliberal scheme that undermines institutional autonomy and academic freedom,” adding that “the proposal aims to reduce universities to mere labor production and placement agencies.”

UNITED KINGDOM: Fifth of UK universities publicly embrace ‘political neutrality’ 
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 5/6
The number of universities publicly adopting a policy of institutional neutrality appears to be growing “rapidly”, according to new research, as English institutions face stronger requirements to protect free speech on campuses. A report from free speech campaign group Alumni For Free Speech (AFFS) found that 18 per cent of UK universities, out of 178 researched, have made a formal commitment to institutional neutrality, usually by releasing a public statement.

GLOBAL: Latitudes: Students from countries in crisis see support disappear
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/6
The Trump administration has quietly allowed special academic and employment benefits to expire for students whose home countries are dealing with humanitarian, economic, or political crises. Since January 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not renewed Special Student Relief, or SSR, for 14 countries. The designation is set to lapse for citizens of the lone remaining country later this month.

NEPAL: University leadership dismissals pose real risk to autonomy [COMMENTARY]
Min Bahadur Bista, University World News, 5/6
The recent decision by the government of Nepal to remove vice-chancellors, registrars, deans and senior officials across universities and health science institutions marks one of the most sweeping interventions in the country’s higher education system. Framed as an effort to dismantle entrenched political appointments and reset a system widely criticised for its inefficiency and partisan influence, the move has triggered intense debate.

NORWAY: Universities and democracy: We need strong academic norms [COMMENTARY]
Margrete Søvik, Bård Drange and Agnete Wiborg, University World News, 5/6
We are currently conducting a study at the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills examining whether these trends are also being experienced in Norway, and how academics perceive the role of higher education in sustaining and safeguarding democracy.

CHINA/HONG KONG: The post-National Security Law era in Hong Kong: When universities are no longer a “protective umbrella,” what can students caught in the middle do? [CHINESE]
Yu Meixia, BBC, 5/5
In the past, Hong Kong university students had a long history of participating in social affairs, with the Chinese University of Hong Kong being praised for its open and free atmosphere and strong humanistic spirit. However, in the post-National Security Law era, the university’s “protective umbrella” has become ineffective, and students participating in university politics or social movements are increasingly facing double pressure from both the government and university authorities.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Hold Thousands of Students’ Academic Futures Hostage by Suspending Document Verification and Email Responses [ARABIC]
Amin Kawa, 8am Media, 5/5
The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education, continuing its sweeping restrictions against students and universities across the country, has this time halted the process of verifying and responding to emails from foreign universities regarding students who left Afghanistan to study abroad. Students say that the continued suspension of this process has taken their academic futures hostage and placed them in an extremely difficult situation. 

AFGHANISTAN/EUROPE: EU research funding should do more to support scholars at risk, advocates say
Juliette Portala, Science|Business, 5/5
Greater flexibility and longer-term commitments are needed in EU research funding to better support scholars at risk, according to organisations advocating for researchers who are threatened in their home countries or fleeing persecution. This could include adapting application procedures for EU funding or extending schemes designed for specific nations like Ukraine to other areas of concern, such as Afghanistan.

UNITED STATES: NIH grant cuts disproportionately hit minority and female scientists 
Max Kozlov, Nature, 5/5
A survey suggests that it disproportionately hit researchers from groups that have been historically under-represented in the biomedical sciences, including women, people of colour and investigators from sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ+). Although some of these cancelled grants were later restored, researchers fear that the cuts — many of which targeted studies on health equity and gender-related issues — will change the demographics of who is doing science in the United States.

IRAN: ‘Heartbreaking’: Iranian scientists on losing labs, libraries and liberty 
Michele Catanzaro, Nature, 5/4
Bombing of Iran’s civilian infrastructure has damaged universities, destroyed thousands of books and manuscripts, amid a government-imposed Internet blackout, some of the country’s researchers have told Nature.

SOUTH AFRICA: South African protests ‘will continue without funding reform’ 
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 5/4
South Africa urgently needs to reform its student finance system to avoid further violent protests, the vice-chancellor of one of the country’s top universities has said. Francis Petersen, who leads the University of Pretoria and is the chair of Universities South Africa (USAf), said that inefficiencies and a lack of trust in the system had contributed significantly to student unrest, which last year resulted in protests on campuses that saw some university buildings destroyed.

BANGLADESH: Bangladeshi academics’ brief window of freedom may be closing again [COMMENTARY]
Nahid Neazy, Times Higher Education, 5/4
Within weeks of assuming office, the new government initiated a sweeping “cleanse” of university leadership. Under the guise of removing remnants of autocracy, vice-chancellors at premier institutions – including the University of Dhaka, Rajshahi University and Chittagong University – were replaced in rapid succession.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Coursework beyond the classroom: Students advocate for human rights in projects across campus 
Rory Vargas, The Gateway, 5/4
Much of the semester was spent applying human rights concepts learned to an advocacy project that students would create and complete. The project could be about a specific case provided, or about any human rights issue. This semester, students were encouraged to work on a case related to Scholars at Risk, an organization that advocates for academic freedom and imprisoned scholars.
Join a Student Advocacy Seminar 

IRAN/UNITED STATES: UConn human rights class advocates for scholar imprisoned in Iran 
Kevin Guinan, The Daily Campus, 4/30
A human rights advocacy course at the University of Connecticut has been contacting legislators around the world and asking them to protect a scholar of disaster medicine who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2016. The HRTS 3540/5351 course, Topics in Human Rights Practice, is taught by Sandra Sirota, an assistant professor in residence at UConn and director of the Human Rights Close to Home initiative at the Dodd Center. This semester, her class is focusing on the case of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, who students chose from a list of academics facing unjust restrictions, prosecution or imprisonment created by the Scholars at Risk network. 

AZERBAIJAN: Release student Bahruz Samadov, wrongfully imprisoned for over a year and a half 
Scholars at Risk, 4/29
Scholars at Risk sent the below letter to Azerbaijani authorities, urging them to secure the immediate release of Mr. Bahruz Samadov on his 31st birthday.
Take action

INDIA: Forced Resignations, Suspensions, Threats, Imprisonment: India’s Shrinking Academic Freedom
Hajara Najeeb, The Wire, 4/29
A steady decline in academic freedom reveals a pattern involving both state and non-state actors – legal policies, administrative bodies and fringe groups that have continuously attempted to curb and silence academic spaces.

AUSTRALIA/CHINA: Student’s alleged jailing in China over Australian pro-democracy protests sparks calls for inquiry 
Wing Kuang, The Guardian, 4/29
Australia’s human rights commissioner has said the Chinese student who was allegedly jailed for six years by Chinese authorities for joining protests in Sydney underscores the “very real and growing risks of transnational repression affecting people in Australia – including international students”.

AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN: Afghanistan Accuses Pakistan of Artillery Strike on a University
Elian Peltier and Safiullah Padshah, The New York Times, 4/28
Afghanistan accused neighboring Pakistan of shelling Afghan civilian areas in the country’s east on Monday, including a university campus, in strikes that officials said killed at least four people and wounded 70 others. The United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan confirmed that a university in the eastern city of Asadabad had been struck, but it did not name the university or say who was responsible.

IRAN/NETHERLANDS: Iranian students caught between a rock and a hard place due to Middle East war: “It is about survival” [DUTCH]
Celine van der Burg, AT5, 4/27
International students from Iran studying in the Netherlands are stuck. The group is largely dependent on financial flows from their country of origin, which has been quite unstable since the war in the Middle East. At the same time, young Iranians are only allowed to work a maximum of 16 hours per week. “I started having panic attacks.”

IRAN/SWEDEN: Dr. Djalali has been a bargaining chip in Iran’s cynical hostage policy for 10 years. [COMMENTARY]
Wies De Graeve, MO*, 4/25
Until that day in April 2016, then, when he was arrested in Iran and disappeared from the radar for weeks. What followed was a series of violations of his rights, ill-treatment, and inhumanity. He was accused of espionage and sentenced to death in an unfair trial, without any credible evidence. He was forced to confess under torture. So, ten years. For ten years, Dr. Djalali has been imprisoned on death row in Iran.
Take action 

ZIMBABWE: Crackdown on Student Protesters Intensifies
Human Rights Watch, 4/24
Zimbabwean authorities have harassed, abducted, and arbitrarily detained student leaders protesting a proposed constitutional amendment to extend presidential terms, Human Rights Watch said today.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES:Academic freedom slides globally, as it takes a nosedive in the US
Anthony King, Chemistry World, 4/24
Academic freedom continues to decline globally, with a marked fall in the US, according to the 2026 update to the Academic Freedom Index. The index revealed that over the last decade academic freedom has slipped in 50 countries, with just nine registering improvement.

PHILIPPINES: Who is Alyssa Alano, the UP student leader killed in Negros clash?
Sherylin Untalan, GMA News Online, 4/23
Alyssa Alano was a student leader from the University of the Philippines Diliman who was among those killed in a military operation in Toboso, Negros Occidental on April 19, 2026.

HUNGARY: Will Orbán’s defeat deter authoritarian attacks on universities? [COMMENTARY]
John Morgan, Research Professional News, 4/23
The wider resonance was forceful for universities and research, where Orbán had waged culture war and weakened institutional autonomy to enforce greater government control—seen as writing the playbook for Donald Trump’s power grab on universities and research in his second term as US president. But does Orbán’s defeat inflict political damage on the type of authoritarian right approach to universities and research taken by him and Trump?

IRAN: Letter regarding U.S.-Israel attacks on Iranian educational infrastructure
Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association, 4/22
On behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), we write to raise an urgent concern about Iran’s educational and academic institutions becoming a frontline in the U.S.-Israel war against the country.  The war has followed a dangerous pattern of targeting civilian institutions, cultural and historical heritage sites, and public service centers. Schools, universities, and research centers have been systematically targeted in violation of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions (1949) and its Additional Protocol I (1977).

VENEZUELA: Workers at at least 23 universities are halting activities to demand a salary increase [SPANISH]
El Nacional, 4/23
Workers from at least 23 public universities across the country went on strike Wednesday as a pressure tactic to demand salary increases , amid a freeze on the minimum wage that has been in place since 2022 and which today is equivalent to just pennies of a dollar per month, according to the official rate of the Central Bank of Venezuela.

IRAN/COMMENTARY: Global HE cannot remain insulated from war’s disruption [COMMENTARY]
Harvey Charles and Anthony C Ogden, University World News, 4/22
Higher education depends on the free exchange of knowledge and the protection of scholarly communities. When research institutions are targeted – particularly those engaged in non-military work such as medicine, public health and scientific inquiry – the broader ecosystem of global knowledge production is weakened.

UNITED KINGDOM: ‘Pay attention’ to Reform’s election pledges, universities told
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 4/22
Reform UK’s differing approaches to higher education in its Welsh and Scottish election manifestos appear to be at odds with its leaders’ attitudes to universities more broadly – but the documents could give an insight into the party’s future policy direction, according to analysts.

INDONESIA: LBH Padang Urges Feri Amsari Case to Be Stopped, Saying It Threatens Democracy [INDONESIAN]
Dharma Harisa, Novita Rahmawati Editorial Team, Kompas, 4/22
The Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH) has highlighted the increasing pressure on human rights and civil liberties defenders in Indonesia, including that experienced by academic Feri Amsari. The criminal report against the Andalas University lecturer is considered to be part of the symptoms of the narrowing of space for freedom of opinion and expression.

TÜRKIYE: Academic freedom in Turkey: The professor was sent off. [GERMAN]
Can Tim Akıncı, Taz, 4/22
The dispute at Boğaziçi University exemplifies the state of academic freedom in Turkey. In its 2025 Turkey report, the European Commission ranked the country among the worst performers worldwide in protecting academic freedom. Furthermore, a law passed in July 2025 reaffirms the Turkish president’s sole authority to appoint rectors at both state and private universities.

CHINA/AUSTRALIA: Student allegedly jailed in China for six years after taking part in pro-democracy protests in Australia 
Wing Kuang, The Guardian, 4/21
The Australian government has been urged to take stronger action to protect Chinese international students from political repression by authorities on their return after a Chinese student was allegedly sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for joining pro-democracy protests in Australia.

HUNGARY: Hungary’s larger-than-life stature in global HE policy is about to shrink [COMMENTARY]
Liviu Matei, Times Higher Education, 4/21
Most likely, following the remarkable parliamentary election on 12 April that swept Orbán from power in a landslide victory for his opponent, Péter Magyar, this active, pernicious international influence will stop. At home, however, the aggressive ideological control will not be so easy to turn off. The academic community and the incoming government face a long task of restoring sound governance, re‑establishing organisational autonomy and academic freedom, and repairing a system hollowed out by politically engineered institutions and structures.

SERBIA: Police raid on University of Belgrade condemned 
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 4/21
A police raid on the University of Belgrade has been condemned by sector groups, who have also rallied behind the institution’s rector, warning that recent actions taken by Serbian authorities undermine academic freedom in the country.

IRAN/UNITED STATES: How the war in Iran is affecting Chicago colleges, from canceled research to uncertain postgrad plans 
Mary Norkol, WBEZ Chicago, 4/20
“My people, my civilians, my family, every part of my country, my cultural heritage, everything is being bombed,” she said. For weeks, and now as the end of President Donald Trump’s two-week ceasefire draws near, she and other Iranians studying or working at universities in the U.S. have struggled to focus on school and work, distracted by the fear their loved ones abroad aren’t safe.

BRITAIN: British universities paid security firm to ‘spy’ on pro-Palestine students
Aaron Walawalkar, Al Jazeera, 4/20
Twelve British universities paid a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to “spy” on student protesters and academics, including those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine, it can be revealed.

NEPAL: Police to enter Nepal colleges to remove student union offices, banners
Sudip Kaini, Kathmandu Post, 4/19
“Universities shall no longer provide rooms, buildings, or land for student unions to establish offices. Physical symbols, including banners, flags, and wall paintings, must be removed immediately,” the resolution states. The meeting agreed to repeal any legal provision allowing partisan student unions, with the education ministry set to propose the necessary amendments.

CHINA: Outside the Great Firewall: Mass Crackdown of Uyghur Scholars Without Even “Rumors” [CHINESE]
DW, 4/19
Reyila disappeared in 2017, and the news that she had been sentenced to life imprisonment for “endangering national security” was not disclosed until September 2023, six years later, by the human rights group Dialogue Foundation. Meanwhile, hundreds of Uyghur scholars also disappeared along with her in the crackdown of 2016-2018. The independent Chinese media outlet “WOMEN” (@women4china) published an article titled “Reyila Dawuti Has Forever Lost Her Fields,” which describes how the arrests of Uyghurs are carried out using a tightly controlled information management system and law enforcement actions that violate the rule of law.

AFRICA: ‘Self-censorship now a major barrier to academic freedom’
Wachira Kigotho, University World News, 4/16
Self-censorship, fear of surveillance and apathy have become significant barriers to academic freedom in universities across most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to scholars participating in a recent webinar hosted by the Global Observatory on Academic Freedom at King’s College, London.

IRAN: As Iran shows, dual-use research risks making campuses military targets [COMMENTARY]
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 4/16
When a bomb struck Sharif University of Technology on 6 April, it hit more than concrete and steel. It struck at an idea that has underpinned higher education for centuries: that universities, even in wartime, remain spaces apart. Often described as “Iran’s MIT”, Sharif symbolises the country’s technical ambition. But it is also, according to sanctions regimes and expert analysis, a site where the boundaries between civilian research and military application have grown dangerously blurred.

EUROPE/ISRAEL: Israeli participation in Horizon Europe halves as boycotts bite
David Matthews, Science|Business, 4/16
Israel’s participation in the EU’s €93.5 billion Horizon Europe research and innovation programme has halved since it began in 2021, data for 2025 shows, as the country’s wars on Iran and Lebanon have triggered fresh calls for the bloc to cut scientific links.

GLOBAL: Will universities have the courage to let students protest? [COMMENTARY]
Min Bahadur Bista, University World News, 4/15
The nature of student dissent – once defined by mass, ideologically unified and sustained movements – is undergoing a fundamental ‘reconfiguration’. This shift is not merely a change in student interest or a generational trait of ‘Gen Z’. Rather, it is a mechanical byproduct of the shrinking civic capacity of higher education institutions.

BELARUS: EHU has been declared “extremist” in Belarus: what are the consequences for students? [RUSSIAN]
Marta Sakawik, DW, 4/15
The European Humanities University (EHU) has been designated an “extremist organization” in Belarus. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus issued this decision on April 14, following a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office . It is the first university to receive this status. Why did the Belarusian authorities need to designate the university as “extremist,” and what should its students, faculty, and graduates do now?

GEORGIA: Georgia overhauls higher education as it shifts away from the West 
Lucy Papachristou, Reuters, Straits Times, 4/15
Under the reforms, guided by the principle of “one faculty, one city”, only one university in a given city will be allowed to offer certain degree programmes. The government will decide which academic disciplines can be taught at each of the 19 public universities – attended by over half of Georgia’s university students – and redistribute admission quotas.

EUROPE: Defending democracy: An obvious vocation for universities [COMMENTARY]
Sjur Bergan, University World News, 4/15
Helping develop and maintain a culture of democracy should be an obvious vocation for institutions that develop the highest level of knowledge and understanding in our societies. It is also an act of self-interest. The fundamental values of higher education are essential to both democracy and the quality of learning, teaching and research.

HUNGARY: What Orbán’s fall from power means for research around the world
David Adam, Nature, 4/14
The electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán after sixteen years in power is being welcomed by scientists in Hungary — and elsewhere. Researchers who watched Orbán dismantle academic freedoms, strip university autonomy, and saw Hungary blocked from EU funding now cautiously hope that his successor, Péter Magyar, will repair the damage. 

EUROPE/HUNGARY: Hungary election ushers in higher education reset with Europe in focus 
Kim Martin, The PIE News, 4/14
Hungary’s 2026 election result is being viewed as a potential turning point for the country’s higher education sector, with leaders pointing to renewed engagement with Europe, restored institutional autonomy, and a possible reversal of controversial reforms.

RUSSIA: To Fill Drone Force Ranks, Russia Targets a New Demographic: Students
Milana Mazaeva, Nataliya Vasilyeva, and Paul Sonne, The New York Times, 4/13
In the fifth year of its war against Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin’s government is going to new lengths to keep the front lines supplied with men. As Moscow begins its spring offensive, military recruiters have been targeting a section of the population they had not pursued aggressively before: university students.

INDIA: Why Academic Freedom in India Hangs Between Attacks and Resistance [COMMENTARY]
Christophe Jaffrelot, The Wire, 4/12
While academic freedom has always been fragile in India due to the state’s control over universities and research institutions, Narendra Modi’s rise to power in 2014 led to a clampdown on free expression on the campuses of both public and private universities, with vigilante censorship of scholarly writing and academic events, and with students being punished and even incarcerated for protesting these developments. It also introduced a new ideological dimension – that of Hindu nationalism – that stifles the scientific spirit.

IRAN: Conflict, no internet, politics isolate students, academics 
Manija Mirzaie, University World News, 4/10
Conditions remain all but impossible for many of Iran’s more than three million higher education students and for academics and universities, with internet shutdowns and political pressures on campuses continuing and dozens of universities physically damaged in the war. With internet disruption, online learning is unachievable.

LEBANON: ‘Classes will go on as education is the only way forward’: Beirut professor who witnessed Wednesday’s intense bombings 
Kalyan Das, Times of India, 4/10
Al-Badawi said the war had already taken a heavy toll on Lebanese University and that losses were both human and institutional. He said the university had so far lost three professors and 17 students in the bombing, while the conflict had also disrupted participation because of infrastructure damage, trauma, and unstable internet access. 

GLOBAL: Neo-academic Cold War is closing the door to global science [COMMENTARY]
John Aubrey Douglass, University World News, 4/10
However, this globalist vision of higher education has been unravelling – gradually, then in spurts – since the turn of this century under the weight of a growing transnational paranoia and geopolitical conflict.

HUNGARY: Will Hungary rip up its authoritarian playbook for universities?
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 4/9
With polls predicting defeat for Viktor Orbán in Sunday’s elections there are hopes that controversial governance reforms – copied by Donald Trump and other populist politicians – will be abolished. Yet not all scholars are convinced that reversing a decade of contested legislation criticised for restricting academic freedom would be straightforward.

RUSSIA/UNITED STATES: Russian designation of Tufts as ‘undesirable’ leaves students, faculty uncertain about travel, rationale 
Julian Glickman, The Tufts Daily, 4/9
Tufts University and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy have been effectively banned by the Russian government due to allegations of “anti-Russian propaganda,” open solidarity with Ukraine and support for the LGBTQ+ community, according to a Tuesday statement from the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation. The university and its graduate school for international affairs were designated as ‘undesirable organizations,’ invoking a 2015 law signed by President Vladimir Putin.

IRAN/MIDDLE EAST: Iran ceasefire brings hope after university attacks ‘normalised’
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 4/8
Staff and students at universities across the Middle East are hoping that a temporary ceasefire in the Iran war leads to more stability within the region after fears that attacks on institutions were becoming “normalised” in the latest round of fighting.

IRAN: Iran refuses to return body of executed teen protester to family
Farnoosh Faraji, Iran International, 4/7
Iranian security forces have still not returned the body of 18-year-old protester Amirhossein Hatami to his family, four days after his execution, in what informed sources described as further pressure on relatives already reeling from his death. Information obtained by Iran International shows that Hatami, who was executed on April 2, remains unburied as authorities continue to withhold his body.

SERBIA: New wave of government attacks on universities in Serbia [CROATIAN]
Una Sabljaković, DW, 4/7
Since a student at the Faculty of Philosophy was found dead in front of the institution’s building on March 26, the public focus in Serbia has once again been on the student movement , the government’s attitude towards rebellious students and professors, its attacks on state universities, and the increasingly intense promotion of private and foreign faculties.

HUNGARY/UNITED STATES: The Maryland college outlasting Hungary’s war on universities 
Ellie Wolfe, The Baltimore Banner, 4/7
The Central European country’s president, Viktor Orbán, has reduced funding for universities by over 40%, passed a law to boot out colleges and packed school boards with allies. But there’s one campus seemingly immune from the whims of the president: Maryland’s McDaniel College. The Westminster-based college has run a satellite campus in Budapest since 1994, emerging “from the vision” of an alum who wanted to introduce American liberal arts education into Central Europe, said Flavius Lilly, the college’s provost.

IRAN: Iranians Condemn Strike on a Top University 
Erika Solomon and Sanam Mahoozi, The New York Times, 4/6
Iranians from across the political spectrum expressed outrage on Monday at overnight strikes that hit Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, one of the country’s most prestigious academic institutions. It is the latest in a string of attacks that have battered Iran’s higher education centers.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Academic Freedom Falls Sharply in U.S. amid Worldwide Decline, Report Finds
Tarek Abd El-Galil, Al-Fanar Media, 4/4
Academic freedom has declined sharply in the United States because of state and federal actions that have weakened institutional autonomy, says a new report. That finding, in the Academic Freedom Index Update 2026, is part of what the report’s authors see as a significant and systemic challenge for higher education around the world.

UNITED STATES: Slasher sequel: Trump again proposes major cuts to U.S. science spending
Science, 4/3
For the second straight year, the White House is asking Congress to make deep cuts to federal research spending, including a 55% cut to the National Science Foundation (NSF), a 23% cut to NASA, a 15% cut to the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, and a 12% cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The plan also calls for eliminating a host of programs that focus on climate change and the environment, and limiting agency spending on publishing scientific papers and subscribing to journals.

IRAN: War follows us Iranian scientists far from home [COMMENTARY]
Ebrahim Karimi, Iran International, 4/2
I have learned as an Iranian-American scientist that war and politics rarely remain outside the laboratory for scholars from the Middle East, following us into our visas, our collaborations and even our ability to concentrate on our work. To be born a scientist in the Middle East, and particularly in Iran, is to inherit constraints that shape your education, your mobility and often your sense of belonging long before you publish your first paper.

UNITED STATES: Judge orders Penn to comply with federal subpoena seeking list of Jewish faculty, students 
Lavanya Mani, The Daily Pennsylvanian, 4/1
A judge has ordered Penn to comply with a federal subpoena seeking information about Jewish students, faculty, and campus groups. The Tuesday order is the culmination of a months-long legal battle between Penn and the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the agency’s authority to enforce a subpoena first issued in July 2025. A University spokesperson told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn intends to appeal the ruling.

SERBIA: Belgrade University Police Raid Triggers Protests and Clashes
Katarina Baletic, Balkan Insight, 4/1
Tensions erupted into clashes on Tuesday evening after students, professors and their supporters gathered in front of the University of Belgrade Rectorate after a police raid earlier in the day. Officers from the Anti-Corruption Department of the Criminal Police Directorate raided the Rectorate on Tuesday at around 11 a.m., as part of a probe into a student’s unexplained death.

SUDAN: Professors’ strike continues amid reports of crackdown 
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 4/1
Security forces have reportedly arrested academics and dispersed protest vigils at several higher education institutions in Sudan following a nationwide strike at 36 public universities involving thousands of professors. The Sudanese University Professors Committee initiated the strike action on 29 March to put pressure on the authorities to approve a new salary scale and service regulations recommended by a cabinet subcommittee.

VENEZUELA: A report by Aula Abierta warns that state corruption has captured autonomous higher education in Venezuela and eroded human rights between 2004 and 2026. [SPANISH]
Aula Abierta, 4/1
Aula Abierta presented the report “The Impact of State Corruption on the Autonomous Higher Education System in Venezuela (2004-2026),” which documents how the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches have deployed, for more than two decades, a state policy aimed at dismantling university autonomy, academic freedom, and the right to a quality education. The study shows that institutional corruption practices by public authorities have been used to obtain private economic and political benefits through budget cuts, the capture of university governance, and the manipulation of the law and the justice system, with direct impacts on the fundamental human rights of the university community.

IRAN/ISRAEL/UNITED STATES: Universities become new frontline as the US-Israel war against Iran escalates
Adam Pourahmadi, CNN, 3/31
Iranian universities and scientific research centers have come under a series of attacks in recent days, raising concerns that academic institutions are becoming a new frontline in the widening war. Iran’s Ministry of Science said at least 21 universities have been damaged in strikes since the war began, and academics themselves have been targeted, in what Tehran claims is an attempt to weaken the country’s scientific and cultural foundations.

ZIMBABWE: Fear grips students amid signs of intensifying repression
Clemence Manyukwe, University World News, 3/31
Fear is rippling through Zimbabwe’s student community after a series of abductions, harassment and the suspected killing of a student who opposed extending President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term beyond the constitutional limit. The drive to silence critics of extending Mnangagwa’s presidency has deepened campus anxiety and triggered rights groups’ warnings of mounting repression.

NEPAL: Planned ban on student unions sparks debate on fundamental right
Purushottam Poudel, Kathmandu Post, 3/31
Student leaders have voiced strong objections after the government unveiled a plan on March 28 to remove party-affiliated student organisations from schools and universities. The government’s 100-point work plan was approved by the Cabinet on Friday, shortly after Rastriya Swatantra Party senior leader Balendra Shah assumed office as prime minister, and released on Saturday. Under the plan, all structures of political student organisations in educational institutions are to be dismantled within 60 days.

AFGHANISTAN/UNITED KINGDOM: New visa rules fail Afghan women – and a future nation [COMMENTARY]
N Nikan, University World News, 3/30
While the new restrictions are framed in administrative terms, their human consequences are immediate. For many Afghan students, a pathway that once represented opportunity is now increasingly out of reach. This development comes at a time when Afghan women already face unprecedented barriers to education.

INDIA: ‘We protested about everything… didn’t need applications or approvals’: How protest culture is changing at DU
Vidheesha Kuntamalla, Indian Express, 3/30
Student protests at Delhi University have come under intense regulation in recent years. Last week, the students’ dissent was back in focus after DU introduced a new set of rules, mandating physical applications and a full list of speakers and attendees. The Indian Express spoke to former teachers and students about the shrinking space for spontaneous demonstrations.

SINGAPORE: Singapore and the boundaries of political expression [COMMENTARY]
Khoo Ying Hooi, Malay Mail, 3/28
Recent developments involving the denial of entry to Malaysian scholar and also activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, the earlier refusal of entry to Hong Kong figure Nathan Law, and the security checks involving Indonesian academic Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat reopen a discussion that is not often pursued in the region. While these cases differ in context, together they point to a shared question about how political expression is interpreted when it crosses borders, particularly when scholarship intersects with advocacy.

PHILIPPINES: The quiet normalization of patronage in state universities and colleges [COMMENTARY]
Jovito Anito Jr., Arlyne Marasigan, Nikolee Marie Serafico-Reyes, Phil Star, 3/28
Patronage may yield short-term stability, especially in resource-dependent settings, but it also produces structural fragility. Leadership legitimacy becomes tied to political proximity rather than institutional credibility. Research and program priorities become more responsive to external signals than to scholarly or public need. Academic freedom narrows, not necessarily through prohibition, but through selective encouragement, delay and self-limitation. The result is a weakened capacity for independent judgment.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: NIH restrictions on foreign research partnerships significantly impacted 1 in 4 U.S. scientists
Megan Molteni, Anil Oza, and Jonathan Wosen, STAT, 3/27
Vidal-Gadea found those collaborators in the Netherlands, and in March 2025 they began writing grant proposals together. But shortly thereafter, he said, “this entire thing kind of fell through.” 

UNITED KINGDOM: OfS to publish ‘expectations’ amid foreign interference fears
Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 3/26
The English regulator is to outline what is expected of universities with regard to free speech when they work with foreign parties. Amid enhanced scrutiny over how much influence countries such as China have over institutions, the Office for Students (OfS) has announced it is taking action to ensure any arrangements in place do not restrict universities’ obligations to uphold academic freedom.

RUSSIA: How students are recruited for the army [BOSNIAN]
Evegeny Dyuk, DW, 3/26
According to information from university websites and student testimonies on Telegram channels – universities are organizing meetings with representatives of military departments and military training centers, at which students are presented with the “advantages” of signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense. Observers warn that students are being misled and that in reality these engagements are turning into permanent contracts. In the worst case, students could be sent to the front.

UKRAINE: Ukraine’s universities push to restore campus life 
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 3/24
Universities in Ukraine have been gradually returning to in-person learning over the past few years, student representatives in the country have said, as part of a push to restore campus life after four years of war caused widespread damage. “Universities are trying to use all their resources to provide for students the opportunity to continue their studies in person,” said Polina Hombalevska, president of the Ukrainian Association of Students, at a webinar organised by the European Students Union (ESU).

INDIA: Universities Can’t Limit Peaceful Protest Over Ideological Difference: Delhi HC
The Quint, 3/24
The Delhi High Court has ruled that universities cannot restrict peaceful protest by students solely because their views differ from the institution’s ideology. The court set aside the expulsion of a student from Dr B.R. Ambedkar University, finding the disciplinary action disproportionate and unsustainable in law. The judgment emphasised that peaceful dissent and protest are integral to the educational environment and cannot be treated as misconduct if conducted without violence or serious disruption.

AFRICA: Report finds notable regional divide in academic freedom 
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 3/24
While some countries in Southern and West Africa maintain prominent levels of academic freedom, the African region is experiencing stagnation, with academic freedom operating at a level that indicates stress for researchers and institutions. This was one of the main messages that emerged from the Academic Freedom Index (AFI 2026) released on 17 March 2026 by researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, or FAU, (the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) in Germany and the V-Dem Institute (University of Gothenburg) in Sweden.

ARGENTINA: 50 years after the coup. A study reveals how the repression against the UNC was organized. [SPANISH]
Virginia Digón, La Voz, 3/23
A set of confidential memos from the Federal Police allows for a more precise reconstruction of how repressive control was exerted over the National University of Córdoba (UNC) during the years before and after the coup d’état of March 24, 1976. The documentation shows the coordination between different security forces and demonstrates that the university was considered a strategic surveillance site within the repressive scheme.

AFGHANISTAN/CAMEROON/MYANMAR/SUDAN/UNITED KINGDOM: ‘The UK is saying the same thing as the Taliban’: the women banned from studying in Britain
Diane Taylor, The Guardian, 3/23
The Home Office has blocked new study visas for applicants from Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon. It means many women will miss out on life-changing opportunities – as five female academics explain.

PHILIPPINES: Student journalists protest attack on campus paper, cite “pattern” of press freedom violations
Daisy Canarias, NewsLine Philippines, 3/22
Student journalists from the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)–Davao lit candles at Freedom Park on Friday night, turning a quiet vigil into a pointed protest against what they describe as a continuing pattern of attacks on campus press. The demonstration was sparked by a recent incident involving Primum Publication of the University of Mindanao, which the group said reflects broader threats faced by student publications nationwide.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: US leads worldwide decline in academic freedom – Report
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 3/20
Academic freedom has declined more quickly in the United States than any other country in the past year, but it is a significant contributor to a worrying global trend of continuing decline in academic freedom, according to a new report. From an average worldwide high in 2015 of 0.6 (with 1 equalling fully free), academic freedom fell to 0.54 in 2025, says the latest Academic Freedom Index (AFI) report released on 17 March.

MIDDLE EAST/UNITED STATES: US campuses respond to risk as Iran targets US interests 
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 3/20
United States universities and branch campuses located in the Arab World have been quick to implement contingency plans in response to the heightened risk in the Middle East region caused by the escalating conflict triggered by US and Israeli military attacks on Iran.

AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST: War signals urgent need for plan to evacuate students
Wagdy Sawahel, Michael Ainomugisha and Abdulganiyu Abdulrahman Akanbi, University World News, 3/19
African nations have been evacuating their nationals, including students, from Iran and other countries of the Middle East in the wake of the escalating Israel-US-Iran military conflict. Against this backdrop, commentators have urged African governments to come up with comprehensive action plans to manage student mobility in high-risk areas.

GLOBAL: Academic Freedom Index Update 2026 [REPORT]
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the V-Dem Institute, 3/17
The Academic Freedom Index Update 2026 provides an overview on the state of academic freedom in 179 countries and territories around the world. It identifies 50 countries and territories that have experienced a statistically and substantially significant decline in academic freedom compared to ten years ago, while only nine countries saw an increase in academic freedom. 

BELARUS: Trump envoy wins release of 250 more Belarusian prisoners 
Andrius Sytas and Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, 3/19
Belarusian human rights group Viasna said before Thursday’s announcement there were more than 1,100 political prisoners in the country. Among those to be freed was Marfa Rabkova, the ​coordinator of Viasna’s volunteer network, who was arrested in September 2020 ​and was serving a sentence of 14 years and nine months for “extremism” and other ‌charges ⁠that she denied. Supporters say she has suffered serious health problems while in prison. The releases were announced after talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk between Lukashenko and John Coale, an envoy for U.S. President ​Donald Trump.
Learn more about Marfa Rabkova’s story

IRAN/QATAR: Under Iran attack, Qatar students fear long war will keep universities shut
The Straits Times, 3/19
Universities in the sleek district in the northwest of the Qatari capital, including branches of six US colleges, have shuttered since Tehran launched its ongoing missile and drone campaign against Gulf states. With some students evacuated in response to Iranian threats and classes moved online, some fear a prolonged war could keep them out of classrooms indefinitely. 

NORWAY: New calls for constitutional protection of academic freedom 
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 3/18
A new campaign to have academic freedom enshrined in the Norwegian constitution has been launched by the Norwegian Association of Researchers and the National Union of Students in Norway (NSO) with support from some of the country’s top scientists. Under the slogan “Let research be free!” the campaign asks supporters to sign an online petition that states: “Free and independent research and knowledge dissemination are a prerequisite for our democracy and for us to be able to develop a better society.”

INDIA: India Among Countries Facing Gradual but Continuous Erosion of Academic Autonomy: Report 
Ritvi Jain, The Wire, 3/18
Within the regional context, India stands out as an important case of gradual yet sustained backsliding of academic autonomy. The report cites India as one of the several countries experiencing a persistent erosion of institutional autonomy over an extended period of time. The figure below displays a continuous downward trajectory in academic freedom in India between 2013 and 2025, as opposed to the sharp and rapid decline observed in the United States. This progressive and consistent pattern of decline reflects continued attacks on academic institutions, instead of sudden and isolated intrusions.

INDIA: Why Indian Universities Are Witnessing a ‘Bloody Spring’: The Criminalisation of Student Protests
Aakriti Handa, The Quint, 3/18
In other words, as universities are transforming into ideological battlegrounds, student protests are increasingly being treated as law and order issues rather than democratic dissent. The net effect is an assertive crackdown on debate and academic freedom. The stifling of academic freedom also manifests when lectures by eminent personalities, including veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, are cancelled last minute or National Award-winning filmmaker Anand Patwardhan is denied entry by a central university. In fact, India ranked 156th on a scale of 179 countries in the Academic Freedom Index report published last year.

GLOBAL/SOUTH AFRICA: ‘Fear and loathing’: Foreign academics row escalates
Desmond Thompson, University World News, 3/18
A simmering dispute over the role of foreign academics in South Africa’s higher education sector is escalating into a broader confrontation over academic freedom, migration politics and the future of internationalisation in the country’s universities. The debate intensified over the weekend (14-15 March) when two vice-chancellors (VCs) publicly challenged what they described as the growing use of “ethno-nationalist politics” and a “frontal attack on academic freedom”.

UNITED STATES: ‘Unusually steep’ decline in US university autonomy, index shows 
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 3/17
Academic freedom has deteriorated in 50 countries over the past decade, while improving in just nine, according to a report which also warns that the decline in university autonomy in the US has been faster than in places such as Hungary, Turkey and India. The findings were published in the latest edition of the Academic Freedom Index (AFI), an annual benchmarking report compiled by researchers at Germany’s University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

BAHRAIN: Joint appeal for Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace on 15th anniversary of his arrest 
English Pen, 3/17
Since 2021, Dr Al-Singace has been on a liquid only hunger strike to protest the confiscation of his manuscript. Over the course of his detention, he has been held in solitary confinement, subjected to torture and ill-treatment, and denied access to specialised healthcare. To mark this anniversary, we have come together with other NGOs to show our solidarity with Dr Al-Singace and to continue to call on the Bahraini authorities to release him and other imprisoned human rights defenders.
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GLOBAL: Academic Freedom Under Pressure: What Academic Publishers Can Do [COMMENTARY]
Ilyas Saliba and Lou Peck, The Scholarly Condition, 3/17
Why should publishers care? Because publishing is the lifeblood of scholarly exchange and debate. If academic freedom collapses, so does the integrity of research. Authors and reviewers who fear repercussions may self-censor. Editors under political pressure may shy away from controversial topics. The result? A narrowing of perspectives and a distortion of knowledge production hamper scholarly outputs’ innovation and creativity.

GLOBAL: 112WATCH interviews Scholars at Risk about the situation of academic freedom under the banner of “national security”. [THAI]
112Watch, 3/16
112WATCH interviewed representatives from Scholars at Risk (SAR) about trends in the suppression of academic freedom of expression in various countries, including the enactment of new laws that make expression a threat to national security, and the surveillance of students’ exercise of freedom of expression in universities.

UKRAINE: Ukraine is at war. Its students won’t stop learning. [COMMENTARY]
Nicholas A. Christakis, The Washington Post, 3/16
I soon found, though, that the student body’s interest in defending their country was matched by their yearning to learn. Whatever anxiety I felt by the raids was overtaken when I saw the university in action, buzzing. The campus was unfazed. Students occupied every available space — classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, even the stairwells. Their resolute faces immediately energized me.

VENEZUELA: Venezuelan students return to the streets with demands for democracy: “Now is the time, even though it’s scary” [SPANISH]
El Nacional, 3/16
A new generation of Venezuelan students began to take to the streets again and raise their voices in public protests , after years in which university activism was marked by fear, repression and judicial persecution during the government of Nicolás Maduro.

ISRAEL/LEBANON: Israeli targeted strike on campus kills two academics
Tarek Abd Elgalil, University World News, 3/15
The Lebanese University (LU) – Lebanon’s only public institution of higher education – is mourning the loss of two senior faculty members killed in an Israeli drone strike directly targeting its Hadath campus in Beirut’s southern suburbs on 12 March.

MALAYSIA: When academic opinions become a subject of investigation [COMMENTARY]
Khoo Ying Hooi, Malay Mail, 3/13
In universities, the pen is meant to be a tool for thinking, questioning, and writing critically. Yet in Malaysia, we are increasingly witnessing a worrying phenomenon in which academic writing, public analysis, and scholarly commentary to the media can bring a scholar to the police station. This situation raises a broader question, what is the real space for academic freedom in this country?

RUSSIA: Putin’s war has birthed quislings in Russia’s ivory towers [COMMENTARY]
Nina Izmailova, University World News, 3/11
Russian universities’ transformation from passive bystanders into active cogs in Vladimir Putin’s war machine against Ukraine represents one of the most alarming developments in global higher education since the 2022 invasion. What began as coerced statements of support from rectors has escalated into systematic student military recruitment drives, with famous institutions like the Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and Bauman Moscow State Technical University now functioning as de facto military enlistment offices.

UNITED KINGDOM/GLOBAL: UK ‘must not be complacent’ over Trump effect on student flows
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 3/11
Declines in international student demand in the US are expected to “accelerate” during 2026, but the UK has been warned not to be “complacent”, given many prospective students will opt to stay home instead of choosing a different destination, according to a new report.

INDIA: JNU Violence And The ‘Victim Card’: When Campus Dissent Meets A Police Crackdown [COMMENTARY]
Anand Teltumbde, Outlook, 3/11
The sequence of events makes one thing clear: while the Vice-Chancellor’s controversial remark was the immediate flashpoint, the conflict stemmed from a deeper democratic deficit on campus. The protests began over the implementation of biometric and facial-recognition system without meaningful consultation with students. Universities are communities of learning, not barracks.

IRAN: Humanitarian catastrophe in Iranian prisons [BULGARIAN]
Club Z, 3/10
Since the start of the war in Iran, prisoners in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison have been largely left to fend for themselves and are no longer receiving food. The guards have fled and left the prisoners with nothing but bread, the wife of Iranian-Swedish scholar Ahmadreza Jalali, who is being held in the prison’s hospital ward, told AFP in Stockholm on Wednesday.
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UNITED STATES: The Unmaking of the American University
Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker, 3/9
The Trump Administration has deployed a brutally effective, previously unused technique for getting these institutions’ full attention: suspending their funds, even those appropriated by Congress and legally committed to in contracts. The Trump Administration is unusual in its disregard for the law, rough way of doing business, and heedlessness about the effects of its actions. Still, it isn’t completely out of touch with political reality. These actions are not nearly as unpopular as universities think they should be.

HUNGARY/NETHERLANDS/UNITED STATES: Three brushes with populist power tell me no one in academia is safe [COMMENTARY]
Ferenc Laczó, Times Higher Education, 3/9
As a graduate of the Central European University in Budapest who has tenure at Maastricht University and was recently a visiting academic at Columbia University, I have had the rare luck of experiencing attacks on higher education in three different regions. That triple blow has taught me that academics are never far away from the wrong end of authoritarian power, however liberal a society might seem. But there are other more hopeful lessons to share.

BANGLADESH/IRAN: Bangladesh shuts universities, limits fuel sale as Iran war causes shortage 
Al Jazeera, 3/9
Bangladesh has closed universities and launched fuel rationing amid a worsening energy crisis linked to the conflict in the Middle ⁠East. Authorities shut all public and private universities across the country from Monday, bringing forward the Eid ⁠al-Fitr holidays as part ⁠of emergency measures to conserve electricity and fuel.

HAITI: Haiti looks to restore universities amid instability 
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 3/8
“The growing need for quality assurance, stronger institutional governance and internal recognition of Haitian degrees made the establishment of a dedicated regulatory and strategic body both necessary and urgent. We aim to build a coherent, transparent and performance-driven higher education system that contributes directly to national development.”

MYANMAR: By honouring the criminal Myanmar junta, my university dishonours education itself [COMMENTARY]
Cynthia Chin, The Independent, 3/7
The military wants us to accept this reality. They want us to believe that resistance is futile and that their authority is permanent. But I refuse to accept that. Education is stronger than fear. Truth is stronger than propaganda. The sacrifices of our students must mean something. I continue to believe that one day, I will return to teaching – not in hiding, but in freedom.

SUDAN/UNITED KINGDOM: UK accused of ‘collective punishment’ over Sudanese students ban
Daniel Tester, Middle East Eye, 3/7
When Ibrahim Dafallah checked his messages on Wednesday morning, he could hardly believe the news. Nearly three years into Sudan’s devastating war, the country had been placed on a list of four nations whose citizens would be banned from obtaining visas to study in the United Kingdom, alongside Myanmar, Afghanistan and Cameroon. For Dafallah, the announcement was devastating. The 23-year-old had just secured a place at the University of Oxford to study a master’s degree in health service improvement and evaluation and was preparing to begin his course in September.

MIDDLE EAST: “Worried and concerned”: international students navigate Middle East conflict 
Abhishek Nair, The PIE, 3/6
As heightened tensions in the Middle East enter their seventh day, international students in the UAE and Iran are facing disruption, from postponed exams and online learning to internet outages, as embassies race to keep citizens updated.

EUROPE: ‘Passive suppression’ eroding academic freedom, ERC head warns 
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 3/6
Academic freedom is under threat not only from direct political pressure but from subtler forces that discourage researchers from pursuing risky and creative ideas, the president of the European Research Council (ERC) has warned. Speaking at an event organised by the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara) on 5 March, Maria Leptin said research systems could gradually narrow even when there was no direct censorship. 

AFRICA: Government control over academic interests ties VCs’ hands
Wachira Kigotho, University World News, 3/5
Vice-chancellors at African universities are navigating a complex academic environment in which critical decisions are regularly made without their input, a factor that often runs counter to the principles of academic freedom that aim to protect academics’ rights and the universities’ interests.

FRANCE/UNITED STATES: “We’ve lost a generation of scientists”: US talent turns to France
Polly Nash, The PIE, 3/5
The French government has announced grant funding for 46 researchers coming to the country under its ‘Choose France for Science’ initiative, launched last year in a bid to attract international talent pivoting away from an increasingly hostile US research environment. With 41 of the total relocating from US institutions, stakeholders have said the departures illustrate the damaging repercussions of funding cuts and visa volatility under the Trump administration, making it harder for scientists to pursue research and keep labs running.

UNITED KINGDOM: Threat of libel ‘chilling academic freedom’, say UK researchers
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 3/4
Scholars threatened with libel action over their research into the UK’s links with Russian oligarchs are calling for new “anti-SLAPP” laws to help uphold academic freedom.

INDIA: ABVP vandalises campus and Azim Premji University files FIR against its own students
Anisha Reddy, The South First, 3/3
Azim Premji University in Bengaluru recently filed a police complaint against its own students for organising a discussion without the administration’s approval. The university’s complaint follows an incident of vandalism and an attack on a student, allegedly by the members of the ABVP, over a planned discussion on the campus. Students and activists condemned the university’s decision to file an FIR against its own students.

TÜRKIYE: At least 251 human rights violations occurred in universities in one year. [TURKISH]
Fırat Fistık, Medyascope, 3/3
At least 251 human rights violations have occurred in universities in the last year. While nepotism in appointments and allegations of corruption were the most prominent, it was noted that pressure on universities has increased since March 19, 2025, the date when the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s detentions and arrests began.

IRAN/MIDDLE EAST: Middle East universities disrupted as conflict widens
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 3/3
A raft of countries in the Middle East, including Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine and Iraq, have announced the temporary closure of their universities in response to the widening military conflict between US and Israeli forces and Iran.

IRAN: Iran’s recent student protests point to a monarchist post-war future [COMMENTARY]
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 3/2
But what would the people do with power once they have it? The renewed wave of campus protests that the war interrupted offers a revealing glimpse into what any post-war political transition might look like – and it is not what many Western academics might expect.

IRAN/SWEDEN: Reports of chaos in prisons – Djalali’s wife: “Very worried” [SWEDISH]
Nyheterna, 3/2
The management of Evin Prison in Iran has reportedly collapsed and the staff have evacuated and locked the doors, the foundation of imprisoned Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi reports, according to TT. The Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali is imprisoned in Evin Prison. At the same time, his wife Vida has no news about his condition.
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UNITED KINGDOM: UK universities join forces to coordinate support for refugees
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 3/2
A dozen British universities and organisations have formed a coalition to support displaced students as it becomes increasingly untenable for people impacted by humanitarian crises to travel to the US to continue their studies.

PHILIPPINES: Academic freedom under quiet siege [COMMENTARY]
Jovito Anito Jr., Arlyne Marasigan, Levi Elipane, PhilStar, 2/28
It mirrors a pattern that many faculty members in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) quietly recognize. That academic freedom is not eroded by explicit orders but by governance arrangements that reward caution and penalize risk. In such a case, the danger lies not in what is openly prohibited but in what gradually becomes inconvenient to pursue.

NORTH MACEDONIA: We defend the Autonomy of Public Universities of the Republic of North Macedonia! [COMMENTARY]
Botasot, 2/28
In recent months, legal changes and initiatives by the Ministry of Education and Science under the leadership of Vesna Janevska have raised serious concerns about university autonomy. Provisions that give the Ministry the ability to intervene in the decisions of rectors, control the composition of governing boards, and influence the accreditation of programs violate the fundamental principles of higher education law. 

RUSSIA: “The Country Needs Warriors.” How Russian Universities and Colleges Send Their Students to War [RUSSIAN]
BBC Russia, 2/27
Several universities and colleges have already reported seeing off students to serve. The BBC Russian Service explains how the recruitment process is working, how the first students joined the military, and why generous promises of “special contracts” are untrustworthy.

SUDAN: Condemnation as universities in Darfur come under attack
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 2/27
Sudan’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has condemned the drone strikes on Kordofan University in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, and the targeting of academic institutions in the Darfur region, holding the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) responsible.

SUDAN: The successful escape of the university and the football clubs [GERMAN]
Christian Putsch, WELT, 2/25
The University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST), a private medical school, is looted, and parts of the campus are occupied by fighters. Classes are impossible. But the administration decides not to abandon teaching. The first students are relocated to Tanzania . A university on the run.

LATVIA: Russian Scholar of North Korea Says He Was Detained and Expelled From Latvia
The Moscow Times, 2/25
Andrei Lankov, a prominent Russian scholar on North Korea, said Wednesday that he was detained during a lecture in Latvia and expelled from the country after being declared persona non grata. Lankov, who holds dual Russian and Australian citizenship, was due to give a presentation on North Korean politics in Riga when police showed up at the lecture venue and detained him.

SERBIA: Serbia’s academics lose jobs over support for student pro-democracy movement
Mićo Tatalović, Science|Business, 2/25
Serbian academics say they are being fired from their jobs by managers close to the ruling political party, in revenge for their backing of pro-democracy student protests.

AUSTRALIA: Helping clear roads to freedom 
Sian Powell, The Australian, 2/25
“As part of their end-of-semester presentation, they were able to say she had just been released and would soon be able to go home.” The third-year, hands-on Activism for Academic Freedom course at Monash aligns teams of students with jailed or at-risk academics selected by the US-based Scholars at Risk network. In teams of 10 or so, the university students design and deliver real-world advocacy campaigns – each team works on a campaign for one imprisoned scholar.

Webinar: Strategies of Resistance: Lessons Learned from the Defence of Academic Freedom and Democracy in Brazil
Scholars at Risk, Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americans (CAFA)
Join Scholars at Risk (SAR) and the Coalition for Academic Freedom (CAFA) on Wednesday, March 4th at 12 PM EST/ 14:00 BRT for a discussion on defending academic freedom in Brazil and beyond!

BANGLADESH: Bangladeshi scholars fear loss of new freedoms after election
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 2/25
Bangladeshi academics fear gains made under the caretaker government formed following the 2024 student-led uprising could be undone by the country’s new government.

UKRAINE: MSCA4Ukraine: standing with Ukraine’s research community
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Commission, 2/24
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are helping safeguard Ukraine’s research and innovation ecosystem by allowing its researchers to continue their work. Four years after the start of Russia’s invasion, we spoke to fellows supported by MSCA4Ukraine about their journey.

UNITED STATES: The War on Student Speech 
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 2/24
The court ruling reflects what academic experts and First Amendment advocates have been saying for months: that the Trump administration is stifling free speech on campus, particularly in support of liberal causes, by arresting students purely for their activism—and seeking to hold universities accountable by investigating them for tolerating antisemitism. That, in turn, has prompted not only greater restrictions on campus protests and censorship of student media, but also a rise in student self-censorship.

IRAN: Fresh protests rock Iranian campuses after deadly crackdown
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 2/23
Students at some of Iran’s most prominent universities have resumed protests as the new semester begins, staging demonstrations and clashing with pro-government groups weeks after a deadly nationwide crackdown.

PHILIPPINES: Students denounce campus militarization 
Cris Fernan Bayaga, Bulatlat, 2/21
However, since its location is only over 100 meters away from the university’s main building, students and faculty have raised concerns over alleged threats, surveillance, and harassment linked to the military’s presence. Organizations that joined the call were the University Student Council (USC), Rise for Education (R4E)-Mindanao, and Himati, the official student publication.

INDIA: A Decade After JNU Sedition Case, Silenced Dissent Is the Norm on Indian Campuses 
Tarushi Aswani, The Wire, 2/21
From events regularly being cancelled if they do not fit with the BJP’s ideology to appointments being made based on political lines rather than expertise, faculty members and students say public universities today are a shadow of what they used to be.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Amid Trump crackdown on Chinese students, one US university appears to block them altogether
Alice Speri, The Guardian, 2/20
Several universities have scrapped partnerships with Chinese institutions in recent months as a direct result of pressure from US legislators. But no university appears to have gone as far as Purdue University in Indiana. Students and faculty at the public university say that an unofficial policy is in effect to automatically reject students from China and a number of other countries altogether.

CHINA/GLOBAL: Can researchers balance China ties against censorship threats?
Frances Jones, Research Professional News, 2/19
As many Western nations seek to ease tensions with China amid strained US relations under Donald Trump’s presidency, cases such as Leibold’s and Murphy’s raise uncomfortable questions about Chinese government interference in research and higher education. But many experts have warned about the dangers of putting too many restrictions on collaboration with China, arguing that the nation’s research superpower status means that working with its scientists on the most pressing challenges of our time is unavoidable.

INDIA: In clampdown on Delhi University students, a failure of leadership [COMMENTARY]
The Indian Express, 2/19
The blunt instrument of a ban, the impulse to prohibit, speaks of a failure of leadership in one of the country’s premier institutions — according to the 2025 National Institutional Ranking Framework, DU ranks fifth among Indian universities. The ban follows a larger pattern of administrative paternalism that has come to characterise institutions of higher education in the country. It assumes that debate and dissent are aberrations rather than animating principles of university life, that a sharp and tidy line separates scholarship from student politics.

TUNISIA: Bill gives minister powers to appoint university presidents 
Tarek Abd Elgalil, University World News, 2/19
Tunisia’s parliament is considering draft legislation that would end the election of university presidents and transfer appointment powers to the minister of higher education. This is prompting strong reactions from academics, unions and student representatives, who warn of implications for institutional autonomy and academic governance.

CUBA: The Cuban Professor Sentenced to 10-Years for Graffiti
Raul Medina Orama, The Havana Times, 2/18
Ariel Manuel Martin Barroso has not set foot on a university campus for almost a year, although he has more than enough credentials to lead a classroom. The professor from the Faculty of Technical and Business Sciences at the University of Sancti Spíritus was sentenced in September 2025 to a combined penalty of ten years in prison for painting phrases against the Communist Party regime; some were directed at President Miguel Diaz-Canel. 

FRANCE: Political meetings in universities: the government wants to tighten the screws after the death of a nationalist activist [FRENCH]
Julia Pavesi, AFP, 2/17
Following the death of a nationalist activist on the sidelines of a conference at Sciences Po Lyon, the government wants to tighten the screws on universities, drastically limiting these political meetings in universities which are accused of generating “violence”.

INDIA: Attack On Historian S. Irfan Habib Highlights Growing Intolerance On Campuses 
Saher Hiba Khan, Outlook, 2/14
Reports from organisations like Scholars at Risk indicate these incidents reflect growing tensions around discussions on social justice, democracy, and global conflicts on campuses. While university administrations often cite security concerns or procedural grounds, critics argue that such decisions amount to self-censorship.

THAILAND: Students take lead in questioning election count process 
Jason Tan, University World News, 2/14
On 10 February, inside Maha Sarakham Rajabhat University, more than 200 students and their leaders surrounded the EC office, pressuring for a recount. This occurred in the north-west university town of Maha Sarakham – known as the Taxila of Thailand – where many large universities are located. They raised several suspicions, including discrepancies between the reported vote counts and possible manipulations of the vote figures.

GEORGIA: Georgian limits on teaching ‘will destroy most programmes’ 
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 2/14
The university’s comments come after the Georgian government announced a major restructure of public universities. Each university is being assigned specific fields of study and they are not allowed to offer programmes outside that profile. They are also subject to student admission quotas based on “labour market needs”, local media reported. The measures are part of controversial higher education reforms dubbed “one city – one faculty” that have drawn widespread criticism from the academic community.

HONG KONG: Student who launched petition urging probe into deadly Tai Po fire says CUHK expelled him weeks before graduation 
Hans Tse, Hong Kong Free Press, 2/13
Kwan was reportedly arrested by national security police on suspicion of sedition in late November after he distributed flyers calling for an independent probe into the Wang Fuk Court fire, which killed 168 people and displaced thousands. It was Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze since 1948. 

AFGHANISTAN: Universities in Afghanistan ‘no longer functioning’
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 2/13
Universities in Afghanistan are no longer functioning as “real academic spaces”, according to scholars inside the country who describe ideological control, administrative purges and escalating personal risk for researchers who remain.

TÜRKIYE: What happened during President Erdoğan’s visit to Boğaziçi University? [TURKISH]
BBC Türkiye, 2/13
Due to the ceremony, classes at the South Campus were held online. It was announced that only staff and female students residing in the girls’ dormitory would be allowed to enter this campus. In the North Campus, two students protesting Erdoğan’s visit to the university were detained.

VENEZUELA: Venezuelan students demand the release of political prisoners in multiple cities [SPANISH]
EFE News Agency, Confidencial, 2/12
On the occasion of National Youth Day, hundreds of people gathered at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), the country’s main university, where student leaders and citizens mobilized inside and outside the campus in Caracas, in what represents one of the largest opposition mobilizations in just over a year.

VENEZUELA: The Venezuelan student movement returns to the front lines to defend democracy [SPANISH]
Luis De Jesús, El Nacional, 2/12
Leaders from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), the Simón Bolívar University (USB), and the University of the Andes (ULA) are demanding the release of political prisoners and the reinstitutionalization of the country as essential steps toward a genuine transition. Following the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, and given the United States’ control over the regime now led by Delcy Rodríguez, young people perceive an opening that has allowed them to resume protests and raise their voices once again.

BANGLADESH: Students Won a Revolution in Bangladesh. They Want So Much More. 
Anupreeta Das and Saif Hasnat, The New York Times, 2/11
At the vanguard of Gen Z movements, protesters in Bangladesh ousted the prime minister in 2024. They now face the hard reality of winning change through elections.

GLOBAL: As student-led protests grow, governments are taking note
Philip G Altbach and Manja Klemencic, University World News, 2/11
As they have for much of the history of higher education, students remain at the centre of social and protest movements around the world. Students were brutally suppressed in Iran in the protest movement of 2023, which affected many campuses, and have been involved in the dramatic 2026 unrest and resulting brutal repression.

SENEGAL: Senegalese university students say death of protester dashes hope for change 
Mark Banchereau, The Independent, 2/11
Thousands of students left Senegal’s top public university Tuesday after authorities closed campus housing following a student’s death during protests over unpaid financial aid. Abdoulaye Ba, a second-year medical student, died during protests at Cheikh Anta Diop University in the capital Dakar, authorities said.

UNITED STATES/GREENLAND: US scientists warn tensions have hurt relations with Greenland
Seher Asaf, Times Higher Education, 2/11
Academics counting the cost of Donald Trump’s threats to take over the territory say ‘the damage is done’ and impact on research will linger for years.

AZERBAIJAN: Bahruz Samedov ended his hunger strike in an Azerbaijani prison.
Caucasian Knot, 2/11
Researcher Bahruz Samedov ended his hunger strike in prison due to deteriorating health. As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in mid-November 2025, the administration of Correctional Facility No. 11 filed a complaint to toughen Bahruz’s sentence and transfer him to the closed section of the Umbaki Penitentiary Complex.
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UNITED STATES: Letter to the Board of Regents of Texas A&M University
Scholars at Risk, 2/10
Scholars at Risk is one of 37 organizations writing to the Board of Regents of Texas A&M University to request that they rescind policies that have resulted in the censorship of course content, including the cancellation of certain classes and the announced closure of the University’s Women’s & Gender Studies Program.
Read SAR’s SAR’s monitoring of this case at Texas A&M.
See the full letter and sign.

MALAYSIA: Student protest over campus freedom law adds to Anwar’s pre-election reform challenges
Hazlin Hassan, The Strait Times, 2/10
Some 50 university students marched to Parliament on Feb 9 to the beat of drums, carrying banners demanding the abolition of the contentious Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), which they said stifles freedom of expression.

FRANCE/UNITED STATES: Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent
Elizabeth Gibney and Max Kozlov, Nature, 2/10
France announced late last week that it would be awarding funds to 46 scientists as part of a high-profile initiative to recruit foreign researchers to the country with the promise of greater academic freedom. Almost all of them were previously at US institutions. The more than €30-million Choose France for Science initiative, launched last April, is just one of a slew of European initiatives that aim to bring in research talent disaffected by changes elsewhere.

MYANMAR/SUDAN/UKRAINE: Universities in exile: displaced scholars count the costs of starting afresh
Rachel Brazil, Nature, 2/6
War and political unrest can force staff members and students to uproot their lives, exacting a heavy personal and professional toll.

AZERBAIJAN: Samadov loses appeal in prison determination, starts hunger strike 
Aytan Farhadova, OC Media, 2/5
Imprisoned Azerbaijani researcher and OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov has gone on hunger strike after losing an appeal to stop his transfer from Penitentiary N11 to the high-security Umbaki Correctional Prison. Samadov previously warned his removal to Umbaki could lead to his death through ‘someone else’s hands’.
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EGYPT: New social media regulations: Ethical guide or gagging tool? 
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 2/5
New regulations governing the use of social media by university staff in Egypt have sparked a debate among academics. While some consider them to be in support of academic values and to preserve the university’s prestige and its role in society, others view them as a way to restrict freedom of expression that limits academics’ role in the dissemination of knowledge and the advancement of public discourse.

ARGENTINA: Will Argentina’s chainsaw massacre of science spark a chain reaction?
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 2/5
Argentina’s emboldened president Javier Milei declared in Davos that ‘the rebirth of the ideas of liberty’ in the Americas was spreading globally. With Chilean voters taking a similarly hard-right turn and Brazilians threatening to do likewise, how bad might it get for universities?

HONG KONG: Hong Kong students dissolve pro-democracy group under ‘severe’ pressure 
The Straits Times, 2/5
Established in 1958, the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) played a leading role in mobilising the Chinese city’s student community to participate in once-vibrant social movements. “As circumstances have changed, HKFS members and their allies have faced increasingly severe pressures in recent years. After careful consideration of all factors, HKFS has decided to draw a full stop today,” the group said in a statement.

BELGIAN: Stop attacking universities, plead Belgian university rectors. [FRENCH]
Nicolas Dufour, Le Temps, 2/5
On Wednesday, the rectors of French-speaking Belgian universities published a joint statement calling for an end to attacks against their institutions. They denounced, among other things, “smear campaigns on social media targeting researchers or institutions, public questioning of scientific expertise, political or budgetary pressure on certain research areas, attempts to interfere in teaching content, and media stigmatization of fields of study deemed ‘ideological.'”

IRAN: Iranian students ‘trapped’ as study plans derailed post-protests
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 2/4
Having witnessed widespread death and destruction during brutal regime crackdown, students struggling to adjust describe feeling abandoned by their universities.

TUNISIA: Now it’s the universities’ turn. [COMMENTARY]
Mohammed Krishan, Assawsana, 2/4
Because misfortunes never come singly, and because the assassination of democracy in Tunisia is a relentless, piecemeal process, the universities and their academic spheres have now been targeted. A group of members of parliament, known only for rubber-stamping the political leadership’s agenda, have proposed a bill to repeal the April 2011 decree stipulating that university presidents be elected by their fellow professors. The bill seeks to revert to the pre-revolution practice of appointing them by the Minister of Higher Education. 

UNITED KINGDOM: Universities try to woo Reform as party gains ground
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 2/2
While they may face a backlash from some students who disapprove of the party’s populist politics and right-wing views, university leaders are becoming increasingly alert to the need to engage with the party as it thinks about how it might approach higher education. Several vice-chancellors are known to have had meetings with Reform representatives in the past few months.

AZERBAIJAN: ‘The state plans to end my life’ — Bahruz Samadov calls for solidarity in prison letter
Bahruz Samadov, OC Media, 1/31
An appeal from imprisoned dissident Bahruz Samadov to the leaders of democratic states, parties adhering to democratic principles, international organisations, progressive intellectuals, universities, academic communities, and the diplomatic corps of Western states accredited in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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UNITED STATES: The Trump vs Universities stand-off: Pushback and the public
Sruthi Darbhamulla, The Hindu, 1/31
As the Trump administration continues its campaign against American universities, we examine some of the reactions from the public and what steps are being taken to push back against the demanded changes.

MALAYSIA: Seeking depths of freedom [COMMENTARY]
Maszlee Malik, The Star, 1/30
Academic freedom rarely disappears through open repression. It erodes gradually under governance systems that centralise power, discourage dissent and normalise compliance. In Malaysia, this erosion is systemic. Universities continue to operate under executive-dominated governance models that weaken collegial decision-making and insulate authority from internal accountability. The consequence is a culture of risk aversion that undermines the university’s role as a critical institution in society.

UKRAINE/UNITED STATES: Pitt professors across disciplines collaborate with academics in Ukraine 
Brynn Hanna, The Pitt News, 1/30
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, academics in educational facilities have faced feelings of unsafety and isolation, and academic research has taken a sharp decline in regions more heavily impacted by air strikes and other hostilities. Pitt professors have established and maintained connections with scholars in Ukraine through a variety of programs and research collaborations during the war. 

AUSTRALIA: Funder review rights ‘leave researchers in impossible position’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 1/29
Rules around government-sanctioned research can leave academics in a no-win position by forcing them to accept revisions that violate their ethical obligations, a Queensland analysis suggests.

SERBIA: Thousands rally in Belgrade against crackdown on student-led protests
Jovana Gec, Associated Press, 1/28
Thousands gathered in Serbia ‘s capital on Tuesday accusing the government of a crackdown on universities which have been a main force behind a campaign that has shaken autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic ‘s rule. Protesters rallied outside the headquarters of the University of Belgrade on what was a national day of education. The peaceful gathering, dubbed “Knowledge is power,” was in support of scores of professors and teachers who have lost their jobs or positions for taking part in the anti-government demonstrations.

UNITED STATES: The Institutional Foundations of Free Speech at Public Universities [REPORT]
Luke Herrine, The Roosevelt Institute, 1/27
There is no simple solution to building universities to withstand censorship or, beyond that minimum, to create environments that inculcate clear thinking and knowledge of the world and promote free exploration thereof. In our age of collapsing norms and assaults on familiar institutions, creative rebuilding will be required.

UNITED STATES: Their value attacked and funding cut, universities and colleges start fighting back 
Jon Marcus, The Hechinger Report, 1/27
This 60-second public service spot is part of a small but growing response by the higher education industry to more than a decade of plummeting public confidence and falling enrollment followed by a year of political attacks against which insiders and advocates concede it has until now been mostly silent.

UNITED STATES/QATAR: Enhanced monitoring ‘politicising’ college donations from Qatar
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 1/27
US institutions have taken more money from Qatar than any other country, according to a new White House funding portal, but scholars say the exercise shows the dangers of “politicising” foreign donations. Under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, institutions have been forced to disclose foreign source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 (£186,000) or more. 

NICARAGUA/UNITED STATES: Education at risk: young voices for academic freedom across the Americas
Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas, 1/26
Ahead of the International Day of Education on January 24, and in line with the United Nations’ 2026 theme, “The Power of Youth in Co-Creating Education,” the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA) interviewed two young people whose academic trajectories were directly affected by restrictions on academic freedom: Libby Harrity, a student activist in the United States, and Elthon Rivera, a Nicaraguan physician and former student leader now living in exile.

MYANMAR/UNITED STATES: He left Myanmar to study in Michigan. Trump’s travel ban cut short that dream
Makiya Seminera, The Independent, 1/26
Last June, while interviewing to renew his US student visa, Patrick Thaw’s world was suddenly turned upside down by President Donald Trump’s travel ban. The restrictions targeted people from 12 countries, including Thaw’s native Myanmar.

INDONESIA: 3 Major Threats to Academic Freedom in 2026 [INDONESIAN]
Tempo, 1/25
The Indonesian Caucus for Academic Freedom ( KIKA ) highlighted three major threats to academic freedom in Indonesia entering 2026. This organization, which consists of lecturers, researchers, and students, predicts that threats to the platform of academic freedom will become more massive this year.

ISRAEL: Triennial report: Israeli science at the precipice 
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, The Jerusalem Post, 1/25
Science depends on long-term trust and scientific integrity: once that trust wobbles and integrity is influenced by political moves, the damage can outlast the politics that caused it. According to the report, scientists are increasingly feeling the effects of global polarization, with both overt boycotts and covert “soft exclusions” in which scientists are being left out of joint research projects, grant proposals, conferences, and partnerships, all with vague explanations.

VENEZUELA: University students lead first opposition protest in the post-Maduro era [SPANISH]
La Nacion, 1/23
After a long period of fear and restraint, without street demonstrations, following the repression that followed the elections of July 28, 2024, university students once again took to the streets of Venezuela’s main cities to demand an end to the state of emergency and the release of political prisoners.

INDIA: Battlegrounds of Belonging: Identity, Control and the Crisis of Indian Universities [COMMENTARY]
Amal Chandra, The Wire, 1/23
Taken together, these episodes suggest a systematic shift in how educational institutions are perceived. They are no longer autonomous spaces governed primarily by academic norms. Instead, they are increasingly treated as ideological territories that must reflect a dominant cultural and political identity. Belonging is policed, dissent is suspect, and merit is acceptable only when it aligns with prevailing narratives.

RUSSIA: Russian Universities Turned into Military Recruitment Centers Amid Growing Militarization 
Mezha, 1/23
The Kremlin is turning universities into instruments of mobilization: The Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC of Ukraine notes that educational institutions in Russia are increasingly entwined with the military machine, and education is becoming a launching pad for replenishing the army.

AFRICA: Student activism vital for defending democracy – Experts
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 1/22
Although students have shown their political muscle on many issues, attempts to silence students have also been prevalent, according to the October 2025 report of Scholars at Risk, or SAR, an international network dedicated to raising awareness about academic freedom. The involvement of university students in political and social issues is set to continue in 2026 and it remains important, experts told University World News. Moreover, students have been shown to lead protests that even academics shy away from.

NIGERIA: Violence during student elections: What are the causes?
Jesusegun Alagbe, University World News, 1/22
Across Nigerian tertiary institutions, student union elections have become increasingly marred by violence, intimidation and interference from external political actors. In recent years, violent clashes have been reported at a range of campuses, including Ibadan Polytechnic, Yaba College of Technology, Auchi Polytechnic, Federal Polytechnic Oko, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, and the University of Abuja.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Climate monitoring must remain a global enterprise, experts say
Juliette Portala, Science|Business, 1/22
The EU has been trying to step up and ensure continuous global climate and weather monitoring services after Donald Trump ordered US federal agencies to take down environmental databases in 2025. But experts point out that gathering reliable research data on the state of the planet should remain a global enterprise and the US still has a role to play.

MOROCCO: Moroccan University Professors Announce Three-Day Strike Over New Law 
Sara Zouiten, Morocco World News, 1/22
The union opposes the law because they believe it undermines the independence and democratic governance of public universities, introduces a Board of Trustees that could dominate decision-making, and opens the door to privatization, weakening free access to higher education.

UNITED STATES: Investigations and a Billion-Dollar ‘Shakedown’: How Trump Targeted Higher Education
Michael C. BenderAlan Blinder and Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times, 1/21
Fear of drawing the government’s ire has made professors reluctant to teach concepts that Mr. Trump’s allies contest. Researchers have grown wary that a single word or comment could prompt federal penalties against their universities. Campuses, which regarded themselves as incubators of critical thought and freedom of expression crucial to a healthy democracy, have been reined in, with administrators and students alike on edge.

IRAN: Iran’s universities have long been a battleground, where protests happen and students fight for the future [COMMENTARY]
Pardis Mahdavi, The Conversation, 1/20
Dormitories, libraries and cafeterias are where political awareness coalesces, where individual grievances become collective demands, and where dissent acquires momentum. Today, by systematically alienating young people through economic mismanagement, social repression and the erosion of academic freedom, the government has created its most formidable opposition: young protesters.

IRAN/SWITZERLAND: Swiss universities seek to stem tech espionage after Iranian scandal
Ying Zhang, Swiss.info, 1/20
Swiss universities plan to beef up their vetting of researchers and students to curb high-tech spying by hostile countries a year after an academic from Iran was arrested for allegedly supplying navigation systems for drones and missiles to the Islamic republic.

GEORGIA: Vivat Academia: Reform or Control? [COMMENTARY] [GEORGIAN]
Giorgi Tskhadaia, Forbes Georgia, 1/19
We can say outright that the proposed reform could, at a minimum, dismantle Ilia University or Tbilisi State University, or both, and seriously damage other state universities. By gaining access to faculty allocation and personnel policies, as well as the allocation of finances, the state would be able to impose its political agenda on higher education workers and students.

AUSTRALIA: New Australian hate speech laws ‘threaten’ academic freedom
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 1/19
Canberra’s legislative response to the Bondi Beach terrorist attack risks suppressing academic expression on campus, despite last-minute attempts to revise a new bill’s most contentious aspects, critics worry. The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill contains measures to “further criminalise hateful conduct” following the December tragedy, according to a 319-page explanatory document.

AFGHANISTAN: The erasure of women from Afghan public life is a nation-building disaster [COMMENTARY]
Anonymous, Times Higher Education, 1/19
Similarly, efforts costing $1.7 billion to improve “basic and higher education, literacy, and skills training” were “uncoordinated and did not expand access to education as intended”. Student enrolment increased, but “that progress was rolled back when the Taliban seized control in 2021, causing educational access and quality in Afghanistan to further deteriorate, especially for girls and women.”

VENEZUELA: University students demand freedom for professors and political prisoners in Venezuela [SPANISH]
Agencia EFE, ABC (Paraguay), 1/17
Student leaders at the University of Zulia (LUZ), the main university in western Venezuela, demanded on Friday the release of political prisoners, including two professors from that institution.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Trump Administration Orders USDA Employees to Investigate Foreign Researchers They Work With 
Lisa Song and Sharon Lerner, ProPublica, 1/16
The new directive asks workers to check the backgrounds of foreign nationals collaborating with the department’s scientists for evidence of “subversive or criminal activity.” Their names are being sent to national security experts at the agency.

IRAN: Iran’s students are pushing for revolution [COMMENTARY]
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 1/15
They are among dozens more students and young protesters reported killed across the country in recent days, though precise numbers are impossible to verify because of the blackout. The repression has not been limited to killings. Security forces have also stormed university grounds and dormitories – spaces that are legally supposed to be protected.

CANADA: Quebec’s proposed Constitution sparks universities’ opposition
Mohamed Berrada, University Affairs, 1/15
As a bill to codify a new Quebec Constitution moves through the province’s National Assembly, universities have become a focal point of resistance. At issue is section 5 of the Act respecting the constitutional autonomy of Québec, which bars government-funded organizations — including universities — from using operating funds to legally challenge legislation that the government deems to be in Quebec’s interest.

UNITED STATES: Expanding the Web of Control: America’s Censored Campuses 2025 [REPORT]
Amy Reid, Jonathan Friedman, Laura Benitez, Jeffrey Adam Sachs, PEN America, 1/15
Across nearly every conceivable front – from state capitals to Capitol Hill and even on social media – America’s politicians have been a full-scale campaign against colleges and universities, with a concerted focus on speech. The toll is immense. Fear among faculty, students, and administrators is widespread. Self-censorship in teaching and research is rampant. Every week seems to bring a new law or directive that further threatens academic freedom and educational quality.

CHINA: Twelve years since arrest, SAR calls for release of Professor Ilham Tohti
Scholars at Risk, 1/15
Professor Ilham Tohti was arrested twelve years ago today for promoting dialogue and reconciliation between Uyghurs and Han Chinese. He is being held in an unknown location, and his family has not had contact with him for years. Scholars at Risk demands his immediate release.
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SUDAN: Humanitarian aid efforts must include educational support [COMMENTARY]
Rania MH Baleela and Husam Eldin E Abugabr Elhag, University World News, 1/14
Without a robust educational and research sector, Sudan will struggle to cultivate the leadership and expertise necessary for post-war reconstruction. The destruction of higher education and research institutions in Sudan is both a symptom and a driving force of the national crisis. Immediate international support is necessary to mitigate the damage and lay the groundwork for future recovery.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Six steps to protect researchers’ digital security 
Virginia Gewin, Nature, 1/14
Academics around the world are increasingly under fire. In January 2025, the American Association of Colleges and Universities published a survey that found that 53% of US faculty members were worried that their work would make them targets of harassment. 

CANADA/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Palestinian students accepted into Canadian universities remain ‘trapped’ in Gaza by visa delays
Aishah Ashraf, CBC News, 1/13
Meera is one of more than 130 students who have been accepted into Canadian universities but remain unable to enter the country. The students have been accepted to universities across Canada, from Ontario to Saskatchewan and Alberta. “We are waiting, but we are losing also. We’re losing our energy, our health, our passion to get education and to continue,” Meera said.

INDIA: When a City Celebrates the Loss of Its Own Medical College [COMMENTARY]
Anmol Ohri and Kanwal Singh, The Wire, 1/12
What makes this episode unprecedented in independent India is not merely that a medical college was shut down, but that sections of society celebrated its closure. This reveals how deeply ideological battles have overtaken the everyday needs of people.

IRAN: Djalali’s wife: No contact since the protests broke out [SWEDISH]
Albin Lindstrom, Expressen, 1/11
Djalali usually calls his family home in Sweden from Evin Prison on the outskirts of Tehran where he is imprisoned, but since the protests broke out, all contact has been broken. We have no communication at all at the moment, and now the internet has also been shut down, says Mrs. Vida Mehrannia to Expressen.
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IRAN: Iranian scholars fear tougher clampdown as protests spread
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 1/9
Universities across Iran have been forced online as nationwide protests sparked by economic collapse spread, prompting warnings from scholars that the country faces accelerating academic brain drain unless the unrest leads to meaningful political change.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES/UNITED KINGDOM: UAE cuts funds for citizens keen to study in UK over Muslim Brotherhood tensions
Simeon Kerr, David Sheppard, Amy Borrett, Financial Times, 1/8
The United Arab Emirates has restricted funding for its citizens who want to study at British universities, the latest sign of tensions over the UK’s decision not to proscribe the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group. Abu Dhabi’s decision to exclude UK institutions from a list of universities eligible for state scholarships comes as relations between the two historic allies have frayed in recent years.

UNITED STATES: Sanders Releases New Report Delineating Trump’s War on Free Speech on College Campuses [REPORT]
Office of US Senator Bernie Sanders, 1/7
“The Trump administration is moving this country very aggressively into an authoritarian society. Trump’s attempts to control what colleges can say is a direct attack on the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution,” Sanders said. “That is not just Bernie Sanders talking. Courts across the country have warned about the Trump administration’s rising authoritarianism.”

UNITED STATES: 6 higher education trends to watch in 2026 
Laura Spitalniak, Natalie Schwartz, and Ben Unglesbee, HigherEd Dive, 1/8
The Trump administration also looks poised to continue opening investigations into colleges as a means of gaining influence over the sector, putting higher ed leaders in a tight spot. And federal officials are likely to further restrict the ability of certain international students to study in the U.S.

TÜRKIYE: A call for justice and accountability for the Academics for Peace [COMMENTARY]
Zerrin Kurtoğlu, Bianet, 1/8
The situation of the Academics for Peace, who were dismissed for signing the Peace Declaration during this period, must be seen not merely as individual rights violations but as the result of a security-oriented style of governance that undermines society’s capacity to produce knowledge, reason, and think critically.

VENEZUELA: ‘Profound political change’ needed to revive Venezuelan science
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 1/7
Delcy Rodríguez has been sworn in as the country’s interim president following the dramatic seizure of Maduro by US forces. Despite Rodríguez’s past as a professor at the Central University of Venezuela, academics are doubtful that her ascension will be beneficial to the country’s higher education system and have warned that “profound” political change is needed if universities are to recover from years of attacks.

UKRAINE: Ukrainian higher education: A story of loss and adaptation [COMMENTARY]
Andrew Misura, University World News, 1/7
Ukrainian higher education stands at a critical juncture, having survived the shock of war while simultaneously pursuing an ambitious reform agenda. The sector’s resilience is evident in its ability to maintain educational continuity for over 1 million students despite unprecedented challenges.

GERMANY: Study on right-wing extremists at universities: The universities’ silence [GERMAN]
Nicolai Kary, taz, 1/7
Racist slogans in lectures, swastikas on the university campus , or even a Nazi as a professor. Right-wing extremism at universities takes many forms. Most universities have established anti-discrimination guidelines. However, those affected by far-right incidents are often left to their own devices, as the new study “Right-Wing Populism and Right-Wing Extremism at Universities” by the Otto Brenner Foundation shows.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: What will 2026 bring for US international education?
Polly Nash, The PIE, 1/5
Accordingly, stakeholders are expecting 2026 to see a continuation of Trump’s broad anti-immigration crackdown, and are paying close attention to expected changes to Optional Practical Training (OPT) and duration of status. Here, we speak to experts on the ground about their predictions for the year ahead.

TÜRKIYE: Boğaziçi University protests enter their 5th year: Countless human rights violations, investigations, and dismissals. [TURKISH]
Euphrates Pistachio, Medyascope, 1/5
The protests at Boğaziçi University, which began in 2021 with the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector, are now in their fifth year. Students and academics once again made a statement in front of the university this year. The statement listed the human rights violations of the past five years and emphasized that the university has been turned into a political tool.

IRAN: Iran’s students are again at the centre of nationwide unrest
Jim Dickinson, Wonkhe, 1/2
By Tuesday, students from at least ten of Iran’s most prestigious universities had joined them on the streets. By Thursday, at least six people were dead. What’s unfolding is now being described as the largest outbreak of unrest since the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising. And once again, universities are at its centre.

CHILE: Chilean academics fear funding cuts under new far-right leader
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 12/24
While perhaps unlikely to result in outright Trump-esque attacks on universities, the election of the far-right politician José Antonio Kast as president in Chile likely marks the start of a period of budget cuts that could harm already struggling institutions, academics have warned.

SERBIA: Mass Rallies, Marches and Roadblocks Dominate Serbia’s Streets in 2025 
Katarina Baletic, Balkan Insight, 12/22
Between 275,000 and 300,000 people participated in the biggest rally in modern Serbian history on March 15, the Archive of Public Gatherings NGO estimated. The rally in Belgrade came after more than three months of student-led protests sparked after the Novi Sad railway station disaster in November 2024, which cost 16 lives.

SWEDEN: Persecuted researchers find sanctuary at LiU [SWEDISH]
Annie Skude and Björn Stafstedt, Linkoping University, 12/18
There is a hunt for researchers in many countries. They are researching in the “wrong” areas, which means that funding is cut and conditions are worsened, but also that they and their relatives are threatened with death and forced to go underground. Through the organization Scholars at Risk (SAR), Linköping University is protecting some of these researchers.

GEORGIA: International Group of Academics Call on Kobakhidze to ‘Rethink’ Education Reform 
Civil Georgia, 12/18
An international group of 65 academics engaged in Georgia’s higher education has called on Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to “rethink” the government’s proposed National Reform Concept for Higher Education, warning that it risks closing “the last sphere in Georgia which is open to healthy dissent.”

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Amid talk of a brain drain, some scientists leave U.S. behind
Andrew Joseph, STAT News, 12/17
With that, Pennings became an embodiment of the concern that scientists, dispirited by the upheaval in the U.S. and restrictions on academic freedom, will leave for jobs abroad, imperiling America’s long-held pole position at the forefront of innovation. Top researchers have said they’ve received feelers from universities in Australia, Europe, and Asia, with China in particular emerging as the U.S.’s rival for scientific dominance.

IRAN: Iran’s HE system is still trapped in politics of the past [COMMENTARY]
Roohola Ramezani, University World News, 12/17
After two years marked by sweeping purges following the nationwide protests in 2022, there was a sense – fragile but real – that the worst might be over. More than a year later, that hope has thinned into something closer to resignation. Despite early gestures, more than half of the dismissed scholars have not been reinstated. For many, even their appeals are left unread; their files sit in bureaucratic limbo.

SUDAN: The Collapse of Higher Education in Wartime Sudan
Rania M.H. Baleela and Husam Eldin E. Abugabr Elhag, International Higher Education, 12/14
The ongoing war in Sudan since April 15, 2023, has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, one characterized by famine, insecurity, genocide, and displacement. In addition to the obvious contemporary toll on the country, this war has overshadowed future generations by severely damaging the physical infrastructure of higher education, jeopardizing long-term prospects for peace, development, and intellectual sovereignty even in the post-war era.

UNITED KINGDOM: Trans scholars being ‘pushed out of academia’, researchers warn 
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 12/12
Trans academics in the UK have described a climate of fear and uncertainty in the wake of two high-profile rulings, saying that the effects could push them out of the university sector. April’s Supreme Court ruling concerning the definition of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010, as well as the record fine issued to the University of Sussex in March over its trans and non-binary equality policy, “didn’t invent transphobia, but they have really shifted the landscape”, said Kit Heyam, a historian and trans awareness trainer.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Purdue Allegedly Rejecting Chinese, Other ‘Adversary Nation’ Grad Students
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 12/12
Current and prospective Purdue University graduate students say the institution rejected a slew of Chinese applicants from its grad programs for this academic year. Also, one grad student says the university told grad admissions committees in the past couple of months that it’s highly unlikely to accept students from any “adversary nation” for next year.

UNITED STATES: The New School faces identity crisis amid planned layoffs, reorganization
Jessica Gould, Gothamist, 12/10
A $48 million deficit at The New School has sparked a showdown between administrators planning layoffs and faculty who fear the budget problems are being used to dilute the Greenwich Village institution’s leftist identity.

GAZA: After 2 years of war in Gaza, universities begin to reopen, offering hope
Diaa Ostaz, ABC News, 12/10
After two consecutive years of war that upended nearly every aspect of life in the Gaza Strip, universities are slowly beginning to reopen, restoring a path to education despite extraordinary levels of destruction.

UNITED STATES: A Scientific Pipeline to the Nobel Prize Fueled by Immigrants
William J. Broad, The New York Times, 12/10
Some experts warn that the policies of the Trump administration have put that bounty in jeopardy. By putting “America First,” they say, an era of U.S. prosperity could come to an end as the pipeline for legal immigrants, foreign students and visiting researchers dries up. Dr. Yaghi voiced that concern, too, before flying to Stockholm. Mr. Trump’s policies, he said in an interview, endanger the U.S. ecosystem of scientific excellence.

NORWAY/UNITED STATES: Florida’s boycott of Norwegian universities reveals a deeper crisis in international higher education [COMMENTARY] [NORWEIGIAN]
Rose Martin, Khrono, 12/9
When the US state of Florida announced that it would cut ties with several Norwegian universities because of their stance on Palestine, it was tempting to dismiss this as another escalation in the culture wars in the US. But for those of us who work for, and including, Palestinian higher education, Florida’s decision is more than symbolic politics. It is part of an ongoing and growing struggle over whether universities should defend international law, academic freedom, and the right to education, or succumb to political pressure that seeks to stifle these principles.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban supporters dominate Afghan university leadership 
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 12/8
Academic management of Afghanistan’s universities has been systematically dismantled by the Taliban, according to a new study, with almost no leaders appointed prior to 2021 still in post.

UNITED KINGDOM/CHINA: British universities’ reliance on Chinese fees fuelling self-censorship, say academics
Amy Borrett and Laura Hughes, Financial Times, 12/8
Academics from across the UK higher education sector have warned that financial ties to Beijing have led to self-censorship, as the government and universities come under pressure to improve safeguards against Chinese state influence on British campuses.

CHINA: Silence is not an option: Advocating for Iham Tohti and Academic Freedom [COMMENTARY]
Sophia Conos, The Hawks’ Herald, 12/7
With the immense privilege of academic freedom, we must unify and use our voices to advocate for people like him to be freed. We realize our power when we unify and learn our numbers against injustice. We have far greater power than anything. Applying pressure on unjust systems and the government is the only way to progress toward a better, more just place for people in Tohti’s situation.

IRAN: Iran’s Student Movement Cannot Be Silenced: Voices Rise Again on Student Day
Sia Rajabi, Iran Focus, 12/7
Coinciding with Student Day on December 7, student and labor activists in Iran emphasized that the student movement cannot be silenced and stressed the need to continue and intensify political struggles aimed at overthrowing the mullahs’ regime.

HONG KONG: Student union suspended after ‘Democracy Wall’ fire posts 
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 12/6
Student messages calling for justice and accountability after a major fire ripped through seven Hong Kong tower blocks last week, resulting in over 159 deaths, have led to a crackdown on the campus student union by the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) administration – an indication of the fragile status of student bodies and campus freedoms.

INDIA: Delhi University approves guidelines for travel grants for faculty members amid dissent
The Hindu, 12/6
Delhi University (DU) has finalised the guidelines for granting financial assistance to university delegates to attend national and international conferences, seminars, symposia, or workshops, amid dissent from teachers during the Academic Council (AC) meeting on Friday (December 5, 2025). Some teachers alleged that the guidelines were aimed at “academic censorship”.

BRAZIL: Research points out that violence and censorship affect most teachers in Brazil [PORTUGUESE]
Maringá Post, 12/6
The data reveals that 61% of primary and secondary school teachers and 55% of higher education teachers reported being direct targets of violence related to limitations on their freedom to teach. Among the incidents cited were attempts at intimidation, aggressive questioning, content bans, and, to a lesser extent, dismissals and job transfers. Verbal and physical assaults were also recorded.

IRAN: Iran’s war on independent learning has gone digital – and international
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 12/4
Recently Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, announced that the Revolutionary Guard had “identified 400 core members” of Iran Academia, a Netherlands-based online university teaching the humanities and social sciences in Persian. The platform was accused of “soft subversion” and of operating as part of a Western-backed network.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Students ask for international help amid detentions after coup
Andreia Nogueira, University World News, 12/4
University students are asking for international help to restore democracy in West Africa’s Guinea-Bissau after a military coup on 26 November, fearing returning to universities amid reports of missing and detained students.

HONG KONG: Scholar forced to apologise after speaking out on Hong Kong fire 
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 12/3
An academic who spoke out about public safety in the wake of Hong Kong’s worst fire in more than 70 years has been forced to apologise for “inaccurate” information, while students calling for an independent inquiry into the tragedy have faced arrest. The territory’s universities have been pulled into the crisis after the blaze killed at least 151 people at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex on 26 November.

INDIA: Students shut down Assam’s Tezpur University indefinitely, demand removal of VC 
Hindustan Times, 12/2
Continuing their agitation since mid-September against Vice Chancellor Shambhu Nath Singh alleging corruption and financial irregularities, students of Assam’s Tezpur University have shut down the institution demanding immediate replacement of the VC. The students of this central varsity have shut down all services, including all forms of academic activities, in the campus from November 29 located in Sonitpur district for an indefinite period, forcing the administration to cancel all end-term examinations.

GLOBAL: Dissent isn’t dead on campus – it is just too risky for students [COMMENTARY]
Yashraj Garg, Times Higher Education, 12/1
For universities, this matters not only culturally but academically: an environment that makes dissent reputationally costly inevitably weakens the conditions under which research-level thinking can develop. People do not withhold objections because they have been convinced but because the social cost of asking them has risen above the cognitive cost of staying quiet. There is no formal rule against dissent; the constraint is ambient and psychological. 

ISRAEL: Continuing post-Oct. 7 Trend, Tel Aviv University Tightens Protest Restrictions
Noa Limone, Haaretz, 12/1
Tel Aviv University has imposed stricter limitations on protests and other public activities on campus. The university said that a document issued last week brings together all the rules that have existed until now, and does not include any new restrictions. However, the university’s management views the document as part of a “new procedure,” according to information obtained by Haaretz.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Gaza university resumes classes in war-damaged buildings after 2-year closure
Türkiye Today, 11/30
The Islamic University of Gaza welcomed students back to in-person instruction Saturday for the first time in more than two years, marking a symbolic effort to restore educational continuity in facilities bearing visible scars of extensive bombardment.

RUSSIA: From a “Hooligan University” to a “State Civilization”: How Nikita Anisimov Turned HSE into an Ordinary Russian University in Just a Few Years 
T-invariant, 11/29
Over the past three and a half years of active sanctions policy, only four rectors of Russian universities have been added to Western “blacklists.” The most prominent among them is Nikita Anisimov, only the second rector in the history of the Higher School of Economics (HSE). T-invariant reports on how, under his leadership, HSE has once again outpaced all other universities, but this time — in militarization, promotion of the pro-war ‘Z’ ideology, participation in the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, and direct involvement — by Anisimov himself, his team, and even students — on the front lines and in occupied territories.

BURUNDI/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Congolese students ‘live in fear’ of arbitrary arrests
John Mucanga, University World News, 11/27
Congolese students from various universities in Bujumbura have been complaining in recent weeks about these systematic police operations targeting them. There are about 4,000 Congolese tertiary students in Burundi.

NIGERIA: Universities and schools close amid spike in kidnappings 
Abdulganiyu Abdulrahman Akanbi, University World News, 11/27
At least 10 higher education institutions in Kebbi and Bauchi states in Nigeria have been closed indefinitely owing to escalating security challenges in the country that have included the abduction of hundreds of civilians during November alone.

CANADA/UNITED STATES: Restrictive policies manifest in US, Canada enrollment drop
Nathan Greenfield, University World News, 11/26
The collapse in interest from international students in studying in the United States and Canada, charted over the past year by Studyportals and others, is now manifest in enrolments in North American colleges and universities. In this year’s Global Enrolment Benchmark Survey (GEBS), American colleges reported a 6% decline in international undergraduates, erasing the 6% increase in the 2024 GEBS.

AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN: Pakistan deportation drive disrupts HE corridor for Afghans
Manija Mirzaie, University World News, 11/26
For Afghan women especially, Pakistan offers one of the last remaining pathways to higher education after the Taliban banned schooling for girls above grade six. Now, that education corridor is collapsing under an aggressive drive by Pakistan to repatriate Afghan citizens.

UNITED KINGDOM: Free speech fears as campus critics denied emeritus status
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 11/26
Senior professors denied emeritus status have raised concerns that UK university managers are withholding honorary titles to punish dissent and silence further criticism of institutions, potentially breaching free speech laws.

MALI: Islamist fuel blockade disrupts higher education activities
Chiaka Doumbia, University World News, 1/25
Universities and colleges in Mali are struggling to cope with a fuel blockade imposed by jihadists on major population centres in the country.

CHINA/SWEDEN: Report: China’s influence tests academic freedom in Sweden [SWEDISH]
Mälardalens University, 11/24
Swedish researchers who collaborate with or study China are being affected to a greater extent than many realize. A new report from MDU and the Swedish Institute for International Affairs (UI) shows how China’s authoritarian system spills over into Swedish academia – through self-censorship, threats and political pressure.

CANADA/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Letter regarding the detention at the Canadian border of Emeritus Professor Richard Falk
Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association, 11/20
We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our consternation and our outrage at the unwarranted and unjustified harassment that Richard Falk, the eminent emeritus professor of international law at Princeton University and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories, was subjected to by agents of the Canada Border Services after arriving at Toronto Pearson International Airport from the United States on 13 November 2025. 

PHILIPPINES: Campus press condemns attempt by police anti-cybercrime to censor UP publication 
Shan Kenshin Ecaldre, Bulatlat, 11/20
Student journalists and advocates nationwide denounced what they called a “brazen and dangerous” attempt by the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) to censor Tinig ng Plaridel (TNP), after X (formerly Twitter) notified the publication that police sought the removal of one of its news posts.

IRAN: Iran Regime’s “Countering Foreign Influence” Plan Threatens Free Speech and Academic Freedom
Mostafa Aslani, Iran News Update, 11/19
If approved, the plan will increase arbitrary arrests and foster a climate of fear among students, academics, researchers, and journalists. Self-censorship and intellectual caution are expected to spread rapidly, discouraging international scientific and media interactions. Universities, instead of serving as centers of thought, risk becoming quiet, risk-free zones, while civil society withdraws from public engagement.

GLOBAL: Research breakthroughs often come through collaborations − attacks on academic freedom threaten this vital work [COMMENTARY]
Volha Chykina, David P. Baker, Frank Fernandez, Justin J.W. Powell, The Conversation, 11/18
Collaborations foster solutions to complex problems, from vaccine development to renewable energy. Diminishing academic freedom erodes these collaboration dividends, which then reduces the quantity and quality of scientific discovery worldwide.

TÜRKIYE: Turkish academic Gülsunar released after 36 days in detention over political poll
Medya ve Hukuk Çalışmaları Derneği, 11/18
Emrah Gülsunar, a political scientist charged with “openly inciting to commit a crime through the press,” was released from pretrial detention on Tuesday after spending 36 days behind bars. The Istanbul 51st Criminal Court of First Instance ordered his release during the first hearing of his trial, imposing a travel ban as a judicial control measure.

INDONESIA: Why Are Students Criticizing Soeharto’s Hero Status Suspended? [INDONESIAN]
Rohman Wibowo, Tirto, 11/18
|For Damar, this suspension isn’t just about him, but sets a bad precedent for campus movements. What happened to him will serve as a terror for other critical students. This discussion, Damar said, was designed as a reflective and educational forum to re-examine the historical narrative surrounding the idea of ​​awarding the title of national hero to Suharto—a figure historically implicated in gross human rights violations, political silencing, and systematic corruption during his reign.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Trump poses ‘existential threat’ to HE and democracy 
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 11/16
The Trump administration’s push to control universities is posing an “existential threat” to higher education and democracy and is transforming universities into breeding grounds of compliance, a panel of university leaders and academic freedom experts warned the Anniversary of the Magna Charta Universitatum MCU2020, hosted at King’s College London from 11 to 13 November 2025.

INDIA: Why an email about cows is intensifying concerns about academic freedom in India
Esha Mitra, CNN, 11/15
One of India’s most prestigious universities has been accused of compromising its academic freedom by cancelling a seminar on democracy the same day it issued a directive to staff to promote a summit on cow welfare. Cows are revered as sacred by many Hindus, but critics say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using India’s devotion to the bovine as a political tool to elevate its Hindu nationalist agenda.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Minister appeals for help to safeguard higher education
Tarek Abd Elgalil, University World News, 11/14
After two years of a war that has destroyed higher education infrastructure and killed hundreds of university workers and well over one thousand students in Gaza, Palestine’s Minister for Education Amjad Barham says his ministry is doing everything possible to ensure the continuity of university education for Palestinians and is appealing to the international community for help.

INDIA: Scholars appeal to regional body over professor’s axing
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 11/14
Over 300 lecturers, professors and researchers from universities around the world have written to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), asking it to step in regarding what they called the “unjust and punitive dismissal” of Dr Snehashish Bhattacharya, an associate professor of economics at the South Asian University (SAU) in New Delhi, India.

AFRICA: African Coalition for Academic Freedom Conference Opens in Accra
Ghanaian Times, 11/13
About 50 members of the African Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF) from 45 African countries have begun a three-day conference in Accra to discuss critical challenges and opportunities in safeguarding higher education institutions across the continent. Participants hail from Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Mali. They include academic staff representatives, higher education leaders, scholars, policymakers, and civil society organisations. 

GLOBAL: Magna Charta Universitatum: A call to engage, not retreat
Sjur Bergan, University World News, 11/13
The 36 universities that signed the Magna Charta Universitatum on 13 November therefore joined a growing global family of institutions concerned with and committed to academic freedom and institutional autonomy. In fact, on 13 November the Magna Charta Universitatum passed a milestone: that of 1,000 signatories.

GLOBAL: Anti-immigration politics are reshaping international HE [COMMENTARY]
Louise Nicol, University World News, 11/12
The shift now unfolding across Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States does not come from higher education policy alone. It originates in domestic politics. Each government is responding to a public sentiment that demands visible reductions in immigration, even when the targets are temporary students. International education has been swept into that logic.

EUROPEAN UNION/CHINA: EU plans to ban Chinese universities from half of Horizon Europe
David Matthews, Science|Business, 11/11
The European Commission plans to kick China out of half of its €93.5 billion Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, including prohibiting joint work with European scientists on health topics.

GLOBAL: Why threats to academic freedom are growing – and how universities can respond to intimidation
Kirsten Roberts Lyer, The Conversation, 11/10
Recent accusations that China pressured a UK university into pausing research on alleged human rights violations have raised questions about the state of academic freedom.

ISRAEL/GLOBAL: Israeli Academics Find Themselves Isolated Despite Gaza Cease-Fire
Elisabeth Bumiller, The New York Times, 11/9
Mr. Nahshon, a former Israeli diplomat, said some 50 universities, institutions and academic groups in Europe ended cooperation with Israeli universities either fully or partly during the war. In a report to the Israeli Parliament in May, his task force said it had compiled more than 700 instances of academic boycotts, including total cutoffs of university-to-university collaborations, the end of student exchange programs and refusals to award Israeli academics research grants.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: ‘Very difficult moment’ prompts flight of US scientists to China
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 11/9
The flight of top scientists from the US to China is being exacerbated by an increasingly strained relationship between the two countries and the “hostile” conditions faced by those still working in America.

PHILIPPINES: At Least 17 Univ Campuses Receive Bomb Threats in October
Vicensa Nonato, Philippine Collegian, 11/7
Universities across the country saw an upsurge of bomb threats with no less than 17 campuses receiving threats in the month of October alone.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Gaza’s Students Kept Studying Amid the Rubble. Now Universities Hope to Rebuild. [COMMENTARY]
Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi, The Intercept, 11/7
Students and faculty at the Islamic University of Gaza, where I study English literature, described in interviews how they kept studying throughout two years of genocide by charging their laptops with solar energy, watching recorded lectures, and meeting in improvised study groups. The stopgap measures have allowed education to continue amid the most extreme conditions, but Gaza’s universities now need millions of dollars to rebuild the educational system.

AUSTRALIA/CHINA: ‘Red flags’ over teaching partnership with Chinese university
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 11/6
Sydney’s Macquarie University has rejected a newspaper’s claims that its joint institute with a “military-linked” Chinese institution will train “cyber warriors” for Beijing and could spawn “malicious insider risks” in Western security agencies.

PAKISTAN-ADMINSTERED KASHMIR: POK on boil again? Gen Z takes to streets against Pakistan government
Abhishek De, India Today, 11/6
Weeks after Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) was rocked by a violent unrest, another wave of protests has gripped the region – this time being led by the Gen Z, mostly students, over educational reforms. However, what began as a peaceful demonstration against rising fees and the evaluation process has snowballed into protests against the Shehbaz Sharif-led government, exposing the deepening discontent among Gen Z in the restive region.

SERBIA: Serbia’s researchers still at loggerheads with government one year into mass protests
Mićo Tatalović, Chemistry World, 11/6
Many of Serbia’s academics were out on the streets at the weekend, joining student-led protests marking one year since the collapse of a train station canopy that killed 16 people in Novi Sad.

RUSSIA: Locked out of archives, scholars forced to study Russia from afar
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 11/6
When the historian Jamie Bryson was first planning his PhD, it was a given, considering his focus on the Okhrana secret police force during the First World War, that he would travel to Russia over the course of his studies.

UNITED KINGDOM/CHINA: China-critical UK academics describe ‘extremely heavy’ pressure from Beijing
Sally Weale, The Guardian, 11/6
UK academics whose research is critical of China say they have been targeted and their universities subjected to “extremely heavy” pressure from Beijing, prompting calls for a fresh look at the sector’s dependence on tuition fee income from Chinese students.

SERBIA: Academics welcome ‘change of tone’ on Serbia but fear sanctions
Mićo Tatalović, Science|Business, 11/5
A damming European Parliament resolution on the state of democracy in Serbia has strongly condemned the government for curtailing academic freedom in the country. It calls on the authorities to “immediately restore financing to universities” and on institutions to “ensure the unhindered participation of the academic and research community in projects funded by the EU.”

UKRAINE: Ukraine’s international education sector not beaten by war
Beth Kennedy, The PIE News, 11/4
Ukraine is still home to some 20,000 international students three years since its invasion by neighbouring Russia, the country’s deputy education minister has told The PIE.

INDIA: Undermines rule of law: 300 academics urge SAARC to intervene in dismissal of SAU prof
National Herald, 11/5
More than 300 academics from universities across the world have written to SAARC secretary-general Golam Sarwar, seeking intervention in what they described as the “unjust and punitive dismissal” of an economics professor at SAU (South Asian University) in New Delhi.

UNITED KINGDOM/CHINA: UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Amy Hawkins, The Guardian, 11/3
A British university complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project being dropped, the Guardian can reveal.

SUDAN: Classrooms Scattered, Records Burnt, Sudanese Higher Education Fights for Survival
Jacob Wirtschafter, Al Fanar Media, 11/1
Before the conflict, Sudan had 39 public and 125 private universities with 700,000 students and 14,000 lecturers, more than 8,000 of whom held Ph.D.’s. Within months, more than 100 universities and research centres were damaged or looted.

UKRAINE: Lessons from Ukraine: ‘no manual for war but it pays to prepare’
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 10/31
More than three-and-a-half years on from the Russian invasion of 2022, Ukrainian universities are still adjusting to the realities of war – finding new ways to combat Kremlin propaganda, teach their students military skills and help neighbouring countries be better prepared in case of attack.

UNITED KINGDOM/GAZA: UK rule change allows some Palestinian scholars to bring families from Gaza
Richard Adams, The Guardian, 10/30
Some Palestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families with them from Gaza after the government announced it would consider case-by-case exemptions to its evacuation policy.

UNITED STATES: DeSantis to Florida Universities: ‘Pull the Plug’ on H-1B Visa Workers
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 10/29
Complaining about professors from China, Europe and “supposed Palestine,” the Republican governor called for his state’s public universities to end the use of the visa program. A union leader called his comments a “xenophobic and nativist diatribe.”

SERBIA: One year after the tragedy that led to mass protests
Sanja Kljajic, Deutsche Welle, 10/29
A year after 16 people were killed when a canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed, the Serbian government and the student movement remain locked in a war of attrition. A commemoration event is planned for Saturday.

YEMEN: Houthi violations target members of a public and private [Arabic]
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, 10/29
The Houthi group has expanded the scope of its systematic violations against Yemeni public and private universities and their affiliates, as part of its repeated behavior of tampering with the higher education sector in the cities and governorates under its control.

GLOBAL: Funding disclosure ‘first line of defence’ against misinformation
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education. 10/28
The scientific community must adopt the explicit disclosure of research funding as a “core norm”, a global science group has said, describing such transparency as “the first line of defence against the compromise of research integrity and the spread of misinformation and disinformation”.

AZERBAIJAN: A letter from Talysh researcher Igbal Abilov from an Azerbaijani prison: “The Talysh language is driven into a corner.”
Aravot, 10/28
Ethnographer Igbal Abilov, editor-in-chief of the journal “Bulletin of the Talysh National Academy,” protested the suppression of the Talysh language in Azerbaijan in a letter from the Umbaki penitentiary complex near Baku. He writes that to destroy a language, it’s enough to erase it from public life and isolate it. Abilov notes that in the country, “the Talysh language is cornered between four walls” and claims he is not allowed to speak his native language during trials.
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GLOBAL: Will Asian international students turn away from the West? 
Tash Mosheim and Paul Jump, Times Higher Education, 10/27
A university education at a Western university used to be an unquestioned fallback route for Asian students who failed to secure entry to one of the top institutions in their own countries – and even for some of those that did. But then came Covid, inflation and Western crackdowns.

EUROPE: Are we finally going to see a United States of Europe for research?
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 10/23
The European Research Area was first proposed 25 years ago in the hope of levelling up Europe’s national research systems and challenging global rivals. Implementing that vision has been achingly slow, but with legislation pending, is serious progress now realistic?

RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Russia Jails Ukrainian Antarctic Scientist
The Maritime Executive, 10/23
Russia has reportedly jailed a Ukrainian Antarctic researcher over accusations of economic sabotage. The scientist Leonid Pshenichnov has over 40 years of experience in marine biology, focusing on biological resources in the Southern Ocean. Leonid has spent most of his working life in marine research facilities based in Crimea. 

CAMEROON/UNITED STATES: Ministry seeks alternative scholarship funds after US cuts
Elias Ngalame, University World News, 10/23
The freeze on foreign aid in the United States has impacted the higher education sector in Africa, including in Cameroon where the government is seeking alternative funding strategies with a shift towards scholarship offers from other countries and donor institutions.

CHINA/UNITED KINGDOM: ‘Pervasive censorship’ at UK campuses in China, claims report
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 10/22
UK universities’ campuses in China may have breached equality and free speech laws because of “pervasive” Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control, according to a new report. Think tank the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) said it had uncovered evidence of “large-scale” interference at 45 joint education institutes (JEIs) operated by UK universities across China.

UNITED KINGDOM: Masked thugs ‘threaten to behead Israeli professor’ after storming lecture at London university
Bill Bowkett, The Standard, 10/22
Masked thugs allegedly threatened to behead an Israeli professor after storming his lecture at a London university. Michael Ben-Gad, an economics lecturer at City St George’s, has faced calls to resign because he served in the Israel Defence Forces four decades ago.

AZERBAIJAN: Bahruz Samadov threatens suicide after being placed in solitary confinement
Aytan Farhadova, OC Media, 10/21
Imprisoned OC Media contributor and academic Bahruz Samadov has been transferred from Umbaki prison to the N11 facility and placed in solitary confinement. His grandmother Zibeyda Osmanova says these new conditions have led him to again consider committing suicide.
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INDIA: Globally Renowned Scholar of Hindi Deported from Delhi Airport Despite Valid Visa
The Wire, 10/21
Francesca Orsini, scholar of Hindi and professor emerita at SOAS, London University, was tonight stopped from entering India even though she has a valid 5 year e-visa and told that she was being deported immediately. Orsini, author of the highly regarded 2002 book, The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism, and other academic works, arrived in Delhi on the night of October 21 via Hong Kong after attending an academic conference in China.

BELARUS: The death of dissent: lessons from Belarus on the fragility of academic freedom
Kathryn Gabrielle Marabe, RadioBue Università di Padova, 10/21
Since the 2020 protests against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian universities have shifted from places of learning to tools of repression. Students have been expelled or imprisoned. Professors silenced or dismissed. At the Scholars at Risk (SAR) advocacy day held at the University of Padua in June 2025, researchers, students, and human rights advocates gathered to examine the Belarusian case, not as a distant tragedy, but as a warning. What happens when academic freedom collapses? And what role can European institutions play in resisting that trend?
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CHINA: Immediately and Unconditionally Release Student Activist Zhang Yadi
Fortify Rights, 10/21
The Chinese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Yadi, a Chinese student and activist for Tibetan rights, said Fortify Rights today. Chinese authorities arrested Zhang Yadi, 22, on July 31, 2025, in the city of Shangri-La, Yunnan Province, and charged her under Article 103 (2) of China’s Criminal Law with “endangering national security” and potentially “inciting others to split the country and undermine national unity.”

UNITED STATES: How scientists are pushing back against Trump’s funding ‘deal’ for universities
Dan Garisto, Alexandra Witze & Jenna Ahart, Nature, 10/20
US President Donald Trump asked US universities earlier this month to sign a ‘compact’ aligning their student admissions, hiring and research with his administration’s priorities — or risk forfeiting federal research funds. And many scientists have been calling on their institutions to reject the offer.

EGYPT/UNITED STATES: Students force former US ambassador to leave university
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 10/20
Students at The American University in Cairo (AUC), in a protest to express their solidarity with Palestine, have forced the former United States ambassador to Israel to leave the campus over his perceived support for Israel before he could participate in a symposium. Daniel Kurtzer was forced to leave the university campus in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on 14 October after students protested his presence and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, according to a video circulating on social media.

FRANCE/GLOBAL: Academic freedom: how to defend ‘the very condition of a living democracy’ in France and worldwide [COMMENTARY]
Stéphanie Balme, The Conversation, 10/17

Unlike other fundamental rights, academic freedom in France is distinguished by the absence of a firmly rooted political, professional and civic culture. Academics who are victims of attacks on their freedom to practice their profession often find themselves isolated, while the institutional capacity of universities to act as a counterweight remains limited.

PHILIPPINES: Youth-led protests aim to keep pressure on Marcos as corruption scandal drags on 
Cristina Chi, PhilStar Global, 10/17
Students across Metro Manila walked out of their campuses and marched to Mendiola on Friday, October 17, to air their fury as the government’s investigations into widespread anomalies in public works projects continue to drag on without major charges filed.

UNITED STATES: ‘Two People Are in Jail Because of Threats Against Me’: Jonathan Holloway and Ana Mari Cauce on the physical and psychological toll of leading a university in 2025. 
Evan Goldstein, Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/16
We talked about their interactions with the Trump administration, the sector’s bruised reputation, and the toll of serving as a high-profile president at such a fractious moment. I was struck by the degree to which the threat — and the reality, in the case of Cauce — of physical harm weighed on them during their tenures.

MADAGASCAR: Student-led anti-government movement helps topple president
Villen Anganan, University World News, 10/16
What began as an anti-government outcry on 25 September over water and electricity cuts sparked a wave of protests, led largely by a new generation of activists. Mobilising through social media, they had shut down the University of Antananarivo, based in the capital city, Antananarivo. These daily demonstrations were spearheaded by ‘Generation Z Madagascar’, a social media youth group framing grievances in language resonating far beyond lecture halls.

AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan: UN experts urge release of researchers Igbal Abilov and Bahruz Samadov, charged with treason
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 10/15
UN experts today called on authorities of Azerbaijan to release two researchers, Igbal Abilov and Bahruz Samadov, who have been held in detention for over a year on charges related to their academic work, peaceful criticism of government policies, and advocacy for minority rights and peace.
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MOROCCO: Gen Z protests are set to continue, despite fatalities 
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 10/14
Morocco’s Generation Z movement nationwide protest for ‘dignity, justice and freedom’ is set to continue on 18 October, despite the alleged police killing of three people, including a Moroccan film student, during the uprising that started at the end of September.

UNITED STATES: Israel and Hamas have a ceasefire deal. But college protesters say activism won’t stop 
Jaweed Kaleem and Daniel Miller, Los Angeles Times, 10/12
Student activists say they’ll continue pro-Palestinian protests after the Gaza ceasefire, demanding universities divest from weapons companies tied to Israel’s war effort. Jewish communities express relief over hostage releases, saying they hope there is also more dialogue on campuses.

SOUTH AFRICA: Fort Hare in Turmoil: Students Displaced After Protests Cause Millions in Damage
South Africa Today, 10/12
The University of Fort Hare has been forced to close its doors and evacuate students following a four-day protest that escalated into significant violence, leaving key university buildings torched and causing an estimated R250 to R500 million in damages. The unrest, which has left scores of students displaced and academic progress in jeopardy, stems from a deep-seated crisis of governance and student representation at the institution.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Rebuilding Gaza: don’t sideline Palestinian scientists, say experts
Michele Catanzaro, Nature, 10/10
Researchers who study post-war reconstruction have told Nature that the recovery of public health, environment, higher education and research in Gaza will not succeed unless it is led by experts from the Palestinian territory. Their warning comes amid images of jubilant scenes in Gaza yesterday as negotiators in Egypt sealed the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, which today was ratified by Israel’s cabinet.

UNITED STATES: What Could MIT’s Rejection of Trump’s Proposed ‘Compact’ Mean for the Rest of Higher Ed?
Francie Diep, Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/10
As the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said Friday that it “cannot support” the Trump administration’s compact for higher education, academics largely celebrated the rejection of what they saw as proposed government intrusion, though some were apprehensive about what could come next. Meanwhile, national observers hoped that MIT’s response would serve as a template for other universities.

RUSSIA: Confront Russian intelligence ‘elephant in room’, academics urged 
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 10/10
Universities must confront the “taboo” subject of Russian intelligence “targeting academia”, according to an expert. The influence the Russian state has over both its own universities and Western scholarship is “the elephant in the lecture hall”, claims Sanshiro Hosaka, research fellow at Estonia’s International Centre for Defence and Security, in a new paper published in Studies in Higher Education.

EUROPE/UNITED STATES: Professor who teaches about antifascism moves to Europe after death threats
Anumita Kaur, Washington Post, 10/10
Faced with a stream of death threats, a Rutgers University history professor who teaches about antifascism said he is moving out of the United States just a month into the fall semester.Mark Bray, who has taught at Rutgers since 2019, told his students Sunday that his courses would move online immediately.

IRAN: The Islamic Republic’s War on Its Universities Is Accelerating
Saeid Golkar, Middle East Forum Observer, 10/9
When Islamic Azad University summoned veteran professor Mehdi Zakarian for “supporting Western-oriented thinking,” it reflected the Islamic Republic’s ongoing war against intellectual freedom. In Iran, universities are not sanctuaries of inquiry but battlegrounds where dissent is equated with subversion.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan’s Ban on Girls’ Education Goes Online [COMMENTARY]
Gordon Brown, Project Syndicate, 10/9
Four years after the Taliban excluded girls and women in Afghanistan from secondary and higher education, the regime shut down the internet, depriving them of one of their last opportunities to learn.

UNITED KINGDOM: UK universities offered to monitor students’ social media for arms firms, emails show 
Daniel Boffey and Aaron Walawalkar, The Guardian, 10/8
Universities in the UK reassured arms companies they would monitor students’ chat groups and social media accounts after firms raised concerns about campus protests, according to internal emails. One university said it would conduct “active monitoring of social media” for any evidence of plans to demonstrate against Rolls-Royce at a careers fair.

UNITED KINGDOM: ‘Learn lessons from US’ and stop political interference, UK told
Juliette Roswell, Times Higher Education, 10/9
Arm’s-length bodies such as the Office for Students (OfS) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are particularly “vulnerable to political interference”, a new report has warned.

GLOBAL: Academic freedom “shrinking” in US and India, new report warns
Abhishek Nair, The PIE News, 10/8
Scholars at Risk’s Free to Think 2025 report highlighted an escalation of illiberal policies, laws, and extralegal actions in the higher education sectors of several major countries.

IRAN: Tehran’s Khajeh Nasir Students Lead Fresh Wave of Anti-Regime Protests across Iran
Mansoureh Galestan, National Council of Resistance of Iran, 10/7
Defiant students at Khajeh Nasir University of Technology in Tehran spearheaded a new round of protests, challenging the clerical dictatorship over repression and worsening living conditions. A new surge of protests swept across Iran this week, with students, oil workers, educators, and retirees taking to the streets amid growing anger over economic hardship and state control.

YEMEN: The militarization of Hodeidah University is forcing academics and students to migrate en masse.
George Salim Saliba, Al Amana, 10/7
Hodeidah University is witnessing a new wave of migration of distinguished professors and students from various faculties this year, amid escalating militarization and forced recruitment practices carried out by the Houthi militia on campus, under the supervision of a man claiming to be the university president, Mohammed al-Ahdal.

UNITED KINGDOM/PAKISTAN: Index joins call for robust protections against transnational repression in the higher education sector
Index on Censorship, 10/7
Yesterday, Index joined other human rights organisations, academics, legal experts and TNR targets calling on the Office for Students and UK Government to establish robust protections for all academics, students and support staff against TNR in the higher education sector. This followed threats made against Roshaan Khattak, a Pakistani human rights defender and film maker, while he was researching enforced disappearances in Balochistan, a province of Pakistan, at the University of Cambridge.

UNITED STATES: A Deal That Would End Universities’ Independence
Kevin Carey, The Atlantic, 10/4
|The compact is the newest escalation in Trump’s attempt to impose ideological dominance over America’s world-class colleges and universities. The document is breathtaking in its ambition, plainly illegal, and shot through with the tensions that mark Trumpism in its latest form.

AUSTRALIA/CHINA: Transnational education deals a ‘threat to the academy’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 10/3
Australian universities have been accused of underestimating the risks that their offshore education deals pose to the sector and the nation.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY/EUROPE: ‘Life-saving’ Gaza student evacuations need ‘collective effort’
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 10/3
Irish and Italian universities have described the “collective effort” involved in offering “life-saving” scholarships to students from Gaza, as institutions elsewhere in Europe urge their governments to follow suit.

GLOBAL: Attacks on academic freedom are spreading to democracies, report shows
Juliette Portala, Science|Business, 10/2
“From Afghanistan to Serbia to the United States, state leaders have cracked down on student and faculty expression, banned the study of disfavoured topics, and targeted individual scholars and students for what they teach, study or say,” Quinn said in a statement. Between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025, Scholars at Risk documented 395 attacks on higher education communities across 49 countries and territories, often marked by political instability, widespread corruption and human rights abuses.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban internet crackdown deepens crisis for Afghan universities
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 10/2
Afghanistan’s higher education system faces what academics have called an “intellectual blockade” after the Taliban imposed a nationwide internet shutdown alongside sweeping new restrictions on university life.

GLOBAL: Global academic freedom group warns Trump is dismantling US higher education
Alice Speri, The Guardian, 10/1
A global academic freedom group has warned that the Trump administration’s assault on universities is turning the US into a “model for how to dismantle” academic freedom.“We are witnessing an unprecedented situation – really as far as I can tell in history – where a global leader of education and research is voluntarily dismantling that which gave it an advantage,” said Robert Quinn, executive director of Scholars at Risk (SAR).

MOROCCO: Students arrested as Gen Z protests take to the streets
Wagdy Sawahel, University World New, 10/1
The National Union of Moroccan Students (Union Nationale des Etudiants du Maroc, or UNEM) condemned the repression and the arrests of students during their participation in the country’s largest anti-government demonstrations in years, led by youth movements demanding the reform of public services, especially health and education.

VENEZUELA: The Full Collapse of Venezuelan Academia
Caracas Chronicles, 10/1
It’s not just about persecution or non-salaries. A crippled economy is draining universities of staff, leaving veteran professors to age in distress.

GLOBAL: Freedom of Speech in Academia Is Under Attack Around the World
Farah Nayeri, The New York Times, 9/30
On college campuses all over the world, freedom of speech is facing increasing challenges. Students in Europe, Asia and the United States shout down speakers they do not agree with and force events to be canceled even before they happen. University administrators and faculty keep alternative viewpoints off the syllabus in an effort to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (D.E.I.).

UNITED STATES: Academic freedom defence not helping in ‘war on tenure’ 
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 9/30
Reframing tenure as a crucial form of worker protection rather than promoting its benefits for academic freedom will help academics win the debate around its merits, according to the author of a new book that documents attacks against the practice.

UNITED STATES: Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens Over Pro-Palestinian Speech 
Zach Montague, The New York Times, 9/30
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration had used the threat of deportation to systematically silence noncitizens in academia who protested in support of Palestinians, violating the First Amendment as part of a broader strategy to stamp out campus activism.

PAKISTAN: Public universities in Pakistan face crisis from political interference, poor funding, and brain drain; autonomy is vital for knowledge, progress, and development [COMMENTARY]
Dr. Saad Malook, Friday Times, 8/29
Public universities in Pakistan are perpetually in a state of crisis due to political interference, financial insecurity, and brain drain. By and large, Pakistan’s bright future, in this global world, depends on the restoration of the sovereignty of public universities in the country. The reason is simple, as a university is the citadel that produces the intellectual capital of a nation.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: University of Arizona Shutters Chinese Microcampuses
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 9/26
The University of Arizona is quietly shutting down its four microcampuses in China at the end of this semester, in response to a government report released earlier this month that criticizes branch campuses of U.S. institutions in China.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: H-1B visa chaos sends international students into panic
Shuriah Niazi, Amber Wang and Yojana Sharma, University World New, 9/25
The decision by United States President Donald Trump to hike the fee for the H-1B skilled worker visa to US$100,000 – part of broader changes in US immigration policy – has sent shockwaves through the technology and higher education sectors in the US and created widespread anxiety among students planning future pathways.

IRAN/SWEDEN: VUB professor held in Iran is still alive, says family 
The Brussels Times, 9/25
More than three months after his disappearance in Iran, the family of jailed VUB professor Ahmadreza Djalali has received new information about his location. The Swedish-Iranian physician has been returned to Evin Prison in Tehran, according to his wife, Vida Mehrannia, who shared the update on the social media platform X. She reiterated her call for his immediate release.
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NORWAY: Calls for action against arbitrary detention 
University of South-Eastern Norway, Jan-Henrik Kulberg
Arathana and Christian spoke about Professor Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economist and former university professor in Beijing. Among the guests was Adiljan Abdurihim, Uyghur human rights activist and coordinator of the Uyghur Transitional Justice Database. Abdurihim has documented abuses against Uyghurs and works to ensure justice through archiving testimony and international cooperation.

UKRAINE/UNITED STATES: A warzone education: Salisbury University helps Ukraine school hold classes
Josh Davis, The Baltimore Sun, 6/25
As Salisbury University students return to campus this fall, school officials are looking far beyond the Eastern Shore — to northeastern Ukraine, where a partnership helps students continue classes, despite being near the frontlines of a war.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: US entering a ‘neo-academic Cold War’, scholar warns
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 9/17
The United States is entering a “neo-academic Cold War” in which universities and science are being weaponised for political ends, according to a leading higher education researcher.

GLOBAL: Universities are at risk of becoming factories of consent [COMMENTARY]
James Yoonil Auh, University World News, 9/17
The erosion of university autonomy rarely arrives with the sound of chains. It arrives quietly, through metrics and incentives. A programme is not banned; it is deemed irrelevant. A discipline is not censored; it is defunded. A curriculum is not rewritten by decree; it is ‘aligned’ with national strategies.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY/UNITED KINGDOM: Some Gazan students ‘may be left behind’ as UK begins evacuation
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education 9/16
Campaigners have warned that delays, logistical obstacles and opaque decision-making are leaving students from Gaza in distress, despite the UK government’s pledge to help evacuate some of them.

CANADA/CHINA: When You’re Afraid That Your Classmate Is a Spy
Vikram Nijhawan, The Local, 9/16
For students in the broader Chinese community, the ever-present threat of harassment, surveillance, or intimidation by their government and its proxies from overseas weakens their ability to practice free speech. It can lead to self-censorship, a hesitance to branch out to different social groups, or voice dissenting opinions in the classroom.

AFGHANISTAN: Ban on teaching books by female and Iranian writers in Afghan universities [PERSIAN]
Ali Hosseini, BBC, 9/16
The Taliban government’s Ministry of Higher Education has issued two directives for public and private universities, imposing widespread and unprecedented bans for public and private universities, imposing widespread and unprecedented bans and restrictions on the teaching of units, courses, and teaching resources.

INDONESIA: Students denounce red-tagging in ‘security awareness’ seminar 
Shan Kenshin Ecaldre, Bulatlat, 9/16
The incident at DHVSU reflects a wider, long-standing pattern of repression against progressive youth organizations. During Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s Martial Law, campus organizations were among the first targets of surveillance, raids, and arrests. Student leaders who opposed tuition hikes and human rights abuses were detained, tortured, or disappeared.

AZERBAIJAN: Academics Sentenced on Spurious Charges of Treason: Bahruz Samadov and Igbal Abilov 
Amnesty International, 9/15
Academics Bahruz Samadov and Igbal Abilov, sentenced to 15 and 18 years respectively on fabricated charges of treason following unfair trials, must be immediately and unconditionally released. Their prosecution and sentencing reflect the Azerbaijani authorities’ ongoing campaign against critics, academics and human rights defenders who are prosecuted solely for their peaceful, free expression.
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GLOBAL/ISRAEL: Universities around the world cut ties with Israeli academia over Gaza war
Nicola Davis, The Guardian, 9/13
A growing number of universities, academic institutions and scholarly bodies around the world are cutting links with Israeli academia amid claims that it is complicit in the Israeli government’s actions towards Palestinians.

CHINA: New plan to speed up HE alignment with national priorities
Amber Wang, University World News, 9/12
China has unveiled a new plan for 2025 to 2027 that goes further and faster in aligning higher education with national economic and strategic priorities. Its issue by the Central Education Work Leading Group – the Communist Party of China’s top body for education policy – signals that its rollout is considered a priority at the highest political level.

ISRAEL/IRAQ: Israeli-Russian captive in Iraq Tsurkov was freed in exchange deal: Report
Al Jazeera, 9/11
Israeli-Russian academic and Princeton University student Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was held captive in Iraq for more than two years, was released earlier this week in an exchange deal with Israel, according to a report by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

JAPAN: Increase in defence-related research is dividing academia
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 9/10
Despite resistance from scientists, researchers and peace activists, more Japanese universities are accepting research subsidies from the Ministry of Defense for security-related technology research.

UNITED KINGDOM: Universities Fear Student Arrests Over Palestine Action Protests
Matilda Martin, PoliticsHome, 9/11
As universities prepare to open their doors for the new academic year this month, senior figures in higher education told PoliticsHome that they fear domestic and international students could face arrests. With Palestine Action protests continuing to take place nationwide, institutions plan to warn students about the risk of getting a criminal record and the impact it would have on their future.

CANADA: ‘One of the Most Egregious Interventions in University Autonomy We’ve Ever Seen’
Inori Roy, The Local, 9/11
With Bill 33’s infringement into admissions and ancillary fees, “any government from this point on, regardless of their ideological foundations, will have the right to intervene in these particular areas—and not just intervene, but essentially tell universities what to do and punish them if they don’t,” says Jones. 

UNITED KINGDOM: Is it time for universities to engage seriously with Reform UK?
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 9/11
Another area affecting higher education that would be an obvious plank of a Reform platform would be free speech, which right-wing populists typically depict as being under threat. In his conference speech, Farage warned that political leaders “will do everything they can to crush free speech”, and Jenykns said that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights – an idea that seemed very popular in Birmingham – would be a first step in solving the problem.

GERMANY/UKRAINE: Alliance of German science organisations joins international aid coalition for rebuilding Ukrainian R&D system
Alliance of Science Organisations, 9/11
The newly established coalition aims to promote concrete steps to support Ukrainian scientists, drive reconstruction and modernization, and reinforce the role of research and innovation in the country’s recovery. With the entire alliance joining as a whole, instead of individual organizations, the German research and higher education sector will have a stronger, coordinated body representing its interests within the international coalition and will, in turn, be able to support the coalition more effectively. 

UNITED STATES: Making of a Martyr: Charlie Kirk’s killing silences a conservative voice. His movement may grow louder.
Jack Stripling and Nell Gluckman, Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/10
The fatal shooting on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative activist who galvanized a pugnacious political movement deeply critical of higher education’s leftward tilt, immediately registered with professors and others as a historic moment that will jolt already-intense debates about free speech, civil discourse, and political polarization on college campuses.

MOROCCO: Draft legislation about higher education irks stakeholders
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 9/10
The Justice and Charity Youth Association, the youth branch of Morocco’s largest Islamic movement, Al Adl Wal Ihsane (which means justice and charity), said in a statement on 29 August that the bill represented “a new nail in the coffin of university independence and a threat to the right of Moroccan youth to free public education”.

SERBIA: Retaliation against universities: Threatened autonomy of higher education [COMMENTARY]
Željka Jevtić, NIN, 9/10
The dismissal of the dean of the Belgrade Medical Faculty, accompanied by the ominous warning that she will not be the last, is yet another move that violates the law and devastates university autonomy. All this clearly shows that the government does not intend to stop its assault on higher education. The only question is when it will decide the “right moment” to move to the next level—establishing new, even parallel faculties—leaving public universities to their fate and, in time, to decline.
Read an open letter from the professors of the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine

SAUDI ARABIA: More academics and religious scholars released after lengthy prison terms
Gulf Center for Human Rights, 9/10
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) welcomes the release of several religious scholars and academics after lengthy prison terms. Among those who have been released is academic Dr. Khalid Al-Oudah, the brother of prominent religious scholar Dr. Salman Al-Oudah. He was arrested on 12 September 2017 and sentenced to five years in prison on two charges that included showing sympathy after the arrest of his brother, Dr. Salman Al-Oudah, and for working simultaneously in private and public jobs.

GLOBAL: Global geopolitics should not stall science — 5 ways to push back [COMMENTARY]
James Oliver Scott Hammond and Jean-Christophe Mauduit, Nature, 9/9
Even when they don’t target science specifically, sanctions hinder cross-border collaborations by increasing bureaucracy, restricting exports of equipment and financial transactions, as well as skewing where research is done. Sanctions can also evolve rapidly, and changes in international relations can be hard to foresee, making long-term projects — such as the monitoring of changes in climate and ecosystems — difficult to sustain.

BRAZIL: Students report fear of debating politics at universities [PORTUGUESE]
Iago Mac Cord and Letícia Corrêa, Correio Braziliense, 9/7
The “Freedom of Academic Expression” report, published in late August by the Sivis Institute, reveals fear among students and faculty when exercising freedom of expression, a pillar of any consolidated democracy. The data show that a significant portion of students report self-censorship and hesitation in discussing certain topics. Nearly half (47.7%) of respondents say they have avoided controversial or contentious topics in the classroom in the last 12 months.

SERBIA: Police In Novi Sad Use Force To Respond To Student Protesters
RadioFreeEurope, 9/6
Hundreds of police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesters around the Novi Sad university campus on September 5 as students gathered to demand reforms. The mass protest was the latest marking 10 months of demonstrations around Serbia and beyond, calling for early elections and a crackdown on corruption.

UNITED STATES: Harvard Dominates Headlines, But Other Schools Are Quietly Battling Trump 
October Krausch, Truthout, 9/6
Higher education has been in the news regularly since the emergence of mass pro-Palestine protests on campuses after October 7, 2023, but much of the coverage has been dominated by the likes of elite private schools such as Harvard and Columbia. Right-wing attacks, however, have rocked campuses across the country, escalating with the Trump administration’s executive orders banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

GERMANY/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Science bodies pledge to help rebuild universities in Gaza
Michael Gardner, University World News, 9/5
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) have pledged their support in restoring universities in Gaza after the war. Meanwhile, the German government has rejected a proposal by the European Commission to partially suspend cooperation with Israel in the context of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.

INDONESIA: Police criticised for response to protests near campuses
Kafil Yamin, University World News, 9/3
Police used tear gas on crowds of protesters near two universities in Bandung, the capital of Indonesia’s West Java province, this week, according to authorities and student groups, amid ongoing nationwide protests over government spending. Around 10 people have been killed since the unrest erupted last week.

IRAN: Ehsan Faridi Death Sentence: A Young Student’s Struggle Amid Threats to Silence
Iran Human Rights Society, 8/31
In February 2025, Branch 2 of the Tabriz Revolutionary Court sentenced Ehsan Faridi, a 22-year-old manufacturing engineering student at the University of Tabriz, to death. Authorities based the verdict on a Ministry of Intelligence report, presenting no public evidence. Now, as the case awaits Supreme Court review, security forces pressure Faridi’s family to remain silent, intensifying their anguish. This case highlights Iran’s troubling use of capital punishment and suppression of dissent.

UNITED STATES: Trump Administration’s Cuts to Harvard Funding Are Unconstitutional, Judge Rules
Sara Randazzo and Douglas Belkin, The Wall Street Journal, 9/3
The federal government improperly cut off $2.2 billion in research funding from Harvard University and must restore the funds, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, concluding the Trump administration’s actions violated Harvard’s constitutional rights.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Latitudes: Big changes could be coming for student visas. Here’s what to know.
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/3
A proposed rule setting time limits on international students’ study in the United States would also restrict transfers and program changes and give the federal government greater authority to determine academic progress. The rule, published last week in the Federal Register, had been widely expected and is an unfinished initiative from President Trump’s first-term agenda.

INDONESIA: Indonesian police use tear gas on university campuses in ongoing protests 
Al Jazeera, 9/2
Indonesian police have used tear gas on crowds of protesters near two universities, student groups and authorities said, amid ongoing nationwide protests targeting government spending, and burgeoning fury following a motorcycle taxi driver’s death after being hit by a police car.

INDIA: When Nehru’s Democracy Imprisons Its Own [COMMENTARY]
Sahasranshu Dash, Foreign Policy in Focus, 9/2
Once a leading voice of India’s student movements, Khalid was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for speeches opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)—a law that many feared could strip millions of Indian Muslims of citizenship when paired with the National Register of Citizens. For those speeches, he has languished in Delhi’s Tihar Jail while bail hearings stretch endlessly, adjourned over a dozen times, with judges reserving orders for weeks or months only to deny relief.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: White House warning takes ‘binary view of China research threat’
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 9/2
White House guidance to universities on security concerns and the threats posed to open research risks chilling collaborations and fails to grasp the complexities of China’s research policy, experts have warned.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: As Trump welcomes Chinese students, schools cut ties under Republican pressure
Bochen Han, South China Morning Post, 8/30
While US President Donald Trump this week said he would allow 600,000 Chinese students into the United States, members of Congress in his Republican Party are increasingly moving to dismantle many of the long-standing partnerships that would make their arrival possible.

UNITED KINGDOM: Pressure prompts universities to revise EDI recruitment ads
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 8/29
At least two universities have revised academic job adverts after pressure from free speech campaigners, marking one of the first tangible effects of new legislation in England. The adverts initially required applicants to explicitly commit to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles as part of their applications.

EUROPE: Universities demand action as EU divided on suspending academic ties
DPA International, 8/29
While EU member states can’t agree on sanctions targeting Israeli research funding, many European universities have taken action into their own hands and severed ties. The split has created a patchwork of academic boycotts, suspensions and protests with some countries’ academic institutions calling for EU action, while others stand firmly opposed.

IRELAND/UNITED KINGDOM/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: UK, Ireland offer scholarships to Gaza students [CHINESE]
Agence France-Presse, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 8/29
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said on Thursday (August 28) that 52 students from Gaza will arrive in Ireland this week to receive scholarships offered by educational institutions. “I welcome these young Palestinians to Ireland and wish them all the best with their studies here,” Harris said in a statement. The first group of 26 students arrived on Thursday, with the remainder due to arrive between Friday and Sunday, according to the statement.

GLOBAL: Why academic metrics may undermine academic freedom [COMMENTARY]
Aikerim Bektemirova, University World News, 8/29
The experiences of Kazakhstan, Russia and China reveal a crucial truth: academic metrics are not politically neutral. While metrics are also debated in democratic settings, where they can encourage conformity or privilege certain forms of research, the difference is one of kind, not merely degree.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY/UNITED KINGDOM: UK opens door to 40 Gazan students on funded scholarships
Kim Martin, The PIE, 8/28
The government has approved plans to allow approximately 40 students from Gaza to travel to the UK to begin funded university scholarships. Some nine of these students will come through the prestigious Chevening scheme, a government-funded scholarship program that enables future leaders from around the world to pursue one-year master’s degrees at UK universities.

GLOBAL: Political extremism creates ‘climate of anxiety’ for scientists
Martin Greenacre, Science | Business, 8/28
The rise of populism and anti-science rhetoric in some regions of Europe is demoralising researchers and innovators, and creating a “climate of anxiety” that makes scientific discovery more difficult, according to a study published this month.

IRELAND/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: First group of Gazans arrive in Ireland to study in universities
Emma O’Kelly, RTE, 8/28
The first group of 26 young Palestinians from Gaza have arrived in Ireland to begin a new life as students in Irish universities. They are the first group of what will be 52 Palestinians overall, with the remainder to arrive in the coming days.

SUDAN: New post-war strategy wants to rebuild a damaged system
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 8/27
In Sudan, universities are slowly resuming classes after a two-year suspension due to the ongoing conflict. The prime minister has ordered the reopening of universities in Khartoum with the ministry of higher education assessing damage and overseeing repairs. Academics said that, whereas the strategy focuses on the reconstruction of infrastructure, quality assurance, and digital transformation, it also needed to tackle social cohesion.

GLOBAL: Don’t ‘faff’ in wrongful imprisonment cases, says former detainee
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 8/27
When academics are seized by states with a history of hostage diplomacy, governments should move quickly to “do a deal” rather than taking years to reach the same outcome, according to an Australian lecturer who endured more than two years of imprisonment in Iran.

CANADA: Student visa refusals hit record levels in Canada
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 8/27
A record number of students were refused Canadian visas last year, as figures show the continued impact of the country’s harsher immigration policies. Immigration caps introduced in January 2024 led to a sharp fall in students coming to Canada’s universities – with applications even falling short of the caps because of reduced demand.

GHANA/UNITED STATES: US Student Visa Crackdown Leaves Ghanaian Students In Limbo
Masahudu Ankiilu, African Eye Report, 8/25
The crackdown, which US lawmakers link to overstays and criminal violations, also explicitly targets students expressing what the Trump administration calls “hostile attitudes.” This has become a deeply personal concern for Ghanaians, affecting the security of their children studying abroad.

CANADA/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: 70 Palestinian students admitted to Canadian universities are trapped in Gaza. We need Canada to defend our right to education. [COMMENTARY]
Reem A. Hamadaqa, Mondoweiss, 8/23
Another 70 Palestinian students have been admitted to different prestigious Canadian universities, yet are still trapped in Gaza under nonstop bombardment, facing famine and displacement by themselves. Their dreams are a crossing away, a call away – we just need the Canadian government to take a strong stance in support of Gazans’ right to education.

UNITED STATES: Accepted at Universities, Unable to Get Visas: Inside Trump’s War on International Students
Meghnad Bose and Jerry Elengical, The Intercept, 8/23
|Many have had their applications rejected on grounds they can’t fathom; others have been waiting weeks for a decision on their applications. Foreign students granted admission by universities can’t get slots for visa interviews even as their academic programs get underway. Wait times for “administrative processing” of visa applications have stretched from days to weeks to more than a month.

NIGERIA: Placards and Punishment: How Nigeria’s Universities are Policing Dissent
Hussain Wahab, International Policy Digest, 8/22
None of this is new in Nigeria’s tertiary sector, where dissent on campus often meets institutional muscle. By multiple accounts, student leaders, activists, and campus journalists increasingly face intimidation—and sometimes arrest—for protesting or publishing investigations.

INDIA: Kashmir book ban violates freedom of expression and academic freedom [STATEMENT]
International Federation for Human Rights, 8/21
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, together with the undersigned organisations, condemn India’s ban on 25 scholarly and journalistic books on Kashmir as an unlawful attack on freedom of expression.

BOTSWANA: Students allege police are trying to thwart protests
Zachariah Mushawatu, University World News, 8/21
“The police are trying to silence the students’ struggle,” said Karabelo, who is the speaker of the Student Parliament in Botswana and a third-year law student at the University of Botswana, from where he has been suspended twice for activism. 

VENEZUELA: Violation of university autonomy increased by more than 300% in July [SPANISH]
El Nacional, 8/20
The University Observatory revealed that violations of university autonomy increased 309% last July alone compared to the first half of the year. A recent report noted that 86% of the complaints were directly related to these attacks, with a particular incidence in non-government-controlled educational institutions.

AUSTRALIA: ‘Operating like Big Brother’: Melbourne University breached privacy in surveilling student protesters
Caroline Schelle, The Age, 8/20
The University of Melbourne committed a serious breach of legislative privacy principles when it used the location data of students who were connected to the institution’s internet network to identify those participating in a protest in May 2024, the state’s privacy authority said on Wednesday. But the university continued to defend its conduct, arguing it had acted in the interests of on-campus safety.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Trump’s Tactics Mean Many International Students Won’t Make It to Campus
Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times, 8/20
Many Iranians are not going to American universities this fall. Students from Afghanistan are having trouble getting to campus. Even students from China and India, the top two senders of international students to the United States, have been flummoxed by a maze of new obstacles the Trump administration has set up to slow or deter people entering the country from abroad.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: ‘Too hungry to think, too weak to sit upright. Concentration slips away’: the struggle to stay focused as an academic in Gaza [COMMENTARY]
Ahmed Kamal Junina, The Guardian, 8/19
As scholars, we are meant to cultivate emancipatory and liberatory thinking among our students. But when our daily realities are hunger, grief and displacement, we begin to question whether we are still fulfilling that role. What does it mean to be a scholar when the conditions needed to think, teach and create are stripped away?

NORWAY: Academics criticise call for curbs on what students study
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 8/19
“Universities need autonomy, not political control. Universities have large responsibilities towards society and need freedom to make their own priorities around research and education…Academic freedom and diversity of people and topics is the best approach to solving major societal challenges. We do not know what the future will need”, she said.

TÜRKIYE: The culture war roiling one of Turkey’s top universities
John Paul Rathbone, Financial Times, 8/19
At heart, the issue at Boğaziçi centres around the ability of Erdoğan, who grew up in a hardscrabble Istanbul neighbourhood, to appoint the heads of Turkey’s supposedly autonomous universities and impose his Islamist and more nationalist vision on independent centres of learning he considers elitist. To critics, this is an unacceptable encroachment on academic freedom that mirrors the government’s tightening control on rival sources of influence. 

UGANDA: Uganda Student Protests: Armed Responses and Rising Tensions
Ahmed Hassan, News Directory 3, 8/19
A disturbing trend is taking hold in Ugandan universities: the suppression of‌ student activism through increasingly forceful ⁢and, according to ⁣rights experts, unlawful means. What ⁤was once⁢ a space for robust ⁢debate and‍ political engagement is rapidly becoming a landscape of ​fear, ⁣where even peaceful protest can lead to ​arrest, ⁤suspension, and expulsion.

BRAZIL/UNITED STATES: How quickly can academia recover from right-wing populism?
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 8/18
Donald Trump’s assaults on US science and universities in many ways mirror those previously enacted in Brazil by Jair Bolsonaro. Two years on from the latter’s election defeat, Patrick Jack assesses what the current state of Brazilian science says about how US institutions might fare post-Trump.

JAPAN: Internationalisation questioned as Japanese far right wins seats
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 8/15
A rising nationalist sentiment in Japan “could put universities in the spotlight” amid a “cautious scepticism” towards internationalisation and diversity initiatives. While long considered relatively insulated from political debates, institutions in the country are having to contend with new ideological pressures.

CHINA: China unveils new visa to lure young science and tech specialists
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 8/14
China has announced plans to launch a new visa category for young science and technology specialists in a bid to attract global talent and accelerate its ambitions to become a technological superpower. Under changes to foreign entry regulations announced by the State Council, eligible candidates will be able to apply for the “young talent” K visa from 1 October.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: White House Uses Back Door to Axe Approved Funds for Exchange Programs
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/14
While the list of terminated programs does not include high-profile State Department exchanges, such as the flagship Fulbright Program, the action has raised concerns that the administration could use the same approach to cancel other global-education programs. The cuts are an “existential threat” to the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Exchange “as a whole,” said Mark Overmann, executive director at the Alliance for International Exchange.

IRAN: On the Hunt for Spies, Iran Executes a Nuclear Scientist
Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times, 8/6
Iran executed one of its nuclear scientists on Wednesday over allegations that he was a spy for Israel and had facilitated Israel’s assassination of another nuclear scientist during the two countries’ war in June, according to the judiciary’s news outlet, Mizan. The judiciary said the scientist, Roozbeh Vadi, had worked at one of the country’s most sensitive and important nuclear sites and had access to the type of classified information sought by Iran’s enemies.

INDIA: India’s higher education institutions need autonomy. Depriving it will accelerate their decline [COMMENTARY]
Deepak Nayyar, The Indian Express, 8/14
It is clear that the process of appointments at universities, undergraduate colleges and other higher education institutions in India is now seriously flawed. It is no longer objective. Selections are shaped by political preferences and political networks. The quality of those appointed to leadership positions in higher education, even if for limited tenures, is critical, because they willingly cede the autonomy of their institutional space for their political commitment or simply their career paths.

MALI: Universities are ‘spaces of surveillance, self-censorship’ [INTERVIEW]
Clemence Manyukwe, University World News, 8/14
A Malian academic, who says he was hounded out of his university job last month following his release from the country’s Kéniéroba Central Prison on 27 March, has spoken out about pervasive censorship in the country’s higher education institutions.

MACEDONIA: Academic freedom and the university’s role in democracy [COMMENTARY]
Katerina Klimoska, University World News, 8/13
In North Macedonia, where formal guarantees often mask deeper structural problems, the challenge is to align law and policy with a genuine culture of academic autonomy and civic engagement. Only then can universities contribute meaningfully to a democratic and pluralistic society.

UNITED STATES: Trump Order on Grants Puts Politics Above Peer Review, Researchers Say
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 8/13
The executive order, in one sense, puts into writing the administration’s ongoing efforts to assert greater control over who receives grants and for what kinds of research. But researchers and those who advocate for them and their institutions also say some aspects of the order escalate this campaign. Moreover, they say the political review threatens to further slow the flow of federal research funding over all.

MALAYSIA: Guidelines on academic freedom being finalised 
Qistina Sallehuddin and Fuad Nizam, New Strait Times, 8/13
Academic staff at public universities will soon be permitted to make public statements related to their areas of expertise. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said implementation guidelines on the matter will be detailed in the ministry’s Administrative Circular, which is currently being finalised.

OCCUPIED PALENTINIAN TERRITORY: An entire generation of Gaza students is trapped in rubble and starvation after the destruction of educational institutions and the ongoing war [ARABIC] 
France24, 8/12
Amid the ruins of the Islamic University, which, like most educational institutions in Gaza, has been transformed into a shelter for displaced people, Maha describes her life as having come to a standstill for two years. She has no education , no work, no freedom of movement, just a daily struggle for survival. 

EUROPE: Europe mulls boosting military R&D with civilian science funding 
Elise Cutts, Science Magazine, 8/12
Some scientists are worried a focus on military research will bring tighter security measures that may compromise academic freedom. For instance, the 21 “affiliate countries” that participate in Horizon Europe but are not members of the EU could be excluded from certain schemes for security or political reasons.

GHANA: UG Law School Holds Academic Freedom Event
Florence Asamoah Adom, Daily Guide Network, 8/12
The event, held last Friday, was dubbed “Silencing the Mind: The Quiet War on Academic Freedom in Ghana,” and aimed to highlight the issues of student’s academic freedom violation in Ghana’s higher education institutions. In an interview with a lecturer at the UG School of Law, Prof. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua mentioned that students place in academic freedom is very low, which affects the relationship between students and lecturers, even in the classroom.

CHINA: UN Special Rapporteur: China must uphold the rights of imprisoned human rights defenders
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 8/11
The Special Rapporteur wrote to the Chinese authorities in February 2025 requesting precise information on the health condition and treatment of Ding Jiaxi, Huang Qi, Huang Yunmin, Ilham Tohti, Qin Yongmin, Zhang Haitao and Zhao Haitong, including dates of their last medical assessments. She also sought a response to allegations of mistreatment and details on why restrictions on family and legal counsel visits had been allegedly imposed on the seven human rights defenders.

UNITED STATES: Harvard and White House Move Toward Potential Landmark Settlement
Alan Blinder, Michael S. Schmidt, and Michael C. Bender, The New York Times, 8/11
Harvard University and the Trump administration are nearing a potentially landmark legal settlement that would see Harvard agree to spend $500 million in exchange for the restoration of billions of dollars in federal research funding, according to four people familiar with the deliberations.

INDIA: Silencing Kashmir: India’s Ban on Critical Scholarship
Muhammad Batish, Kashmir Media Service, 8/10
Once celebrated for its pluralism and intellectual diversity, India faces increasing criticism for systematically silencing critical scholarship on Kashmir. This trend has worsened since August 5, 2019, when the Indian government revoked Article 370, stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special autonomous status. Since then, scholars, journalists, and activists who question the official state narrative have faced detentions, intimidation, legal threats, and censorship.

SWEDEN/IRAN: Death row Swede missing in Iran
Dagens Nyheter, 8/8
Where is Ahmadreza Djalali, the father of two who did research at the Karolinska Institute before he was arrested and sentenced to death in Iran in 2016? His lawyer in Iran has repeatedly requested to visit his client or at least speak to him on the phone, but without success. Djalali was imprisoned in Evin Prison before it became the target of an Israeli attack during the twelve-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
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TÜRKIYE: Silivri’den hallice: Kadınlar – I [TURKISH] [COMMENTARY]
Asli Aydemir, Çatlak Zemin, 8/4
The following is a personal account by Dr. Asli Aydemir, an Academic for Peace who was arrested on June 30 in Istanbul, Türkiye on charges of “resisting the police” and “intentional injury,” which her lawyers are calling legally unjustified and a misinterpretation of the incident. Dr. Aydemir is a social psychologist who has made important contributions to the subjects of gerontology, sexism and ageism.
Learn more about Dr. Aydemir’s arrest and case here and here.

UNITED STATES: State legislators have cast a ‘web of control’ over HE
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 8/6
Almost 40% of Americans now live in states where legislatures have enacted laws and authorised policies that censor colleges and universities – this is the extraordinary finding of a new report issued by PEN America.

COLOMBIA: In Colombia, a new university aims to undercut the cycle of conflict
Anastasia Austin and Douwe den Held, The New Humanitarian, 8/6
One such endeavour saw the Universidad de la Amazonia welcome its first 26 students in January in a new branch in Puerto Asís, a city in conflict-stricken Putumayo. The first public university to open its doors in the southern department’s biggest city, it seeks to revitalise the region by offering young people new opportunities through localised higher education.

RUSSIA: Russia’s selective openness comes with close surveillance [COMMENTARY] 
Molnia, University World News, 8/6
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s higher education system has undergone a profound transformation. Confronted by an international boycott, its withdrawal from the Bologna Process, and intensifying anti-Western rhetoric at home, Russian authorities are scrambling to project an image of stability by reorienting their educational partnerships.

AFGHANISTAN: ‘They do not teach us what we need’: Inside the expansion of religious schools for girls across Afghanistan
Isobel Yeung and Mick Krever, CNN, 8/4
Imperfect though these religious institutions are, they are the only option for most Afghan girls over the age of 12 who want any education. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world that prohibits girls and women from getting general education at secondary and higher levels.

SERBIA: UN experts urge end to Serbian ‘crackdown’ on student protests
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 8/4
United Nations human rights experts have urged Serbian authorities to halt an “intensifying crackdown” on students, academics and other demonstrators, nine months after a deadly railway station collapse sparked mass protests across the country.

CHINA/UNITED KINGDOM: China’s campus repression being ‘partially replicated’ in UK
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 8/4
Chinese students and academics at UK universities face a “partial replication” of their home country’s “repressive surveillance dynamic”, leading to widespread intimidation and self-censorship in China-related studies, a new report has warned.

TÜRKIYE: New Turkish rector law ‘at odds with European standards’
Sophie Hogan, Research Professional News, 8/1
A new law on the appointment of rectors to Turkish universities fails, like its predecessor, to meet European standards for institutional autonomy, the European University Association has complained. Under the new law, the president of Turkey has sole powers to appoint rectors to public and foundational universities, the EUA explained in a statement on 31 July.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Colleges must speak up for their Chinese students [COMMENTARY] 
Jonathan Zimmerman, The Hill, 8/1
We’re already facing an expected decline in Chinese enrollment because of the Trump administration’s threats against international students, which higher-education leaders have rightly condemned. But if we really cared about those students — and not just their tuition fees — we would also speak out against the Chinese government’s extraterritorial targeting of their fundamental freedoms.

CHINA/UNITED KINGDOM: China-backed centres at UK universities under threat from new free speech laws
Richard Adams, The Guardian, 8/1
Confucius Institutes at universities across England are under threat from new free speech rules, setting off urgent talks between ministers, vice-chancellors and regulators over the fate of the China-backed language and culture centres.

UNITED STATES: The Columbia deal with Trump is a blueprint. All of higher ed should fear what comes next.
Nicole Narea, Vox, 7/31
These Ivy League schools have large endowments, billions of dollars in reserve funds that should put them in the best financial position among institutions of higher education to resist the administration’s allegations and attempts to hold their federal funding ransom. But so far, they have chosen to settle with Trump instead — and in so doing, campus free speech advocates say they are compromising academic freedom and dialogue throughout higher education.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: NAFSA predicts 30% to 40% fall in international students
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 7/31
American colleges and universities are heading for a decline of between 30% and 40% – or 80,000 international students – in the semester set to begin in a few weeks when compared to the 2024 to 2025 academic year, says a report released by NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

HONG KONG/CHINA: Hong Kong public universities sign new accountability agreement requiring alignment with Xi’s remarks
Kelly Ho, Hong Kong Free Press, 7/30
Eight public universities in Hong Kong have signed a new accountability agreement requiring them to follow the “advice and guidance” of the central government and align with the remarks of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY/CANADA: Gazan students stuck in limbo
Christopher Guly, University Affairs, 7/30
Although she began the process of applying for a student visa to come to Canada last July, Meera has been unable to complete the required security clearance by providing such biometric information as fingerprints through a process administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). 

UNITED STATES: Brown University reaches deal with Trump administration to restore funding
Bianca Quilantan, Politico, 7/30
In return, Brown agreed to pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island, bar transgender women from using women’s single-sex spaces and competing in sports, conduct a campus climate survey and maintain merit-based admissions policies, among other changes. But there is no finding or admission of wrongdoing in the closed investigations.

SERBIA: Crackdown Against Protesters Quickly Reveals Old Wounds In Serbia [COMMENTARY] 
Harrison Budak, Fair Observer, 7/30
Protestors in Serbia have faced increasing use of force by the police as they’ve incorporated increasing civil disobedience into their tactics. The students, who had been leading rallies until recently, issued a deadline for the government to set a date for snap elections. Once it had come and gone, they began to set up roadblocks in major cities. Despite most being dismantled by the police, protesters create another as soon as one is overturned, drawing the frustration of the authorities.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Latitudes: Foreign-student enrollments could nosedive this fall
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/30
Total international enrollments could decrease by 15 percent, according to projections by NAFSA: Association of International Educators and JB International, which conducts international-education research and helps colleges manage their global work. The result could be nearly $7 billion in lost revenue.

UNITED STATES: Trump Presses Harvard To Pay More Than Columbia in Federal Settlement
Dhruv T. Patel and Grace E. Yoon, Harvard Crimson, 7/27
United States President Donald Trump is personally pressing officials involved in the negotiations to ensure Harvard pays more than Columbia’s $220 million deal, the person said, adding that Trump believes exceeding that sum would set an example. The Trump administration has publicly framed the Columbia deal as a “template” for future settlements with elite universities like Harvard. 

RUSSIA: Decoding the Dangers: Phishing Tactics Targeting Scholars and Russian Detractors
Zephyrnet, 7/26
In an increasingly interconnected digital landscape, the prevalence of cyber threats has soared, particularly phishing attacks that prey on vulnerable individuals and groups. Among those most at risk are scholars and critics of authoritarian regimes, notably those opposing the Russian government. Understanding these tactics is crucial in safeguarding academic discourse and dissent against oppression.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong university applications surge amid US uncertainty
Tash Mosheim, Times Higher Education, 7/25
Efforts to internationalise Hong Kong’s higher education sector appear to be paying off, with universities reporting rapidly growing interest from the US and elsewhere.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: US House looks to revive China Initiative to ‘maintain America’s competitive edge’
Ling Xin, South China Morning Post, 7/25
The US House is poised to advance a key spending bill that could revive the controversial “China Initiative” – a programme that unfairly targeted Chinese-American researchers, derailed careers and devastated lives long after it was ended in 2022.

UNITED KINGDOM/UNITED STATES: UK woos researchers fed up with Trump’s attacks on science
Nic Mitchell, University World News, 7/25
The United Kingdom has joined the race to attract international research talent disillusioned by the Trump administration’s attack on science and universities in the United States.

UNITED KINGDOM: Staff fear protest crackdown after Goldsmiths antisemitism probe
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 7/24
Jewish staff at Goldsmiths, University of London claim they are being “frozen” out of its response to an inquiry into antisemitism, amid fears that it will be used to “constrain” protests and freedom of speech.

INDIA/UNITED STATES: Indian students reject US study over visa uncertainty
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 7/24
In a notable shift from previous years, Indian students are increasingly opting against higher studies in the United States, a significant change from a historical preference for the US as the top destination for study abroad.

RUSSIA: What Happens When Your University Is Banned in Russia?
Charlie Hancock, The Moscow Times, 7/21
When Yale University was banned in Russia as an “undesirable” organization this month, its faculty, administration and students were immediately put at risk of criminal prosecution. One month earlier, Brigham Young University found itself in the same position. The two colleges are members of a small but growing number of universities whose operations have been banned in Russia since 2021, when the liberal arts school Bard College became the first university hit with the designation.

UNITED STATES: In Extraordinary Deal With Trump, Columbia U. Agrees to Pay $200 Million to Restore Funds
Francie Diep and Sarah Huddleston, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/23
Columbia University reached a deal with the federal government on Wednesday, completing higher education’s first settlement over the Trump administration’s claims of antisemitism on campus. Columbia will pay $200 million to settle a spate of federal civil-rights investigations, and an additional $21 million to resolve Equal Employment Opportunity Commission probes.

AZERBAIJAN: The Samadov Case
Baku Research Institute, 7/22
On June 23, 2025, the Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Samadov to 15 years in prison under Article 274 of the Criminal Code for treason. In this article, we aim to demonstrate that the court verdict is unlawful, baseless, and unjust. First, we will interpret the crime of treason in Azerbaijan, and in the following sections, we will describe the problems in the verdict in the context of evidentiary standards and the credibility of the evidence.
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OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY/UNITED KINGDOM: Visa rules ‘obstructing’ Gazan students from UK universities
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 7/22
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, has written to home secretary Yvette Cooper, accusing the government of “effectively blocking” students’ efforts to study in the UK after visa requirements prevented them from obtaining the necessary documents to accept their university offers.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: What does Trump’s executive order on foreign gift reporting mean for colleges?Danielle McLean, HigherEd Dive, 7/22
Bauer-Wolf said he fears the Section 117 executive order will be used as another “political tool, almost as a shortcut to yanking colleges’ funding.” “It will be another avenue that the administration can claim that colleges are not following the law, when in fact, this is a law I don’t think anyone had any recognition or compliance with,” he said.

ZIMBABWE: Pressure mounts on Zimbabwe’s higher education system as UZ strike drags on
Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, The Standard, 7/20
It’s been months since lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe, the country’s oldest and most prestigious university, stepped aside. Their salaries, eroded by inflation and currency devaluation, could no longer cover their basic needs, they said. That was in April, and there’s no sign yet that they’ll return to their lecture halls.

GLOBAL: Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders: open vacancy
International Service for Human Rights, 7/20
In March 2026, the UN Human Rights Council (the Council) will appoint the next Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders. ISHR and partners are campaigning so the new person appointed is independent, impartial, competent and expert and comes from a background that represents the diversity of our world. 

HUNGARY/INDIA/UNITED STATES: Leaders in India, Hungary and the US are using appeals to nostalgia and nationalism to attack higher education [COMMENTARY]
Riyad A. Shahjahan and Michalinos Zembylas, The Conversation, 7/18
Harvard University is under siege by the Trump administration – and the world is watching. But this case isn’t just an American issue. It’s part of a global trend: universities cast as enemies and institutions in need of reform. Populist, right-wing governments are blaming universities for tearing at the fabric of nations.

AUSTRALIA: Protest crackdown creates ‘culture of fear’ on campuses
Allanah Sciberras, Perth Now, 7/18
Staff and students describe a pervasive “culture of fear” at one of Australia’s top universities following a furore over pro-Palestine encampments. University policies had led to self-censorship, restricting their ability to speak openly about pro-Palestinian movements on campus, they told an inquiry convened by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, the National Union of Students, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network and others.

DENMARK: Bangladeshi students reject political and media hostility
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World New, 7/18
Bangladeshi students have voiced strong concerns over increasingly hostile media coverage by the right-wing press in Denmark, fuelling fears of growing ‘Muslim immigration’ at Denmark’s universities, and claims by right-wing politicians that they are exploiting loopholes in immigration law to take Danish jobs.

RUSSIA: Russian scientists’ international collaborations to be vetted by security services under new law
Science News Staff, Science, 7/17
Russian universities and research institutions will soon be obliged to report all scientific collaborations with foreign citizens to the country’s security services, who will have the ultimate say over whether those projects can go ahead.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Latitudes: Visa fears disrupted foreign students’ summer plans. Here’s how one college stepped in.
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/16
Macalester isn’t alone in stepping in to aid international students. Whitman College, in Washington State, also started an emergency fund for foreign students. Arizona State University opened up summer housing, usually reserved for those taking classes, and found more jobs on campus.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: An open letter from the presidents of Gaza universities [COMMENTARY]
Ayman Sobh, Omar Milad, and Asad Asaad, Al Jazeera, 7/14
Despite the physical obliteration of campuses, laboratories, libraries, and other facilities, and the assassination of our students and colleagues, our universities continue to exist. We are more than buildings — we are academic communities, comprised of students, faculty, and staff, still alive and determined to carry forward our mission.

UNITED KINGDOM: Freedom of speech on university campuses in the UK [PODCAST]
Orla Barry, The World, 7/14
Protests are a hallmark of university life — but on campuses across England, student activism and academic freedom are facing mounting pressure. Demonstrations against the war in Gaza are increasingly being shut down, and some academics say they fear repercussions for voicing controversial views. Now, England’s higher education regulator is stepping in, introducing new guidelines aimed at protecting freedom of speech on campus.

SOUTH KOREA: Medical students end boycott but junior doctors still wary 
Choi Jeong-yoon, The Korea Herald, 7/13
After nearly a year and a half away from their classrooms, South Korean medical students have declared an unconditional return to school, signaling a possible end to one of the most drawn-out standoffs in medical education and health care in Korea.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: How Trump’s crackdown on universities is affecting the world
Katrin Bennhold, The New York Times, 7/13
Students, professors and scientists are all feeling the pressure, and that could undermine the dominant position that American science has enjoyed for decades. What does that mean for the world?

SERBIA/NORTH MACEDONIA: When Grief Becomes Political: How Tragedy is Weaponized Against a Free Press and Youth in North Macedonia and Serbia
Despina Kovachevska, Reporting Diversity Network, 7/12
Two recent tragedies—one in North Macedonia and one in Serbia—have sparked waves of student-led protests in Skopje and Belgrade, drawing attention to deep-seated political and institutional failures in both countries.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Scholars from 11 countries condemn US authoritarian turn and attacks on science
Nuño Domínguez, El País, 7/11
Salaverría, who also serves as director of the Iberian Observatory Against Disinformation, believes the broad attack on science and universities being orchestrated by Trump in the U.S. is comparable to what can be seen in regimes like Venezuela’s.

NICARAGUA/UNITED STATES: Is the US following in Nicaragua’s authoritarian footsteps? [COMMENTARY] 
Miguel Flores, The Hill, 7/11
A key aspect of Ortega’s consolidation of power has been his war against the Nicaraguan university system. He first restricted their autonomy by forcibly aligning their curricula to the government’s ideologies and placing party loyalists in oversight positions. Not unlike the Trump administration’s revocations of federal funding to universities in the U.S., the University of Central America of Nicaragua, formerly one of the most highly regarded universities in the country, also saw the government cut off its funding.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: House panel pushes colleges to cut ties with Chinese scholarship program
Laura Spitalniak, HigherEd Dive, 7/10
A Republican-led House committee is pushing seven research universities to cut ties with a scholarship program sponsored by the Chinese government. In four-page letters Tuesday, Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, decried the China Scholarship Council as “one of the nefarious mechanisms” the Chinese government uses to advance its technologies and urged each college involved with the council to “reconsider its participation.”

THAILAND: Oklahoma-born academic recounts experience in Thai prison [INTERVIEW]
Hannah France, KGOU, 7/10
Paul Chambers is an American academic who lived in Thailand for over 30 years while researching Southeast Asian militaries and politics. After being arrested in April of this year on charges of insulting the Thai monarchy, the charges have been dropped and he has returned to the United States. Hannah France sat down with him to learn more about his experience.

IRAN: The Legacy of July 18: How Did Student Protests Change Iran? [PERSIAN]
DW, 7/10
26 years after July 8, 1999, the cry for freedom from the University Quarter continues to inspire a new generation. How did this student movement change the discourse on freedom in Iran? Deutsche Welle Farsi discussed this issue with a former student activist. 

AUSTRALIA: Report on curbing antisemitism in Australia recommends threatening university funding
Rob McGurik, Associated Press, 7/10
Australian universities would lose government funding unless they address attacks on Jewish students and potential immigrants would be screened for political affiliations under recommendations to the government made public on Thursday aimed at curbing antisemitism.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: Trump administration says it will subpoena Harvard for info on foreign students
Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 7/9
The Trump administration said Wednesday that it will be sending administrative subpoenas to Harvard University for information about its foreign students, the latest escalation in its ongoing battle with the Ivy League school.

UNITED STATES: A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line [COMMENTARY]
Phillip Levine, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/8
In the end, only 16 of these institutions will end up paying this tax. Perhaps not surprisingly, they are many of the same institutions that have been under direct attack from Republican legislators and now the Trump administration over the past year.

HUNGARY: Hungarian researchers push back against transfer of humanities institutes
Eleonora Francica, Science|Business, 7/9
The Hungarian academic and research community is protesting to the government over the Hungarian Research Network’s decision to transfer four of its humanities research centres to Eötvös Loránd University.

UNITED STATES: Noncitizen Professors Testify About Chilling Effect of Others’ Detentions
Nell Gluckman, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/7
Canceled research trips. Skipped conferences. Plans to revise a syllabus. On Monday, two professors who hold green cards testified about the ways that the detentions this spring of students and scholars who had voiced criticism of Israel had affected their work. They were the first two witnesses in a trial underway in a federal court in Boston over whether the free-speech rights of academics who are not American have been curtailed under the Trump administration.

UNITED STATES: SAR’s Robert Quinn on Hastening Decline of Academic Freedom in U.S.
Tarek Abd El-Galil, Al-Fanar Media, 7/5
Is academic freedom increasingly threatened in democratic countries too? Al-Fanar Media posed that question in an interview with Robert Quinn, founding executive director of the global network Scholars at Risk (SAR). Following are highlights of that interview.

TURKIYE: Turkey’s best and brightest flee in brain drain
Sinem Özdemir and Daniel Derya Bellut, Qantara, 7/4
As Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues his crackdown on dissent, increasing numbers of Turkish graduates and young professionals are seeking new lives and better prospects abroad. Germany is their No.1 destination.

UNITED STATES/FRANCE: ‘The American system is being destroyed’: academics on leaving US for ‘scientific asylum’ in France
Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian, 7/4
Soon after, he became one of the nearly 300 researchers to apply for a French university’s groundbreaking offer of “scientific asylum”. Launched by Aix-Marseille University, the programme was among the first in Europe to offer reprieve to researchers reeling from the US crackdown on academia, promising three years of funding for about 20 researchers.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY/CANADA: Palestinian students say visa delays have stranded them despite admission to Canadian schools
Raffy Boudjikanian, CBS, 7/4
With two of their peers killed last year, more than 70 Palestinian students are raising the alarm over stalled immigration to Canada despite admissions and scholarships at universities across the country, stranding them in Gaza or nearby Egypt and Jordan as they wait out a war.

INDIA: Crisis of academic freedom and the collapse of enforceability in India’s higher education [COMMENTARY] 
Azher Ahmad and Maleeha Shafi, Maktoob Media, 7/4
In a country where the Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, the Indian university is fast becoming a paradox, where critical voices are either disciplined, disappeared, or dismissed. Over the past decade, a steady, almost surgical dismantling of academic freedom has unfolded across India’s higher education institutions. What we are witnessing is not simply censorship from above, but a structural self-sabotage, where universities are being remodelled to reproduce compliance over curiosity, nationalism over knowledge, and fear over freedom. 

AZERBAIJAN/GEORGIA: Opinion | Solidarity without borders: For Bahruz, for Georgia, for all of us [COMMENTARY]
Andranik Shirinyan, OC Media, 7/3
In the South Caucasus, to speak of peace and freedom has become unpopular and dangerous. Whether in the streets of Tbilisi or the prison cells of Baku, those who challenge power, demand dignity, or reject nationalism now face a price few are willing to pay. In Azerbaijan, the jailed peace activist and political philosopher Bahruz Samadov is one of those who still chose to speak truth to power.
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UNITED STATES: Trump administration releases $175 million in federal funding to Penn after transgender athletes agreement
Amanda Musa and Betsy Klein, CNN, 7/2
The Trump administration has released $175 million in previously frozen federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania, a White House official told CNN on Wednesday, following an agreement on how the university would handle transgender athletes. 

CANADA/UNITED STATES: Who’s afraid of academic freedom? 
Jean-François Venne, University Affairs, 7/2
Defending academic freedom against government infringement is no mean feat. Mr. Quinn feels that, especially as the U.S. political climate deteriorates, universities must combat isolation and fear, while refusing the binary choice: obey or perish. “The longer we resist, the more time we have to build coalitions and strengthen ourselves,” he says. “Above all, we must help the public understand that everyone’s freedom is under attack, not just that of the universities.”

IRAN/AFGHANISTAN: Afghan academics, students fleeing Iran face bleak future
Manija Mirzaie, University World News, 7/2
Refugees from all walks of life are being expelled from Iran, among them teachers, academics and students from Afghanistan, with an evident surge in refugees fleeing Iran for Afghanistan in June after Israeli airstrikes hit Iranian military targets.

GHANA: Govt won’t interfere in public varsities – Vice-President
Gilbert Mawuli Agbey, Graphic Online, 6/30
The government has stated that it will not interfere with the governance and operations of public universities in order to enhance academic freedom on campuses. That, it said, would ensure the smooth functioning of governing councils and managements of public universities.

UNITED STATES: Trump Admin Issues Finding That Harvard Permitted Antisemitism in Violation of Civil Rights Law
Dhruv T. Patel and Grace E. Yoon, The Harvard Crimson, 6/30
The Trump administration formally accused Harvard on Monday of violating federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment, ratcheting up its allegations as University officials return to talks with the White House.

AZERBAIJAN: Bahruz Samadov: “I will never forget the trauma of my imprisonment, or the way the state treated me like a terrorist”
AbazsMedia, 6/30
Discussing his time in prison, Samadov said it has been traumatic but also led to a wave of solidarity. “It took away my happy life in Prague and the people I loved. But international support, petitions by academic communities, and my friends’ solidarity give me strength.”
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IRAN/SWEDEN: Letter expressing alarm regarding the imminent risk of execution of Ahmadreza Djalali, Iranian-Swedish scholar on death row in Iran
Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association, 6/30
The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) is deeply alarmed by the imminent threat of execution facing Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish scholar who was being held on death row in Iran. On 23 June 2025, Dr. Djalali was transferred to an undisclosed location, raising serious fears that his execution may be imminent.
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SERBIA: Dozens of anti-government protesters detained during clashes with riot police in Serbia
Jovana Gec, Associated Press, 6/29
Vucic’s authorities have launched a crackdown on Serbia’s striking universities and other opponents, while increasing pressure on independent media as they tried to curb the demonstrations. While numbers have shrunk in recent weeks, the massive showing for Saturday’s anti-Vucic rally suggested that the resolve persists, despite relentless pressure and after nearly eight months of almost daily protests.

EUROPE: Europe is protected for now from Trump’s anti-science crackdown, but it is not immune.
Álvaro Caballero, RTVE, 6/28
However, the Old Continent “is not immune” to attacks on science, Picone warned. Many European populist politicians look to Trump as their “guide” and replicate his tactics to delegitimize science . Although “we shouldn’t be too worried,” this expert does believe that “it’s the perfect time to build better defenses.”

UNITED STATES: University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration
Michael S. Schmidt and Michael C. Bender, The New York Times, 6/27
The University of Virginia’s president, James E. Ryan, has told the board overseeing the school that he will resign in the face of demands by the Trump administration that he step aside in order to help resolve a Justice Department inquiry into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to three people briefed on the matter.

ISRAEL/IRAN: Israel’s strikes have sent shockwaves through Iran’s academic community
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 6/27
When Israel launched a sudden and unilateral military offensive against Iran on 13 June – amid ongoing Iran–US negotiations – it triggered not just a military crisis, but a deep rupture across Iranian society. Among the hardest-hit institutions were the country’s universities, where a wave of fear and disruption swept through campuses, upending student life and leaving young people stranded and psychologically scarred.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Chinese Students’ Vulnerable Status Has a History — and an Impact on the Future
Sarah Huddleston, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/27
“It does seem that Chinese students are being used as bargaining chips in the trade negotiations with China,” said Jonathan Bean, a research fellow at the Independent Institute and a professor of history at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Chinese students have been used as political pawns before. As policies are announced and rescinded, the uncertainty alone can take a toll. And the damage — not just to individual students but to higher education and the technological competitiveness of the United States — may be long-lasting.

UNITED STATES: Trump administration investigates UC system over diversity hiring goals 
Sharon Bernstein, The Sacramento Bee, 6/26
The University of California will be investigated for possible civil rights violations in its hiring practices, the Trump administration said Thursday, the latest in the federal government’s efforts to unwind diversity programs it says discriminate against people who are white and male.

EUROPE/ISRAEL: European universities divided on Israel Horizon Europe suspension
David Matthews, Science|Business, 6/26
European universities are divided on whether Israel should be suspended from Horizon Europe after an internal EU report cited widespread evidence of war crimes, food blockages and indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Gaza.  German university heads still think the EU should support Israeli researchers, who they argue are defenders of liberal democracy and dialogue. 

UNITED STATES: University Unions Stand Up to Trump’s Research Cuts While Administrators Waver
Brock Hrehor, Jaelyn Rodriguez, K.M. Slade, Nic Suarez, American Prospect, 6/26
Universities across the country have been reeling from the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In less than 40 days, the administration canceled over $1.8 billion in grants, severing projects ranging from cancer research to diabetes treatments. Labor unions at the major public and private institutions across the country have been on the frontlines protesting the cutbacks.

SERBIA: Serbia’s students plan major rally after issuing ‘ultimatum’
Sanja Kljajic, DW, 6/25
All eyes are on the Serbian capital, and both anticipation and uncertainty across the country are rising as students remain tight-lipped about their plans and the exact location and timing of the demonstration. The protest has the potential to be a turning point because the students have issued what they are calling an “ultimatum” to the Serbian government, demanding the announcement by 9 p.m. on June 28 that the government will ask the president to dissolve parliament, paving the way for snap elections.

GERMANY: Invitation: Opening of the Garden of Refuge Walk
Iris Vernekohl, Ruhr University, 6/25
Ruhr University Bochum is pleased to announce the official opening of the Garden of Refuge Walk on June 27, 2025, a temporary exhibition situated within the university’s Botanical Garden. Created by students from the Scholars at Risk Student Advocacy Seminar 2025 in collaboration with the International Office, the walk honors the courage, resilience, and invaluable contributions of scholars who have been wrongfully imprisoned or forced into exile due to war, persecution, or political oppression.

UNITED STATES: With stakes high, White House pushes negotiations with Harvard
Emily Davies, Justine McDaniel, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel and Susan Svrluga, The Washington Post, 6/25
The Trump administration is ramping up negotiations with Harvard University in an effort to reach an end to its months-long battle with the elite school, two senior White House officials have said, as Harvard has been racking up legal wins in court. The administration expects a deal to land by the end of the month, one official said, and hopes the agreement would make a big enough splash to “basically be a blueprint for the rest of higher education.”

MEXICO: Organized crime and academic freedom [SPANISH]
Serhat Tutkal, Nexos, 6/25
In this context, violence affects not only academic actors during their fieldwork in affected areas, such as Frontera Comalapa or Tapachula, but also within the universities themselves. Three of the institutions where I conducted my research have experienced armed clashes near their facilities. When I asked if there was a security protocol on what to do in case of shootings and how to evacuate the premises, the answers were negative. 

UNITED STATES: The Lost Soul of Higher Education [COMMENTARY] 
Scott Gac, Inside Higher Ed, 6/24
You don’t need to be a constitutional scholar to recognize censorship. And you don’t need to be a historian to see that when government dictates which ideas are safe, we’ve lost the very thing that makes higher education worth defending: the free exchange of ideas in pursuit of truth.

ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe University Lecturers Ramp Up Wage Protest
Agence France Presse, 6/23
More than 200 lecturers at Zimbabwe’s main university joined forces with students on Monday to protest against low wages, marking a third month of unrest fuelled by a deepening cost-of-living crisis. The walkout at the University of Zimbabwe is one of the nation’s longest strikes and the latest in a wave of union activity as galloping inflation of more than 90 percent ravages the southern Africa country.

EUROPE: Is Europe really a safe haven for US academics fleeing Trump?
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 6/23
Europe has launched a raft of schemes to lure US academics. But as the far right’s power increases across the continent, would-be émigrés could be forgiven for fearing that universities in their adopted homes could also fall victim to Trump-style populist assault.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: Policing Classrooms [COMMENTARY] 
The Statesman, 6/23
In an increasingly interconnected world, the boundary between national security and academic freedom is becoming more blurred than ever. The recent tightening of US student visa procedures signals not just a policy shift, but a deeper transformation in the way America views the global exchange of talent, ideas, and youth. At the heart of this development is a broadening suspicion of foreign students ~ once welcomed as contributors to innovation and economic strength, now viewed with caution as potential ideological or security risks.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Attacks on Gaza universities are war crimes, inquiry finds
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 6/22
The destruction of Gaza’s schools and universities amounts to war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination, according to a report by an independent international commission into violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law and possible international crimes.

UNITED STATES: The social cost of federal cuts to Alzheimer’s research
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 6/20
As he waits for word from the NIH on whether Columbia will award his lab a US$100,000 stabilisation grant and, now, on his crowdfunding campaign, Nuriel fears he will soon have to lay off lab members and researchers, freeze cells, and euthanise the mice the researchers are using to study the role of APOE4 in Alzheimer’s disease.

IRAN: Foreign students flee Tehran as campuses adopt ‘war footing’
Shafigeh Shirazi and Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 6/19
Universities in Tehran, and those outside the Iranian capital, announced emergency measures this week, suspending classes and exams, as Israel widened the targeted areas for its airstrikes, which began on 13 June with attacks on Iranian military leadership and nuclear facilities. Students, some of whom described their universities as being on a “war footing”, were ordered to vacate dormitories at many Tehran universities, with many universities urging their students to leave the capital.

UNITED STATES: Mahmoud Khalil Must Be Released on Bail, Federal Judge Orders
Jonah E. Bromwich, New York Times, 6/20
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to release Mahmoud Khalil on bail, a ruling that would end a three-month detention for Mr. Khalil, the only high-profile pro-Palestinian demonstrator in the United States who remains in confinement.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: What to Know About New Social Media Screening Rules for Student Visas
Miranda Jeyaretnam, TIME, 6/19
Prospective students applying for U.S. student visas must now unlock their social media accounts for government review, the State Department said Wednesday. The notice instructs applicants for F, M, and J visas to change their social media profile privacy settings to “public.” A separate cable, obtained by multiple news outlets, directed embassies and consulates to vet applicants for “hostile attitudes towards our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles,” while visa appointments, which had been suspended in May, are allowed to resume.

SWEDEN/IRAN: European Parliament resolution of 19 June 2025 on the case of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali in Iran
European Parliament, 6/19
Calls on Iran to immediately release Dr Djalali along with all political prisoners currently being detained; calls on Iran to put a moratorium on executions and to abolish the death penalty.
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UNITED KINGDOM: English universities barred from enforcing blanket bans on student protests
Richard Adams, The Guardian, 6/18
Universities in England will no longer be able to enforce blanket bans on student protests under sweeping new guidance that urges a “very strong” approach to permitting lawful speech on campus. The detailed regulations set out for the first time how universities should deal with inflammatory disputes, such as those between the University of Cambridge and students over the war in Gaza, and rows over academics who hold controversial but legal opinions, such as the gender-critical professor Kathleen Stock.

SOUTH AFRICA/UNITED STATES: South Africa Built a Medical Research Powerhouse. Trump Cuts Have Demolished It.
Stephanie Nolen, The New York Times, 6/17
South Africa’s scientists have been responsible for key breakthroughs against major global killers, including heart disease, H.I.V. and respiratory viruses such as Covid-19. They have worked closely with American researchers and have been awarded more research funding from the United States than any other country has received. But a swift series of executive orders and budget cuts from the Trump administration have, in a matter of months, demolished this research ecosystem.

UNITED STATES: Research Grants Increasingly Require Compliance With Trump’s Orders. Here’s How Colleges Are Responding.
Theo Scheer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/17
Researchers are unsure how the requirements will affect their work, and they say colleges don’t always give them guidance on how to proceed. Administrators are struggling to offer clear direction when the ground keeps shifting underneath. 

ISRAEL/IRAN: Escalating Israel–Iran conflict damages science labs
Rachel Fieldhouse, Nature, 6/17
Israel launched strikes against several Iranian cities early on 13 June, targeting nuclear facilities and killing several Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists. Iran — which is in talks with the United States about its nuclear programme — retaliated later that day, launching drone and missile attacks at sites across Israel. Both countries have since continued strikes.

MALAYSIA: No room for debate: Quiet crisis of academic freedom [COMMENTARY]
Khoo Ying Hooi, Malay Mail, 6/17
A university should be more than a credentialing factory or neutral research hub. It ought to be a crucible where students test ideas, challenge orthodoxies, and learn the habits of democratic citizenship. When spaces for honest debate on assembly rights, secularism, racial politics, religious pluralism are systematically curtailed, a chilling effect sets in.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: ‘No way to invest in a career here’: US academics flee overseas to avoid Trump crackdown
Marina Dunbar, The Guardian, 6/15
Schuster is one of many budding academics reflecting what could become a significant American brain drain, sending the brightest minds in the country to flee the US and take their scholarly endeavors elsewhere. Historically, the US has attracted top talent from around the world, but the moves by the Trump administration may have reversed these conditions in record time.

IRAN/SWEDEN: The warning: Great risk that Iran will execute Djalali
Dagens Nyheter, 6/14
There is a “serious risk” that Iran will execute those sentenced to death for spying for Israel, the organization Iran Human Rights warns after the attacks between Iran and Israel. One of them is Swedish-Iranian Ahmadreza Djalali.
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INDIA/IRAN: “Will we live?”: Indian medical students trapped in Iran plead for a way out as conflict escalates
Angela Mary Thomas, EdexLive, 6/14
The students’ pleas for evacuation have met with bureaucratic limitations. While students from Iraq, Pakistan, and other bordering nations have begun to leave via land routes, Indians have no such option. Despite meetings held at their universities and communication efforts by the All Indian Medical Students’ Association (AIMSA), students report minimal guidance from the Indian Embassy.

CHINA: Opera, ice cream, activism – daughter of jailed Uyghur scholar shares Father’s Day memories 
Amnesty International, 6/13
Jewher Ilham will not see her father, the Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, this Father’s Day. In fact, she has not seen him since 2013, when he was detained by the Chinese authorities and later sentenced to life in prison on baseless charges of “separatism”. Here Jewher, who has campaigned tirelessly for her father’s release and against repression of Uyghurs in their homeland in western China, recalls some of her fondest memories of him.
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NETHERLANDS/ISRAEL: From unchanged to suspension: how other universities are dealing with Israel [DUTCH]
Delta, 6/12
Over the past year, students and staff at Dutch universities have pushed for a more radical decision through tent camps, walkouts, protest marches, letters, (guest) lectures, occupations, and petitions: they want Dutch universities to sever all institutional ties with Israeli universities.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Students emerge as bargaining chip in China-US trade talks
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 6/12
Foreign students’ access to United States institutions emerged as a major bargaining chip in high-stakes trade talks between China and the US in London this week as China appeared to secure a softening of the US stance on Chinese students as part of a “framework deal” ostensibly aimed at winding down crippling trade tariffs between the two countries.

UNITED STATES: Can anything save US science?
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 6/12
As the Trump administration proposes enormous cuts for the US’ world-renowned science agencies, Jack Grove looks into what is driving the attacks beyond political malice – and what, if anything, can be done to plug the huge funding gaps. 

UNITED STATES/ISRAEL: U of Utah Partnership With Institution in Occupied West Bank Draws Opposition
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 6/11
Last month the University of Utah signed a one-page memorandum of understanding with Ariel University, listing its new partner as located in Ariel, Israel. It’s a broad, nonspecific agreement: The institutions say they’ll exchange faculty and students, and their cooperation “may extend to any fields and subjects” where they share interests. But faculty at the University of Utah, known as the U, have criticized the agreement because of where Ariel actually is—and because they say they weren’t notified of the deal ahead of time.

BELARUS: Belarus academic community under siege: Here’s how to help
Belarusian Students’ Association, University World News, 6/11
Since the 1990s when the country declared independence, Scholars at Risk has noted a steady decline in academic freedom levels in Belarus: from 0.6 in 1994 to 0.19 in 2019 and 0.03 in 2022, placing Belarus in the bottom 10% of all countries covered, where it remains in 2025. Nevertheless, it was after the changes following the 2020 elections that the level of freedom in Belarusian education and academia started to decline even more rapidly as more repressive policies and the growing influence of political ideology penetrated university walls.

UKRAINE: Sumy State University sets up international fundraiser to rebuild devastated campus
Florin Zubașcu, Science|Business, 6/11
The Sumy State University in eastern Ukraine is looking to set up an international fundraising campaign to rebuild its campus after a devastating Russian bombing back in April. But Russia is trying to close in on the city once more, with troops advancing only 25 kilometres away, three years after Ukraine’s military forced them out of the region.

AUSTRALIA: Australian universities hesitate on antisemitism definition amid academic freedom concerns
Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian, 6/10
Months after the release of a new definition of antisemitism, a string of Australian universities are yet to adopt it amid concerns it may contravene academic freedom. 

CHINA: How China is vying to attract the world’s top scientific talent
Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, 6/9
Across China, cities and provinces are seeking researchers, students and innovators — both homegrown and from abroad. In return, they’re offering large sums of money, as well as housing, health care, work for their spouses and other benefits. That’s on top of the generous salaries being offered by universities, and research funding from the central government.

UNITED STATES: 18 colleges seek to support Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration
Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive, 6/9
In a legal filing Friday, the colleges asked a U.S. District Court for permission to file an amicus brief in support of the Ivy League institution, even though the lawsuit only addresses the federal cuts facing Harvard. “Academic research is an interconnected enterprise,” the filing argued. “The elimination of funding at Harvard negatively impacts the entire ecosystem.”

UNITED STATES/HUNGARY: Harvard’s Battle Is Familiar to a University the Right Forced Into Exile
Alan Blinder, The New York Times, 6/8
In a former bank building, away from Vienna’s palaces and opera houses, Central European University lives in exile. The school, founded by George Soros, was once an example of academia flourishing in post-Soviet Europe. Now, less than a decade after Hungary’s right-wing government forced it to move out of Budapest, people there are sounding warnings as President Trump seeks to bring America’s top universities to heel.

POLAND: Fears for Polish research reforms as right-winger wins presidency
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 6/8
The election of a right-wing populist president in Poland could block long-awaited reforms to higher education and research, academics fear.

EUROPE: Call to Europe to champion academic freedom and protect academics at risk
Scholars at Risk Europe, 6/6
We, a coalition of leading European consortia, initiatives and organisations dedicated to the protection of researchers at risk and the promotion of academic freedom and autonomy, applaud this sentiment. We gathered in Paris on 7th May for the Inspireurope+ Forum to highlight the urgent need for Europe to strengthen its commitment to academic freedom and the protection of researchers at risk. 

UNITED KINGDOM/ISRAEL: UK-Israeli research ties questioned amid Gaza aid blockade
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 6/6
Questions over the future of UK-Israeli research ties have been raised amid the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which has already led to the European Union beginning a review into Israel’s participation in Horizon Europe.

MALAYSIA/US: Malaysia to stop sending its scholarship students to the US
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 6/4
The Malaysian authorities have said they will stop sending Malaysian government scholarship students to the United States and are actively looking to negotiate international student tuition fee discounts with universities in other countries to get a better deal.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: ‘Another blow’: How Trump’s latest travel ban could harm research
Rachel Fieldhouse and Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, 6/5
Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, says the travel restrictions will be extremely disruptive to infectious-disease research, response and collaboration. “We have multiple colleagues in the affected countries — including countries that are currently experiencing significant outbreaks and epidemics that may well evolve into larger public-health emergencies,” he says.

IRAN/SWEDEN: Detention taking its toll on hostage Ahmadreza Djalali: UN experts call on Iran to release him without delay
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 6/5
Iran must release Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian born-resident of Sweden, who has been arbitrarily detained since 2016 despite repeated warnings about his deteriorating health, UN experts said today. Djalali has been detained in the notorious Evin prison since 2016 and suffered a heart attack last month. His detention continues in violation of international law.

RUSSIA/UNITED KINGDOM: Russian students ‘told not to consider UK’ amid ‘hostile climate’
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 6/4
The UK’s hostile atmosphere, visa refusal rates and unwavering support for Ukraine amounts to a de facto ban on Russian students, scholars have said, after numbers tumbled to record low levels.

UNITED STATES: The White House Gutted Science Funding. Now It Wants to ‘Correct’ Research.
Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, 6/3
President Trump has ordered what he called a restoration of a “gold standard science” across federal agencies and national laboratories. But the May 23 executive order puts his political appointees in charge of vetting scientific research and gives them the authority to “correct scientific information,” control the way it is communicated to the public and the power to “discipline” anyone who violates the way the administration views science.

AUSTRALIA: Protest restrictions upheld as universities put ‘safety’ first
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 6/2
Australia’s oldest university has doubled down on policies that restrict protests and other forms of student activism, as administrators strive to balance rights to free expression with safety.

HUNGARY/UNITED STATES:  An authoritarian came for my university. His objective was clear. [COMMENTARY] 
Michael Ignatieff, The Washington Post, 6/2
President Donald Trump’s assault on Harvard will not be limited to the Ivy League campus. The battle to come will be a fundamental test of the U.S. Constitution and of American democracy itself. I should know — I was the rector of Central European University when a similar authoritarian attack on universities, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, forced us to move our teaching programs out of Hungary.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: US curbs on Chinese students ‘free kick’ for Asian universities.
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 6/1
The US’ crackdown on Chinese student visas may accelerate declines in international student flows out of China as the government condemns the Trump administration’s “unreasonable” decision.

THAILAND: Academic Freedom and Authoritarian Persistence: The Paul Chambers Case and Thailand’s Human Rights Crisis in 2025
Nana Tashiro, 112Watch, 6/1
This article critically examines the April 2025 arrest of American academic Dr. Paul Chambers under Thailand’s lèse-majesté law (Article 112) and explores its broader implications for academic freedom, legal repression, and democratic backsliding. Positioned within the enduring authoritarian structures of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s civilian-led government, the article demonstrates how Article 112 continues to function as a potent political weapon.

NIGERIA: Worsening insecurity triggers daily demonstrations by residents, students in Delta 
Ali Adoyi and Philip Adeboye, Afripost, 5/31
The atmosphere in Abraka, a university town in Delta State, has grown increasingly tense as residents and students take to the streets in daily protests, calling attention to the alarming state of insecurity affecting their community. The demonstrations began in the aftermath of a troubling incident on May 25, when a student of Delta State University (DELSU), Clinton Udomudo, and his brother were abducted while trying to deliver ransom money to secure someone’s release from kidnappers.

UNITED STATES: Universities quietly negotiating with White House aide to try to avoid Harvard’s fate, source says
Betsy Klein, CNN, 5/31
College and university leaders have been privately negotiating with a deputy to top Trump aide Stephen Miller in hopes of avoiding the same aggressive targeting of Harvard University, a person familiar with the matter said, as the administration looks to escalate its attacks on the Ivy League institution and other schools.

INDIA: Free Speech & Its Restraints: Why A Professor—Or Anyone Else—Can Be Arrested For Expressing An Opinion [COMMENTARY]
Abhinav Sekhri, Article 14, 5/30
The arrest of Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad on 18 May 2025, a Sunday, in two cases registered against him and subsequent intervention by the Supreme Court in granting him interim bail while constituting a special investigation team to examine the meaning of his social media post, led to an avalanche of critique and commentary on the functioning of two branches of the Indian State—the police machinery and courts—when it comes to matters of free speech and expression.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: What it’s like to be in the graduating class of 2025 in Gaza [COMMENTARY]
Nadera Mushtha, The Guardian, 5/30
Before the war, all the schools and universities were alive with the energy of students and teachers. Now, many of those buildings have been reduced to rubble. The last day students attended school was Thursday, 5 October 2023. That day became a tragic dividing line between normalcy and chaos, between life and death.

UNITED STATES: Trump’s ongoing attacks on HE ‘reverberate across borders’
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 5/29
“When the government targets international students, strips funding, or publicly undermines institutions like Harvard, it sends a clear message about American higher education that reverberates across borders.”

ARGENTINA: ‘Scienticide’ in Argentina sparks huge protest by researchers
Martín De Ambrosio and Fermín Koop, Nature, 5/29
Since Milei took office in late 2023, he has made massive cuts to government spending, in part to reduce the country’s deficit and bring down inflation. As a consequence, many scientific activities in Argentina have ground to a halt for lack of payment, about 1,300 employees in the science sector have been laid off and researchers have left for jobs abroad owing to low salaries.

CAMEROON: ‘Mr President, we want peace on our university campuses’
Elias Ngalame, University World News, 5/28
In solidarity with higher education institutions in the two regions, those in Yaoundé who had the opportunity to participate in the march conveyed their concerns on placards to Biya, calling for better security on campuses and a return to peace.

EUROPE/ISRAEL: Horizon Europe expulsion ‘almost a death sentence for Israeli science’
David Matthews, Science|Business, 5/29
“God forbid, we’re thrown out of Horizon Europe,” said David Harel, president of the Academy, in an interview with Science|Business. “This is almost a death sentence for Israeli science.” Harel’s argument is that ending Horizon association would hurt Israeli scientists, who are some of the most vocal voices against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the war on Gaza.

THAILAND: Book closed on royal insult case against US academic
Bangkok Post, 5/29
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has dropped royal defamation charges against American academic Paul Chambers, citing a lack of evidence. The decision comes almost two months after he was first detained, which led to the loss of his job, his work visa and the seizure of his passport.

HONG KONG/UNITED STATES: Hong Kong eyes Harvard’s students amid broader visa threat
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 5/29
Hong Kong flung open its doors to Harvard’s international students after the United States announced a ban on the institution enrolling international students, and is now trying to decipher the implications of a subsequent announcement that the US plans to “aggressively revoke” Chinese students’ visas.

UNITED STATES: Trump administration moves to end Harvard University’s remaining federal contracts
Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive, 5/28
A top official at the U.S. General Services Administration advised federal agencies to review their contracts with Harvard and report back by June 6, according to a Tuesday letter first obtained by The New York Times and verified by Higher Ed Dive. The guidance covers 30 federal contracts worth approximately $100 million, a GSA spokesperson said Wednesday.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Colleges Across U.S. Fear Chill on Enrollments of Foreign Students
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/28
Increased awareness by campus leaders of the challenges facing international education was a sort of grim silver lining to Tuesday’s news, the administrator said. When the government targeted Harvard, “it was about them. Now it’s about us.” Tuition paid by international students is a crucial revenue source for many colleges, and they are a major talent pipeline for graduate programs, particularly in the sciences.

GLOBAL: ‘Science saved my life’ — and it must save other at-risk scholars [COMMENTARY] 
Encieh Erfani, Nature, 5/27
Science saved my life, but no scientist should have to rely on luck or personal connections. The protection of at-risk scholars is not just a moral duty — it is an investment in science itself. At a time when crises are multiplying and academic freedom faces mounting threats globally, the scientific community should transcend borders, defend its members and uphold the foundations of science.

SERBIA: Thousands brave heavy rain to protest Serbia’s crackdown on universities
Associated Press, 5/23
Thousands of protesters braved a rainstorm in the Serbian capital on Friday to join a rally against a government crackdown on universities that have played a key role in months-long anti-corruption protests that continue to pressure the Balkan country’s populist government.

UNITED STATES: Harvard v Trump: takeaways from university’s legal battle over international student ban
Anna Betts, The Guardian, 5/23
Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would ban the institution from enrolling international students. The clash marked a dramatic escalation in the battle between America’s oldest and wealthiest university and the president, Donald Trump.

CHINA/GLOBAL: China expands tie-ups with global partners, including US
Amber Wang and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 5/23
The Chinese government has approved a significant expansion of international higher education partnerships and joint academic programmes, which includes collaborations with institutions in the United States. Higher education stakeholders say it is a signal of the country’s ongoing openness to international education.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Can Duke’s campus in China survive congressional pressure?
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 5/22
Republican lawmakers in the United States have asked Duke University to terminate its China campus run under a joint agreement with China’s Wuhan University in the latest attack on US-China university collaborations. Experts say the termination of this particular joint institution is not a simple matter.

BANGLADESH: Leadership search committee set up amid university unrest
Mohiuddin Alamgir, University World News, 5/22
A search committee tasked with putting forward the names of candidates for the posts of vice-chancellor, pro-vice chancellor, and treasurer in public universities in Bangladesh has been set up amid protests in at least five public higher education institutions over various issues, including demands for the removal of newly installed vice-chancellors.

SWEDEN: Surprise alliance foils plan for more university autonomy
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 5/21
An unexpected alliance between the Social Democratic Party and the right-wing Sweden Democratic Party (SD) looks set to block an inquiry announced in late January by Sweden’s Minister for Education into the feasibility of increasing the independence of universities and possibly turning them into “foundations” rather than state bodies.

UNITED STATES: Trump Admin Revokes Harvard’s Authorization To Enroll International Students
Samuel A. Church, Dhruv T. Patel, Cam N. Srivastava, and Grace E. Yoon, The Harvard Crimson, 5/22
The Trump administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll international students on Thursday, dramatically escalating the administration’s fight with the University and threatening thousands of current students. In a letter addressed to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote that Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification was halted, “effective immediately.”

NETHERLANDS: ‘You cannot strengthen a country’s future by weakening its universities’
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 5/22
Under the current Dutch government, the country’s most right-wing in decades, the education sector as a whole faces budget cuts of €1.2 billion (£1 billion), with €500 million withdrawn from higher education and research: a cut in the region of 4 per cent. And universities will receive a further financial hit if proposed legislation is passed to heavily restrict English-language teaching, with the aim of cutting international student intakes.

UNITED STATES: Trump Is Coming for Chinese Students. Who Will Protect Them?
Akela Lacy, The Intercept, 5/22
Describing the student visa program as a “Trojan horse for Beijing,” the committee called on the universities to provide information on all the schools that Chinese students at their institution previously attended; sources of tuition funding; what kind of research Chinese students are conducting; a list of programs that include Chinese participants and their sources of funding; and a list of labs and research initiatives where Chinese students work.

CAMEROON: Scores of students arrested ahead of Unity Day celebrations
Elias Ngalame, University World News, 5/21
Dozens of students were arrested and detained at the University of Bamenda in the north-west of Cameroon on 15 May ahead of the country’s celebration of its 53rd National Day (Unity Day) on 20 May.

UNITED STATES: Universities struggle to keep cancer research afloat amid Trump funding cuts
Lexi Lonas Cochran, The Hill, 5/21
“I see a large number of people who should be at the great universities over the next 10-15 years trying to figure out how to bail out right now, and I’m afraid we’re going to lose a generation of America’s best researchers, and that’s going to be a huge setback for us,” said Otis Brawley, an expert in cancer prevention and control at Johns Hopkins University.  “It may take us 20-30 years to overcome three or four years of the scientific system being ignored, devalued and even harmed by some of the stuff that’s going on now,” Brawley added.

UNITED STATES: Most Colleges Aren’t a Target of Trump (Yet). Here’s How Their Presidents Are Leading.
Eric Kelderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/20
DePauw has little in common with the members of the Ivy League, except that it is a private university that emphasizes the liberal arts. Still, campus leaders at community colleges and four-year public regional and private institutions — representing the vast majority of higher ed — say they do see impacts of Trump’s policies. Fear, particularly about the future of financial aid and immigration crackdowns, is pervasive.

INDIA: Modi’s Government Cracks Down on Dissent Over Pakistan Conflict
Alex Travelli and Suhasini Raj, The New York Times, 5/19
India’s government is taking legal action against academics, journalists and private companies seen as critical of its recent military campaign against Pakistan, including arresting one professor who had admonished Indians “who are baying for war.”

SWEDEN/IRAN: Prison friend: Swedish wound dressings can get Djalali free 
Dagens Medicin, 5/19
Siamak Namazi has a plan. Together with 20 other people from around the world who have been in the Iranian prison of horror Evin, the American-Iranian has left a letter to the Swedish embassy in the United States. The letter, addressed to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, proposes a swap: Swedish-made wound dressings for Ahmadreza Djalali.
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OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Students and Teachers in Gaza: “Education Itself Is a Form of Defiance”
Huda Skaik, The Intercept, 5/17
All of Gaza’s universities have been leveled by airstrikes. More than 85 percent of schools in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed, according to U.N. experts. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, three university presidents and over 95 university deans and professors, including 68 holding professor titles, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. Despite the destruction and genocide in Gaza, education is still resistance. And every student and teacher who dares to dream is a symbol of unbreakable hope. Here are four of their stories.

AFGHANISTAN/UNITED STATES: Higher Education and Authoritarianism: Lessons From Afghanistan for the US [COMMENTARY]
Abdul Aziz Mohibbi, The Diplomat, 5/15
While the United States federal government’s recent attacks on a range of institutions and norms in higher education may look much different from the Taliban’s, there are some potentially uncomfortable parallels and useful lessons.

LIBYA: Universities begin to reopen after armed clashes in Tripoli
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 5/15
Armed conflict in the Libyan capital on 12 May has prompted the temporary suspension of academic and administrative activities at universities and heightened concerns about security, particularly among Egyptian students at Tripoli University.

SYRIA: HE ministry bans all content deemed to incite sectarianism 
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 5/15
The Syrian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has introduced sweeping measures aimed at stemming the incidence of sectarian rhetoric on university campuses to ensure the safety of all students. The measures, announced by Minister of Higher Education Marwan Jamil Al-Halabi, and published on the ministry’s official Facebook page on 11 May, follow reports of growing tension and sectarian violence on campuses.

EUROPE/ISRAEL: Pressure grows for review of EU science cooperation with Israel
Juliette Portala, Science|Business, 5/15
Academia is growing increasingly vocal in its calls for scientific ties between the EU and Israel to be suspended, given the continuing military offensive and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The latest to call for action, and criticism of the EU institutions, comes from 10 Belgian universities in the country’s French-speaking and Flemish rectors’ councils.

ISRAEL: Ministers threaten to revoke funding for universities where students hold ‘Nakba’ memorials
AFP and Times of Israel Staff, Times of Israel, 5/31
Education Minister Yoav Kisch threatens to revoke funding for universities holding events to commemorate the Palestinian “Nakba,” or catastrophe, after student groups begin their annual demonstrations.

UNITED STATES: We ran 10 flagship state colleges. The war on higher ed won’t stop with Harvard. [OPINION]
Multiple presidents and professors of state universities, The Washington Post, 5/15
The coming years may reshape American higher education. But its future won’t be decided in Harvard Yard. It will be forged in the financial aid offices of regional universities, the classrooms of community colleges and the state legislatures where public colleges and universities will make their case to state legislators. If we want to understand where education is headed, we need to stop mistaking the exception for the rule.

MALAWI: HE destitute as US aid freeze leaves desperation in its wake
Joy Ndovi, University World News, 5/15
Academics and students in Malawi have bemoaned the loss of funding from the now largely dismantled United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has harmed some higher education projects in agriculture, science, technology, engineering and health as well as ending students’ scholarships.

AFGHANISTAN/UNITED STATES: Latitudes: Trump is ending immigration protections for Afghans, including students
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/14
The Trump administration is ending deportation protections for thousands of Afghans in the United States, including students who fled their home country to continue their education. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that it would terminate the temporary protected status program for Afghanistan as of July 12.

SERBIA: Serbia’s academics call for research chapter in EU accession process to be reopened
Mićo Tatalović, Science|Business, 5/14
Thousands of Serbian scientists and artists have signed a call for the European Commission to reopen chapter 25 of their country’s EU accession process, the section that covers research and science. This is necessary, the call says, because of recently introduced curbs on academic freedom, which are endangering livelihoods in the country.

SWEDEN/IRAN: ‘No more empty statements:’ Iran ex-detainees press Sweden over death row academic
France24, 5/14/25
Over 20 foreign nationals who themselves endured years of captivity in Iran on Wednesday urged Sweden to step up efforts to free a Swedish-Iranian citizen sentenced to death in the country, after he had a heart attack last week.
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UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: The World Is Wooing U.S. Researchers Shunned by Trump
Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, 5/14
As President Trump cuts billions of federal dollars from science institutes and universities, restricts what can be studied and pushes out immigrants, rival nations are hoping to pick up talent that has been cast aside or become disenchanted.

SERBIA: Something Extraordinary Is Happening in My Country [COMMENTARY] 
Filip Balunovic, The New York Times, 5/12
It marked a Copernican shift for Serbia, as the country is being transformed by a brave and enduring student-led movement. Combating an entrenched and powerful autocratic government, protesters are showing what — against all the odds — is possible. Here in the Balkans, something extraordinary is happening.

BAHRAIN: Joint Letter on Human Rights Situation to Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Scholars at Risk, 5/12
SAR, along with 26 other organizations, contributed to a joint statement sent to United Nations Human Rights Council, ahead of its 59th session. The statement details current health and other concerns relating to several wrongfully imprisoned political prisoners in Bahrain, including Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, and calls for their immediate release.
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UNITED STATES: Faculty Hiring Is Under Federal Scrutiny at Harvard
Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/12
Andrea R. Lucas, acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, issued what’s called a commissioner charge against the university, which typically precedes an investigation by the EEOC. The document, which the Free Beacon obtained and is dated April 25, cites an annual report on faculty development and diversity showing the proportion of white male professors declined over the past decade, as the ranks of women and faculty of color increased.

FRANCE: Invest in French research before courting US scholars, unions say
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 5/12
The French government is facing a mounting backlash against its scheme to attract international researchers to the country, with unions calling the move “unacceptable” amid domestic underfunding.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Many city students return from north colleges in wake of flare-up between India-Pakistan 
Jhinuk Mazumdar, Telegraph Online, 5/11
Until the ceasefire was announced, hundreds of parents were panic-stricken and frantically trying to book tickets and bring their children home.

SYRIA: Mass exodus of Druze students from Syrian universities amid sectarian violence
Syriac Press, 5/9
Hundreds of Druze students studying at universities across Syria, including Daramsuq (Damascus) and Holeb (Aleppo), have returned to their hometowns in Suwayda Province over the past week, fleeing what they described as a sharp uptick in sectarian violence and official indifference. 

CHINA/UNITED STATES: Study abroad agents advised to steer students away from US
Amber Wang, University World News, 5/8
|Rising United States-China tensions over technology restrictions, US trade tariffs and US regulations affecting universities are set to further dampen enthusiasm for US study among Chinese students, as education agents in China have been advised by their industry organisation to steer students towards alternative destinations, according to the latest insights from the biggest industry association of study abroad service agencies in China.

UNITED STATES: 4 Takeaways From the Latest Antisemitism Hearing
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 5/8
Two of three college presidents emerged largely unscathed from a three-plus-hour congressional hearing Wednesday that framed antisemitism as a rampant problem on campuses across the U.S.

AFRICA: Academic freedom: Universities threaten authoritarianism
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 5/8
The proliferation of new threats against academic and intellectual freedoms across Africa has emanated mainly from the deepening of neoliberal cultures in society and in higher education institutions, driven, in part, by a worsening economic crisis. 

THAILAND: Thailand-based US scholar contests ‘illegal’ dismissal
Bangkok Post, 5/7
American academic Paul Chambers is appealing the termination of his employment contract by Naresuan University on grounds that it was made without due process, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR). Mr Chambers was recently embroiled in a lese-majeste case but prosecutors decided not to indict him after concluding that the complainants’ case lacked grounds.

UNITED STATES: About 80 Pro-Palestinian Activists Arrested in Columbia Library Takeover
Sharon Otterman, The New York Times, 5/7
About 80 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested on Wednesday evening after occupying part of the main library on Columbia University’s campus in an attempt to rekindle the protest movement that swept the campus last spring, the police said Thursday morning.

UNITED KINGDOM: ‘Nothing off the table’ for student visas after election shock
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 5/7
“Nothing is off the table” on student visas now the UK government is coming under renewed pressure to appear tough on immigration following big gains by the Reform Party in local elections, universities have been warned. With a long-awaited White Paper on immigration policy expected to finally be published next week, policymakers are thought to be considering reforms including limiting visas for prospective students from countries most likely to attempt to claim asylum.

UNITED KINGDOM/GLOBAL: Restrictions on academics working abroad ‘stifling collaboration’
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 5/6
A number of top institutions have introduced formal global mobility policies following the move to remote work during the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure compliance with Home Office visa rules that require the locations of international staff to be monitored and reported. But critics argue blanket restrictions on long periods working abroad for all staff reflected a “compliance-first” mindset that made universities less open, less diverse, and ultimately less vibrant.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: Trump halts new NIH grants to international health-research partners
Richard L. Hudson, Science|Business, 5/5
Stepping up its America-first campaign, the Trump administration has started to cut funding for medical-research projects that involve foreign labs. The move will disrupt clinical trials for new medicines now underway, critics warned.

SUDAN: HE system struggles to keep going amid fears of new civil war
Ramadhan Rajab, University World News, 5/5
Renewed political violence in South Sudan is harming this war-torn country’s already fragile higher education sector, academics and international officials say. They told University World News how a resurgence of conflicts between government rivals has stymied academic progress, delaying efforts to build a workforce for the world’s newest sovereign state, created in 2011.

UNITED STATES: 3 Big Questions at the Heart of Harvard’s Legal Battle With Trump
Eric Kelderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/2
The ensuing legal battle will take months, at least, and like so many other challenges to the president’s actions, could end up in front of the Supreme Court. But as it plays out in the legal system and the court of public opinion, three key questions loom over the process.

INDONESIA: Students alarmed, feel ‘threatened’ by army’s campus visits
Kafil Yamin, University Worlds News, 5/2
Students in Indonesia say they are feeling threatened by the presence of military personnel arriving unannounced on campus since the passing of a national military law last month, which extends the military’s reach into civilian positions – a move widely opposed by students at the time.

AFGHANISTAN: US funding cuts, scholarship ban deal students a double blow
Manija Mirzaie and Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 5/1
Afghan students face a double blow amid restrictions on overseas scholarship opportunities by the Taliban regime and cuts to scholarships for Afghans by the United States as part of the administration of US President Donald Trump’s dismantling of its aid agency USAID.

GHANA: Media urged to promote academic freedom in universities
Raymond Appiah-Amponsah, Ghanaian Times, 4/29
The Regional Director of African Coalition for Ac­ademic Freedom (ACAF), Professor Appiagyei-Atua, has called on the media to promote and protect academic freedom in Ghanaian Universities.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: When Academic Freedom Falls, Civil Society Is Next [COMMENTARY] 
Zane McNeill, Nonprofit Quarterly, 4/29
The suppression of academic freedom isn’t just campus politics—it’s a warning signal for civil society and for our democracy. As universities lose the freedom to teach, research, and dissent; nonprofits will lose critical allies needed to investigate injustice, educate communities, and imagine alternative futures. 

UNITED STATES: Why aren’t US students protesting against Trump’s university attacks?
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 5/1
Students’ silence is all the odder in the context of the pro-Palestinian encampments that were set up on campuses across the nation last year in protest at Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip. Those protests, too, appear to have petered out, even as an administration has come into office that is arguably even more supportive of Israel’s actions than Joe Biden was.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Amid over 17 attacks, Kashmiri Students Abandon Studies or Live in Fear
Umer Farooq and Ilhak Tantray, Kashmir Times, 4/30
In the wake of the gruesome killings of 26 tourists and a local Muslim in Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam, hundreds of miles away, mass exodus of Kashmiri students from colleges and universities across India is unfolding. Faced with harassment, assault, and open threats in at least 17 incidents targeting Kashmiri students, hundreds of them were forced to leave their exams mid-semester and return to their homeland.

UNITED STATES: Columbia Student Who Was Arrested at Citizenship Interview Is Freed
Ana Ley, The New York Times, 4/30
Mohsen Mahdawi, an organizer of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia University, was freed from federal custody on Wednesday after immigration officials sought to rescind his green card. In ruling to release Mr. Mahdawi, a federal judge, Geoffrey W. Crawford, found on Wednesday that he did not pose a danger to the public and that he was not a flight risk. 

ARMENIA: UK universities’ links to ‘repressive’ mega-campus condemned
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 4/28
UK universities have been urged to sever ties with a multimillion-pound plan to relocate most of Armenia’s higher education institutions to the “middle of nowhere” – a move designed to crush student protests and exert tighter control over scholars, it is claimed.

IRAN: Iran’s students are the victims of a system that is literally collapsing [COMMENTARY] 
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 4/28
Across Iran, university students are living in crumbling, overcrowded dormitories, struggling to afford food and facing rising violence. Iran’s universities were once engines of social mobility, offering free or low-cost education to generations. But now the system is buckling under economic strain, mismanagement and political neglect, to such an extent that it threatens not just students’ academic futures but their basic well-being.

SERBIA: Serbia appoints ‘harmful’ new education minister amid protests
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 4/27
Serbian academics have condemned the appointment of a staunch opponent to the ongoing student protests as education minister, calling the move a “clear message” that the government intends to “bully the academic community into submission”.

EUROPE: European Universities Strain for Neutrality Amid Political Chaos 
Laura Alviz and Paula Doenecke, Bloomberg, 4/26
In the past three years, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war on Gaza, prompted by a Hamas attack, have led to student protests around the world and put university administrators in the uncomfortable position of having to take political positions – or try their best not to.

INDIA: How Indian universities have systematically crushed student dissent since 2014
Aranya Shankar, The Federal, 4/26
The administration going head-to-head with its students and teachers is not an isolated incident, however. In universities across Delhi and the rest of the country, students and teachers say campus democracy is under attack, with administrators taking swift action against anyone seen to be on the “wrong side.” 

SWEDEN/IRAN: Djalali’s tenth year in Iranian prison begins
Jesper Cederberg, Läkartidningen, 4/25
April 25 marks the tenth year of Ahmadreza Djalali’s imprisonment in Iran. He was arrested in 2016 while on a trip to lecture on disaster medicine, the subject in which he earned his doctorate at the Karolinska Institute. In 2017, he was sentenced to death for espionage, a sentence that was upheld in 2018. Since then, the doctor has lived with the constant threat of execution.
Read SAR’s letter to Swedish authorities

SWEDEN/IRAN: Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard on the detention and death sentence of Ahmadreza Djalali in Iran
Maria Malmer Stenergard, Government Offices of Sweden, 4/25
Nine years have passed since Ahmadreza Djalali was imprisoned and then sentenced to death in Iran. Ahmadreza Djalali is being held under very difficult conditions and his poor health is deteriorating further. This is extremely worrying. The Swedish Government demands that Iran immediately release Ahmadreza Djalali on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family.

EUROPE: Shielding democracy gains ground as a research priority, draft plans show
Juliette Portala, Science|Business, 4/24
The rise of authoritarian political movements worldwide is pushing the European Commission to reorganise funding priorities for research, with several new calls for proposals on threats to democracy set to feature in the last two years of Horizon Europe.

FRANCE: France creates platform to attract US and other disaffected researchers
Juliette Portala, Science|Business, 4/24
The French government has launched a platform to pair universities and research organisations with international researchers looking to relocate. Called Choose France for Science, the platform is particularly interested in attracting researchers working in areas related to health, climate change, digital technologies and space.

UNITED STATES: Anti-DEI Guidance Letter Put On Hold, for Now
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 4/24
The Education Department won’t be able to enforce its guidance that declared all race-based programming and activities illegal following two court orders Thursday. Federal judges in New Hampshire and Maryland handed down the rulings after finding plaintiffs in the two separate lawsuits were likely to succeed in proving that the Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter violated procedural standards and the First Amendment.

EUROPE: Alarm over EU plan to use Horizon funding for defence
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 4/24
Plans to break with a 40-year tradition and allow dual-use and defence-related projects to be funded under Horizon Europe have been branded “unacceptable” by leading research universities. The European Commission is seeking to amend European Union regulations concerning the €95.5 billion (£81.6 billion) programme, which currently only funds research limited to civil applications.

SERBIA: Serbia’s academics outraged over limits to research, disappointed by EU response
Mićo Tatalović, Science|Business, 4/22
Academics in Serbia are up in arms over a sudden move by the government to limit the time university lecturers can spend on research. Previously allowed to spend 20 hours a week on research, they will now be limited to just five hours.

UNITED STATES: Inside the Lawsuits Challenging SEVIS Terminations—and Succeeding
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 4/24
At least 290 international students or recent graduates who had their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records terminated by the federal government are fighting that decision across 65 lawsuits. They are hoping to get those terminations reversed and return to their work or studies, and many have been successful, securing at least a temporary reprieve.

UNITED STATES: Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration paints stark picture of funding freeze
Suevon Lee, WBUR, 4/23
The school is suing to block the government from withholding more than $2 billion in federal funding by arguing the freeze is part of an unlawful effort to “coerce and control Harvard” and dictate its academic direction, according to court filings.

IRAN/SWEDEN: Interview: Family of wrongfully imprisoned Swedish-Iranian scholar Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali discuss his life as a father and husband
Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali’s wife and daughter, SAR, 4/23
Scholars at Risk, who has been advocating for his release for years, conducted a series of interviews with Dr. Djalali’s wife, Vida, and his daughter. The interviews covered different stages of Dr. Djalali’s life as a husband and father, from 2000 to the present, across Sweden and Iran. These are excerpts from those conversations, which have been edited for length and clarity.
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AUSTRALIA: Crackdown on student protests ‘may breach free speech code’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 4/22
Constraints on protest at Australia’s most prestigious campuses, imposed following last year’s pro-Palestinian encampments, potentially breach commitments universities had made to stamp out censorship.

TÜRKIYE: 27 summoned to testify in İmamoğlu diploma probe
Hürriyet Daily News, 4/21
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has summoned 27 people whose university diplomas were revoked, along with city’s mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s degree, as part of a probe into alleged document forgery.

AFGHANISTAN/KYRGYZSTAN: Afghan female students and the silent crisis in Kyrgyzstan [COMMENTARY]
Hamid Ali Khan, University World News, 4/18
As the world watches Afghanistan slip further into a humanitarian and educational abyss – particularly with the systematic erasure of women’s rights and freedoms – a silent struggle unfolds beyond its borders. In Kyrgyzstan, a group of resilient Afghan women, displaced by conflict, political collapse and gendered oppression, are holding onto their futures through education.

ZIMBABWE: Students pay a heavy price for activism, but there is hope
Zachariah Mushawatu, University World News, 4/17
Public universities in Zimbabwe have a long history of suspending or expelling student activists, especially those belonging to the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), the biggest student union in the country.

NIGERIA: Freedom of expression: Student not reinstated after a year
Abdulrasheed Hammad, University World News, 4/17
Several Nigerian students who have voiced their dissatisfaction about their universities and political leaders on social media have faced disciplinary action and intimidation – actions that human rights activists believe are undermining freedom of expression in Nigeria.

UNITED STATES: ‘Hands Off Our Universities’ Protesters Rally Against Threats From Trump Administration
Joseph Pisani, The Wall Street Journal, 4/17
Protests were held across the country Thursday to oppose what students and professors say are the Trump administration’s threats to academic freedoms. In New York City, hundreds of protesters marched more than a mile from Washington Square Park to the New York Supreme Court House holding signs that said “Resist Hate!” and “Hands Off Our Universities.”

NETHERLANDS: Academics say draft screening law could deter foreign talent
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 4/17
Academics in the Netherlands are concerned that a proposed new law requiring the screening of incoming graduate students and researchers intending to work in ‘sensitive’ subject areas could create delays that might drive foreign talent to apply to universities in other countries instead.

UNITED STATES: The mysterious firing of a Chinese professor has Asian students on edge: ‘Brings chills to our spines’
Stephen Starr, The Guardian, 4/16
When FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents descended recently on two homes owned by Xiaofeng Wang, a Chinese national and cybersecurity professor at Indiana University, many in the idyllic college town of Bloomington were shocked.

UNITED STATES: Harvard won’t comply with demands from Trump administration
Alvin Powell, The Harvard Gazette, 4/14
Harvard on Monday rejected demands from the Trump administration that threaten $9 billion in research funding, arguing that the changes pushed by the government exceed its lawful authority and infringe on both the University’s independence and its constitutional rights.
Read Harvard’s full response  

UNITED STATES: These Faculty Senates Are Trying to Band Together to Stand Up to Trump
Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/14
Faculty-senate leaders at several institutions are calling for the creation of “mutual-defense compacts” to guard against what they describe as “legal, financial, and political incursion” by the Trump administration.

INDONESIA: APHR Denounces Military Expansion in Indonesian Universities as a Grave Threat to Democracy and Academic Freedom 
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, 4/14
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) strongly opposes the introduction of mandatory state defense education (Pendidikan Bela Negara) for university students and the expansion of military involvement in civilian affairs under the revised TNI Law. These policies threaten to militarize academic institutions, suppress dissent, and undermine Indonesia’s democratic progress.

THAILAND: The Dangerous Implications of Paul Chambers’ Article 112 Arrest
Mark S. Cogan, 112Watch, 4/14
Ignoring the plight of Chambers would be ruinous. Thai and international academics, students and the public, cannot let this case vanish from the headlines.
Take action 

THAILAND: Statement: Calling on Thailand to Guarantee Basic Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Section 112 Case Regarding the Arrest of Dr. Paul Chambers
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, 4/13
On 8 April 2025, Dr. Paul Wesley Chambers, an American academic affiliated with the Center of ASEAN Community Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Naresuan University, was charged under Section 112 (lèse-majesté) of Thailand’s Criminal Code and Section 14(1) (entering distorted, fake, or false computer data into the computer system in a manner likely to cause harm to the public) of the Computer Crimes Act B.E. 2550 (2007). That same day, the Phitsanulok Provincial Court approved his pretrial detention and denied his two bail requests, resulting in his immediate transfer to the Phitsanulok Provincial Prison.
Learn more in SAR’s monitoring report 

UNITED STATES: Florida universities join statewide push to partner with ICE on immigration enforcement
Kathleen Magramo, CNN, 4/12
Several universities in Florida have signed agreements to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid an ongoing push by state leaders to aid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. The University of Florida said Friday it has signed the 287(g) agreement that allows local law enforcement to act as immigration officers.

SUDAN: Africa International University: A Bridge to War-Torn Sudan [ARABIC]
Al Jazeera, 4/12
For decades, the Africa International University in Khartoum has been a scientific and cultural edifice that connects Sudan to its African roots, hosting thousands of students from the continent. But the war raging for two years has transported this academic institution into military barracks after the Rapid Support Forces took control of it, adding the university to a long list of losses caused by the devastating war.  

UNITED STATES: The controversial and obscure law being used against immigrant student protestors
Jasmine Garsd and Joel Rose, NPR, 4/11
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student, is a Green Card holder, married to a U.S. citizen. To justify his deportation, the government is invoking an obscure law that played a major role in shaping American immigration during the Cold War: the McCarran-Walter Act, or the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952.

PORTUGAL/UNITED STATES: Trump administration sent ideological questionnaire to Portuguese universities and cut support [PORTUGUESE] 
Joana Mourão Carvalho, Euronews, 4/11
Several Portuguese public universities that have signed protocols with the United States received a letter from the US Embassy with a questionnaire that includes 36 questions about gender ideology, links to communist parties, malign influences from China, possible links to terrorist groups and funding received from various countries such as Russia, Cuba or Iran.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Viewpoint: Trump’s attack on US universities is an attack on all universities [COMMENTARY]
Ole Petter Ottersen, Science|Business, 4/10
Academia is under siege, and we do not know where it will end. Academics outside the US should stand in solidarity with our American colleagues. The attacks we see inside the US should be viewed as attacks on the academic community at large – figuratively for sure, but also literally.

PHILIPPINES: Amnesty International: ‘Online harassment halts Filipino youth activists exercise of rights’
John Sitchon, Rappler, 4/9
A report from global rights movement Amnesty International (AI) revealed that state-sponsored online harassment against young rights defenders in the Philippines has greatly deteriorated their capacity to seek legal remedies and exercise their own rights.

New Zealand: Institutional neutrality mandated in New Zealand free speech law
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 4/10
New Zealand’s universities must not take positions on issues that “do not directly concern their role or functions”, under legislation introduced into the country’s parliament.

IRAN: Five Years in Captivity: The Ongoing Injustice Against Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi
International Community of Iranian Academics (ICOIA), 4/10
April 10, 2025, marks the fifth anniversary of the unjust arrest and detention of two of Iran’s brightest students, Ali Younesi (b. March 4, 2001) and Amirhossein Moradi (b. February 19, 2001). As members of the International Community of Iranian Academics, we are compelled to mark this grim milestone by revisiting their case and reaffirming our demand for their immediate and unconditional release.

THAILAND/UNITED STATES: American Is Arrested in Thailand on Charges of Criticizing Royalty
Isabella Kwai, The New York Times, 4/9
The arrest of an American academic in Thailand on charges of criticizing the monarchy has alarmed U.S. officials, the State Department said on Tuesday. The case represents a rare detention of a foreign citizen under Thailand’s strict lèse-majesté laws. The academic, Paul Chambers, a lecturer in civil-military relations in Southeast Asia at Naresuan University in northern Thailand, was arrested on charges under the lèse-majesté laws and the Computer Crimes Act, according to his lawyers, members of the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal aid group.

UNITED STATES: A handful of college presidents emerge as leaders of burgeoning resistance movement against Trump
Hilary Burns and Mike Damiano, Boston Globe, 4/9
While the Harvard community anxiously awaits the school’s response to demands from the Trump administration, the heads of several other elite universities are emerging as leaders of a burgeoning resistance to the president’s attacks on higher education.

UNITED STATES: White House freezes funds for Cornell and Northwestern in latest crackdown
The Guardian, 4/8
On Tuesday, the Trump administration froze more than $1bn in funding for Cornell University, a US official said. The administration also froze $790m for Northwestern University, which hosts a prominent journalism school.

EUROPE/UNITED STATES: Europe’s universities lure US academics under fire from Trump, but face similar risks
Eloise Hardy, The Parliament Magazine, 4/8
Wanted: US professors for European academia. Some in Trump’s America may want to flee, but threats to academic freedom are growing in the EU, too.

TÜRKIYE: Turkish students describe ‘sense of despair’ as protests continue
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 4/5
Describing difficult economic conditions, restricted campus lives and a sense that their “future is bleak”, Turkish university students say they intend to continue the protests that have rocked the country for several weeks.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Purdue complies with Congressional committee request for information on Chinese students
Will Courtney and Virginia Black, Lafayette Journal & Courier, 4/4
Purdue officials complied with a request from a Congressional committee to send information about their students from China by a deadline of April 1, a Purdue spokesperson said Friday. The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent Purdue President Mung Chiang and five other university presidents a letter two weeks ago, demanding information on students from China and their research on U.S. campuses.

UNITED KINGDOM: Trans policies vanish from university websites after Sussex fine
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 4/4
English universities are scrambling to review policies related to transgender students and staff amid “anxiety” over whether they comply with free speech duties after the University of Sussex was hit with a record fine.

INDIA: Fundamental politicisation of India’s HE poses grave danger [COMMENTARY]
Philip G Altbach and Eldho Mathews, University World News, 4/2
It is fair to say that Indian higher education has become fundamentally politicised in the Modi era. This is a grave danger to academic institutions, the academic profession and intellectual life on the whole.

UNITED STATES: Grant Terminated
Researchers Impacted by Federal Grant Terminations, Inside Higher Ed, 4/3
Below, 16 researchers across nine different research areas who have had their federal grants terminated since the start of the Trump administration share just a few of the thousands of stories behind these cuts.

SOUTH KOREA: Medical students re-enrol, but is the boycott really over?
Yumi Jeung, University World News, 4/3
In a possible end to a bitter standoff with the government lasting over a year, South Korean medical students who have been on a prolonged ‘leave of absence’ in protest over a policy to increase medical school admissions have registered for the upcoming academic year and are expected to return to campus.

AUSTRALIA/UNITED STATES: Trump crackdown forces academics to cancel US trips
Julie Hare and Ayesha de Kretser, The Australian Financial Review, 4/2
Academics in areas as broad as education, history, law, healthcare, and climate change have changed plans to travel to the US, where major conferences are often held, or are rethinking their schedules. The Australian Financial Review has spoken to eight researchers who provided similar accounts of why they decided against travel.

SWEDEN: Academic freedom in practice
Linkoping University, 4/2
The group of master’s students on the Ethnicity and Migration programme at Campus Norrköping are unique. They are the first in Sweden to take a university course in how to create a campaign in support of an imprisoned researcher and for academic freedom.
Learn more about SAR’s Student Advocacy Seminars here >> 

UNITED STATES: Ten Colorado international students – at least half Middle Eastern – have visas revoked
Allison Sherry and Ben Markus, Colorado Public Radio, 4/2
At least 10 Colorado university students or recent graduates – half of them Middle Eastern – have had visas revoked, according to higher education officials. Five students and one former student working at Colorado State University were affected and four international students from the University of Colorado’s Boulder and Colorado Springs campuses have had visas revoked.

AFGHANISTAN/UNITED STATES: ‘They Will Label Us as Spies’: The Afghan Students Abandoned by America
Aryn Baker, The New York Times, 3/30
Students at the American University of Afghanistan in Qatar fear having to return to their Taliban-ruled homeland after aid and visa cutoffs by the Trump administration.

INDIA/UNITED STATES: Deportation cases rattle Indian student community in US
Shuriah Niazi and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/28
Moves by the United States to detain and deport foreign students and scholars due to alleged links to pro-Palestinian causes or for taking part in solidarity campus protests last year are casting a shadow over Indian students’ American dreams. Amid the uncertainty, the Indian foreign ministry has urged compliance with local laws.

UNITED STATES: ‘Weaponisation’ of US research funding risks ‘lasting damage’
Shaoni Bhattacharya, Research Professional News, 3/27
US government “overreach” and its “weaponisation of research funding” risks undermining the strength of American higher education and poses “an existential threat to our democracy”, American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) president Lynn Pasquerella has warned.

SERBIA: Turbulence in higher education: Professors without salaries, inspections at faculties
Boban Karović, NIN, 3/27
After teachers in primary and secondary schools went on strike, university professors—whose students have launched protests and blockades—have also gone without pay.. The second part of their February salary has not been paid.

INDONESIA: Students protest military bill, condemn lack of transparency
Kafil Yamin, University World News, 3/26
A bill passed into law by Indonesia’s House of Representatives last week, which attempts, as analysts see it, to make it legal for members of the military to take up civil positions, sparked major student protests in cities around the country. In Jakarta, student protesters were also joined by workers.

MYANMAR: Students seek aid after scholarships halted by USAID cuts
Padone, University World News, 3/26
The withdrawal of US$45 million in scholarships awarded by the United States development agency USAID has left 400 Myanmar students, many of them studying abroad, in limbo, unable to return to their country, unable to continue to pay for their education and desperate for support.

UNITED STATES: These Are the Students Targeted by Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Over Campus Activism
Miranda Jeyaretnam, TIME, 3/27
A husband and expectant father; a former high school valedictorian; an architect and adjunct professor of urban planning, and a former Fulbright Scholar with a passion for child education. All legally residing in the U.S. They’re also just some of the targets of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks as part of a campaign by President Donald Trump’s Administration to detain and deport noncitizens over their pro-Palestinian campus activism.

TURKIYE: Police use force to break up protests at a university in Turkey’s capital
Robert Badendieck and Andrew Wilks, Associated Press, 3/27
Police used pepper spray, plastic pellets and water cannon against protesters in Turkey’s capital early Thursday, the latest clash in the country’s biggest anti-government protests in over a decade. The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

UNITED STATES: This Time, Higher Ed’s Resistance to Trump is Being Led by Its Associations
Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/26
As the Trump administration has issued a volley of executive orders and policy directives aimed at higher education over the past two months, the sector’s fight back has been led not by individual institutions — like often happened during his first term — but by its acronym-heavy associations.

EUROPE/UNITED STATES: Funding cuts could hamper European efforts to attract US diaspora
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 3/24
Increasing numbers of European governments and universities are hoping to recruit top researchers who feel that they cannot continue their work in the US, but these efforts could be hampered by budget cuts.

CHINA/GLOBAL: China is successfully trying to silence universities. It’s a huge problem, says expert [INTERVIEW] [Czech]
Adam Ruzicka, Aktualne.cz, 3/23
Authoritarian regimes, led by China, are putting pressure on the Western university environment, which is subservient to them because of their financial interests. This has an adverse effect on academic freedom and the quality of research. Sarah McLaughlin from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), author of the book Authoritarians in Academia, described the problem for Aktuálně.cz.

ARGENTINA: Argentine scholars renew strikes as wages dip below poverty line
Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 3/22
Argentine university workers have renewed hostilities with the government of Javier Milei, staging a 48-hour strike in protest at salaries that are now 40 per cent lower in real terms than what they were when he took power. 

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: US conference boycott urged after French scientist deported
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 3/21
Academics say they are increasingly wary of travelling to conferences in the US after a French scientist was deported over text messages critical of Donald Trump’s cuts to research funding – an incident that reinforces the case for a boycott of American academic meetings, some argue.

AUSTRALIA/UNITED STATES: Australian scientists demand meeting over Trump grant cuts
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 3/21
An Australian learned academy has demanded an emergency meeting of the National Science and Technology Council amid a growing tally of research contract cancellations by the Trump administration. The Australian Academy of Science said Canberra could not afford to “take a wait-and-see approach” on a research funding threat that could “have profound implications for Australians.”

UNITED STATES: Congress Eyes More Control Over Colleges
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 3/21
American voters want to see an overhaul in higher education and Republicans are taking advantage of it. Over the course of its first 75 days, the 119th Congress introduced more than 30 pieces of legislation concerning higher education—more than half of which came from members of the GOP.

AFRICA: Academic freedom eluding African Universities—Prof Abotsi 
Christopher Arko, Ghana News Agency, 3/20
“It is important for us to remember that the institutions of higher learning are supposed to be marketplaces of ideas, where people challenge ideas, create ideas, and lead society to a new field.” Prof. Abotsi was speaking at the launch of the Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF) and a website in Accra. 

PAKISTAN: Separatist security threat shutters Balochistan universities
Ameen Amjad Khan, University World News, 3/20
Universities in Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province have been closed for an indefinite period of time due to the worsening security situation amid armed attacks on security forces by Baloch separatist groups.

SERBIA: Obradovic: Regime preparing violence, repression, police raids on universities
N1info, 3/20
Vladimir Obradovic, a member of the Presidency of the opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), said that “violence, repression, and police raids on university faculties” are being prepared to end student protests.

EUROPE/UNITED STATES: Europe scrambles to help researchers escape Trump
Juliette Portala and David Matthews, Science|Business, 3/20
EU science ministers are calling on the European Commission to stand ready to welcome US researchers threatened by Donald Trump’s ongoing tightening of restrictions on US science and provide them with concrete opportunities to pursue their work.

AFGHANISTAN: Reprieve for Afghan women students facing forced return after US aid cuts
Yogita Limaye, BBC, 3/19
More than 80 Afghan women studying in Oman on US-funded scholarships – terminated last month due to the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to foreign aid – have received a temporary reprieve. A US State Department spokesperson has told the BBC that funding will continue until 30 June, 2025.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Latitudes: Amid efforts to deport protesters, foreign students reconsider risk
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/19
The Trump administration’s aggressive steps to penalize international student activists at Columbia University has unnerved other foreign students and left those who advise them unsure of how to provide support. Immigration officials have detained and are seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a former international graduate student who now holds a green card, for his part in pro-Palestinian protests.

UKRAINE: Ukraine to Kick Off Mandatory Military Training for University Students – Men and Women
Stefan Korshak, Kyiv Post, 3/18
Ukraine will launch mandatory basic military training (BMT) for all students attending institutes of higher education like universities and technical colleges, starting with the upcoming Fall 2025 semester, a Defense Ministry official said.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: US threatens ban on Chinese study visas
Polly Nash, The PIE, 3/18
New legislation introduced in the US threatens to halt the issuance of all student visas to Chinese nationals to stop China’s “exploitation” of the US student visa program.

RUSSIA: Publication data sees Russian science increasingly isolated
David Matthews, Science|Business, 3/17
Three years on from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian researchers are absent from conferences and withdrawn from Western collaborations.

JAPAN: Opposition builds against national science council reforms
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 3/17
Japanese scientists and human rights groups are fiercely resisting government reforms to the Science Council of Japan (SCJ) that will see the country’s foremost academic organisation lose its independence and come under the scrutiny of outside experts appointed by the prime minister.

GERMANY: ‘Sense of unease’ for overseas students in Germany amid AfD rise
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 3/16
International students in Germany have described a “sense of unease” following last month’s federal elections, which saw the far-right, populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) become the second largest party in the Bundestag.

UNITED STATES: ‘My career is over’: Columbia University scientists hit hard by Trump team’s cuts
Humberto Basilio, Nature, 3/14
Most of those affected are researchers and students whose grants and fellowships come from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s largest funder of biomedical research. The agency announced on Monday that it was terminating more than $250 million in funding — including more than 400 research grants — to Columbia.Several university lab leaders, PhD students and postdocs have expressed concern to Nature about their future in science and their ability to support themselves and their families.

CHINA/JAPAN: ‘Missing’ Chinese scholar back in Japan after unexplained absence
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 3/14
A Chinese professor at a Japanese university who went missing during a trip home more than a year ago is now back in Japan, according to his university. Hu Shiyun, who taught Chinese literature and linguistics at Kobe Gakuin University, had not been heard from by the university or his family since he returned for a temporary visit to China in 2023, sparking fears he had been detained by authorities.

TAIWAN/CHINA: Taiwan steps up research security as risk from China rises
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/12
Concerned that China is stepping up its knowledge transfer and influence activities abroad amid emerging reports of increased collaboration between China’s military-linked universities and Russian institutions, Taiwan has taken action to close China’s influence and research security loopholes.

UNITED STATES: The Coalitions We Need to Defend Open Inquiry [COMMENTARY]
Jackie Pedota and Liliana M. Garces, Inside Higher Ed, 3/13
These proposed bills and enacted legislation have largely been met with silence from university leaders. But over the past month, as attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion policies rose to the federal level via multiple executive orders and a Dear Colleague letter from the Department of Education, a broad coalition—professional associations in higher education, labor organizations, civil rights groups and elected officials—has filed numerous federal lawsuits challenging their constitutionality, including at least four suits involving educational organizations as plaintiffs.

UNITED STATES: Assessing the Damage After the Education Department’s Mass Layoffs
Liam Knox and Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 3/13
On Tuesday, the Trump administration fired nearly half of the Education Department’s roughly 4,100 employees, leaving the agency with a skeletal staff of about 2,183. Now, a day later, the scope and impact of those layoffs are beginning to take shape.

GERMANY: “Nicht mehr internationale Spitze” [“No longer international top”] 
Jmwiarda, 3/13
Every year, the degree of freedom academics enjoy is assessed worldwide. Now, Germany has fallen out of the top group in the “Academic Freedom Index.” A conversation with political scientist Katrin Kinzelbach.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Academic Freedom Index: ‘serious concern’ for US universities
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 3/13
The latest edition of the Academic Freedom Index, an annual benchmarking report compiled by researchers at Germany’s University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, indicates that academic freedom has declined in countries including India, the US and the UK over the past decade. By combining the AFI with data from the Anti-Pluralism Index, researchers found high levels of academic freedom often go “hand in hand” with the absence of strong anti-pluralism in the party system.

GEORGIA: Universities at the centre of national democracy struggles [COMMENTARY]
Giorgi Meladze and Nana Shamatava, University World News, 3/12
The government’s sudden focus on educational “reform” during the political crises in the country appeared more like an effort to crack down on universities than a genuine effort to address long-standing issues.

SERBIA: Serbia’s EU research grantees call on European Commission for help amid mass protests
Mićo Tatalović, Nature, 3/12
Researchers want EU institutions to support protesting students and monitor the impact of corruption on science.

UNITED STATES: Columbia grad student’s detention will stretch on as lawyers spar over Trump’s plan to deport him
Jake Offenhartz and Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press, 3/12
Mahmoud Khalil will remain detained in Louisiana until at least next week but can finally speak to lawyers while they fight the Trump administration’s plans to deport the Columbia University graduate student for his role in campus protests against Israel, a judge decided at a hearing Wednesday.

GLOBAL/UNITED STATES: Trump Plans to Shutter USAID. Here’s What That Could Mean For Higher Ed.
Dan Bauman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/11
In addition to Hughes’s lab at Penn State, The Chronicle identified at least 140 other USAID contracts and assistance programs whose funding technically remained active as of Friday, or which were reportedly terminated after Trump’s inauguration but before each award’s original expiration date.

AFGHANISTAN/UNITED STATES: Afghan women who fled Taliban to study abroad face imminent return after USAID cuts
Yogita Limaye, BBC, 3/8
More than 80 Afghan women who fled the Taliban to pursue higher education in Oman now face imminent return back to Afghanistan, following the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to foreign aid programmes. Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), their scholarships were abruptly terminated after a funding freeze ordered by President Donald Trump when he returned to office in January.

SWEDEN/IRAN: Djalali’s health has deteriorated significantly: “Do something before it’s too late”
Linn Jonsson, Dagens Nyheter, 3/7
The health of imprisoned Ahmadreza Djalali has deteriorated significantly, according to his family. The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirms that they have received “very worrying signals” and that the Iranian ambassador has been summoned. “If he stays there, he will die,” says Djalali’s wife Vida Mehrania.
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UNITED STATES: Trump administration cuts $400 million in federal funding to Columbia
Joseph Zuloaga, The Columbia Daily Spectator, 3/7
The Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced the immediate cancellation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia in a Friday news release. The Department of Education, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration announced the cuts “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”

INDIA: ‘Bleak future’ for Kerala universities as political spats rage on
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 3/7
An ongoing tussle for control of universities between the Indian central government and the opposition-led Keralan state authorities is expected to worsen, throwing institutions in the region into further crisis and potentially driving students away.

UKRAINE/UNITED STATES: Pause on US aid to Ukraine ‘extremely negative’ for universities
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 3/7
The pause on all US aid to Ukraine – following the extraordinary Oval Office bust-up between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky – will have “extremely negative” effects on the country’s universities, it has been warned.

FRANCE/UNITED STATES: French university opens doors to ‘threatened’ US scientists
The Economic Times, 3/6
A French university announced on Wednesday 5 March it would welcome scientists from the United States working in areas threatened by funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration, reports the AFP.

IRAN: Letter protesting the ongoing unjust incarceration of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali
Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association, 3/6
We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to express our continued deep and grave concerns over the now nearly 9-year-long wrongful detention of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali. Dr. Djalali is a scholar of emergency and disaster medicine who has been imprisoned in Iran since April 2016, following a forced confession.
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UNITED STATES: As Trump Goes After Universities, Students Are Now on the Chopping Block
Stephanie Saul, The New York Times, 3/6
In the early weeks of the Trump administration’s push to slash funding that colleges and universities rely on, grants and contracts had been cut and, in a few cases, researchers had been laid off. In recent days, the fiscal pain has come to students.

MOZAMBIQUE: Will fused ministry bring back autonomy to tertiary education?
Elísio Muchanga, University World News, 3/6
The scheduled abolition of Mozambique’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the country’s Secretariat of State for Professional Technical Education has created uncertainty about the future of the country’s higher education sector. However, Mozambique’s Association of Private Higher Education Institutions (Associação das Instituções Ensino Superior Privadas, AIESP) has welcomed the move, should this return autonomy to the country’s universities and colleges, which had been undermined by overweening control from the now abolished higher education ministry. 

CHINA: China’s conviction of 1,500 prisoners of conscience a ‘crime against humanity’
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, The Independent, 3/6
China arbitrarily detained thousands and convicted 1,545 “prisoners of conscience” in the last six years in what could constitute “crimes against humanity”, a rights group alleged. The prisoners were jailed for “peacefully exercising or advocating for human rights”, Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in a report on Wednesday.
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CHINA: Daughter of detained Uyghur scholar spotlights Chinese oppression
Toshimichi Kitafuji, Kyodo News, 3/6
The daughter of Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti, who was given a life sentence on separatism-related charges in China in 2014, said recently her ongoing goal is to ensure as many people as possible are aware of the oppression her people have suffered.
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SOUTH KOREA: As court decision nears, campuses become battlegrounds
Yumi Jeung, University World News, 3/6
As the crisis surrounding the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol intensifies in advance of a Constitutional Court decision on the impeachment, university campuses are emerging as new political battlegrounds as the nation remains deeply divided for and against Yoon, with widespread protests breaking out across the country.

UNITED STATES: What Does the Education Department’s DEI Guidance Really Mean?
Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed, 3/4
Higher ed leaders have been asking the U.S. Department of Education for more detailed guidance ever since the Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter on Feb. 14 calling for the elimination of race-conscious programming and policies. That guidance finally came Friday night, the deadline for colleges to comply with the letter, in the form of a nine-page frequently asked questions document.

UNITED STATES: Trump Threatens Columbia With Millions in Cuts Over Antisemitism Claims
Sharon Otterman, The New York Times, 3/4
The Trump administration is threatening to cut tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for Columbia University, making the school the first major target in its effort to root out what it considers antisemitic harassment on college campuses. A comprehensive review of Columbia University’s federal contracts and grants was announced Monday night, shortly after Linda McMahon was confirmed as the secretary of education in a party-line vote.

UNITED STATES: US science is under threat ― now scientists are fighting back
Heidi Ledford and Alexandra Witze, Nature, 3/3
Repeated threats to research funding and the mass firings of federal workers have pushed some scientists to take on unfamiliar roles as activists, speaking at rallies, calling legislators and forming new pressure groups.

SUDAN: Forced return to migrant universities raises concerns among Sudanese students
Sky News Arabia, 3/3
The decision issued by the Sudanese Ministry of Higher Education on Wednesday, obligating public and private universities that continued to operate through centers outside the country, to immediately return and resume their work from within Sudan and close their external centers, raised great fears that students will once again be exposed to security risks and lose more academic years in light of the absence of indications of an end to the war that has been ongoing since mid-April 2023.

UKRAINE: Ukraine’s research sector is struggling — can Europe help?
Elisabeth Sweetman, Nature, 2/28
Undaunted by the turmoil of the Russian invasion, the European Union has scaled up its presence in the Ukrainian research sector, establishing funding channels and offices in Kyiv. Scientists hope that these moves will drive reforms in Ukraine’s research-funding system and breathe new life into its struggling innovation sector.

UNITED KINGDOM: Cambridge bid to ban Senate House Palestine protests ‘shameful’
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 2/26
The University of Cambridge has been accused of an “all-out attack on freedom of expression and assembly” over its attempt to prohibit pro-Palestinian protests at the administrative heart of the institution.

GEORGIA: Georgian Students at the ’Front Line’ : Three Months of Struggle for Europe
Louis Titz, The New Federalist, 2/25
Three months after Georgia’s de facto Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, announced the freezing of the country’s European integration process, popular protests in cities and villages across Georgia continue uninterrupted, day and night. These demonstrations bring together all segments of the Georgian population especially students. They play a central role in the protests; organizing chapters of their movement within their respective schools and universities.

TAIWAN/CHINA: Taiwan bans academic exchanges with group of Chinese universities
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 2/24
Taiwan has told universities they must end academic exchanges with Chinese universities affiliated with an influential arm of the Beijing government or risk losing government subsidies.

UKRAINE: There is a road ahead for Ukraine’s universities [COMMENTARY]
Ivanka Popović, European University Association, 2/24
The Ukrainian higher education and research sector has shown remarkable resilience under extreme circumstances, not least thanks to the dedication of its staff. It is of paramount importance for the future of Ukraine that this invaluable resource – its people – is preserved and nurtured, including by increased European support.

GERMANY: What could the rise of the AfD mean for German universities?
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 2/21
With its Trump-style promise to smash woke ideology on campus, Germany’s far-right populist party is widely seen as a threat by academics. And with even the country’s mainstream parties promising little for higher education or research, few are relishing Sunday’s election.

AFGHANISTAN/UNITED STATES: Trump’s foreign aid pause imperils education programs for Afghan women
Rick Noack, The Washington Post, 2/21
After the U.S. military’s withdrawal from the country in 2021, and the Taliban’s subsequent closure of secondary schools and universities for women, American aid had allowed thousands of female students to continue their studies online or seek scholarships abroad. But many of those programs have now been suspended, according to students and administrators, following a 90-day pause on most international aid.

UNITED STATES: What Are College Presidents Saying About Trump? Not Much.
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 2/21
While some higher ed associations and universities have responded with lawsuits, college presidents, for the most part, have watched in relative silence. 

INDONESIA: Students stage ‘Dark Indonesia’ protests as Prabowo Subianto’s spending cuts hit education
Diana Mariska and A. Anantha Lakshmi, Financial Times, 2/21
Thousands of students took to the streets in cities across the country this week, decrying what they call Indonesia Gelap or “Dark Indonesia” and marking the first concerted resistance to the policies of Prabowo Subianto since the former general became president four months ago.

UNITED STATES: What Trump Has Wrought: Thousands of people’s lives have been disrupted. These are some of their stories.
Christa Dutton, Karin Fischer, and Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/20
The first several weeks of the second Trump White House have given higher education a severe case of vertigo. Executive orders and policy announcements have come at a breathtaking pace: freezing federal grants, drastically reducing support for research, targeting a vast swath of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and threatening federal investigations.

UNITED STATES: Despite a Judge’s Ruling, Large Swaths of NIH Funding Remain Effectively Frozen
Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/20
Even after a judge intervened to prohibit the Trump administration from freezing federal funding, large numbers of grants from the National Institutes of Health still can’t be paid out. That’s because the groups that review grant proposals and decide whether to fund them can no longer schedule their meetings, according to two emails from NIH officials obtained by The Chronicle.

UNITED STATES: Trump’s siege of science: how the first 30 days unfolded and what’s next
Jeff Tollefson, Max Kozlov, Alexandra Witze, and Dan Garisto, Nature, 2/20
Acting with unprecedented speed, the administration has laid off thousands of employees at US science agencies and announced reforms to research-grant standards that could drastically reduce federal financial support for science. The cuts form part of a larger effort to radically reduce the government’s spending and downsize its workforce.

INDIA/UNITED STATES: Modi-Trump pact boosts bi-lateral research, HE collaboration
Shuriah Niazi and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 2/20
India and the United States have committed to stepping up academic collaboration, enhancing study abroad opportunities, and exploring the possibility of American university campuses in India, according to an agreement reached during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the United States.

UNITED STATES: Higher Ed Unions Rally Against Trump’s Cuts
Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, 2/20
At more than a dozen events across the country Wednesday, workers and faculty at colleges and universities gathered to speak out against what they see as an attack on federal research funding, lifesaving medical research and education.

SERBIA: Serbian universities feel the strain as student protests enter fourth month
Mićo Tatalović and Nenad Jarić Daunhauer, Science|Business, 2/20
Student protests in Serbia, triggered by the collapse of a public building in November, are starting to have an impact on academic life in the country. Some researchers and lecturers have had activities disrupted by boycotts and demonstrations, which have blocked access to faculty buildings. Others have stopped work to join the protests.

AFGHANISTAN: Latitudes: Drop by drop, advocates hope to create a river of opportunity in Afghanistan
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/19
Together with a nonprofit group, Her Future Afghanistan, USC has developed an Afghan Pathways Program, offering courses in web development and programming languages to Afghan women. Over two years, they have awarded more than 200 certifications.

UNITED STATES: University leaders must actively defend faculty’s freedoms [COMMENTARY]
Jackie Pedota, University World News, 2/19
Many faculty reported making changes to their courses and research, not because they were legally required to, but because they were uncertain how to proceed and feared repercussions from university leadership, legislators or politically motivated watchdog groups.

GLOBAL: Scientists struggle to find the right formula for handling Trump
Richard L. Hudson, Science|Business, 2/18
Many grant payments have been blocked, thousands of science-agency workers abruptly fired, datasets taken down, websites scrubbed, and all this before the administration is a month old. In response, the scientific community is starting to organise, but as yet with no clear plan. That’s true for American scientists, but also for those in Canada, Europe, Asia and elsewhere accustomed to grants and partnerships with the world’s biggest science power.

SERBIA: How Serbia’s student protesters organize fight for justice
Sanja Kljajic, DW, 2/16
The student movement in Serbia makes decisions by direct democracy and debates matters for hours on end, yet everything runs like clockwork. What drives the students? What are their goals? And where do they go from here?

IRAN: Protests persist over death of Iranian university student
Iran International, 2/15
Protests over the death of a 19-year-old University of Tehran student continue to intensify, as others gathered in front of the university’s central library on Saturday amid reports of a heavy security presence on the main campus.

UNITED STATES: Ed Department: DEI Violates Civil Rights Law
Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed, 2/15
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights declared all race-conscious student programming, resources and financial aid illegal over the weekend and threatened to investigate and rescind federal funding for any institution that does not comply within 14 days.

UNITED STATES: The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters
Natasha Lennard and Akela Lacy, The Intercept, 2/15
Some members of the Columbia University community, however, leapt at the chance to get young people they claim are “supporters of Hamas” detained and deported. Several people on a large WhatsApp group, Columbia Alumni for Israel — which counts over 1,000 members, including parents, at least one current student, and Columbia professors — welcomed Trump’s plan.

UNITED STATES: Campuses Quiet as Higher Ed Navigates Trump’s Orders
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 2/14
As President Donald Trump churned out more than 80 executive orders over the past three weeks, sending the higher education community into a panic, some students were surprised to see a lack of campus protests—even at institutions traditionally rife with activism.

UNITED KINGDOM/UNITED STATES: Trump’s DEI crackdown ‘could block US-UK research collaborations’
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 2/14
The uncertainty over the UK’s links with its biggest research partner came after the collapse of a US Embassy-funded grants scheme run jointly with the British Association of American Studies, when the UK learned society was asked to erase any mention of diversity from its awarding criteria.

ASIA: Uncertainty as US-funded higher education projects suspended
Ameen Amjad Khan, Mohiuddin Alamgir and Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 2/14
In Pakistan, including higher education support programmes, there are 39 USAID-supported projects that have now halted. They have a total funding value of approximately US$845 million including crucial healthcare projects.

UNITED STATES: AAUP: Academic Freedom Doesn’t Require Institutional Neutrality
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 2/13
Amid public campaigns urging universities to commit to “institutional neutrality,” the American Association of University Professors released a lengthy statement Wednesday saying that the term “conceals more than it reveals.”

UNITED STATES: Clinging to Control: Long before Trump took office, some colleges banned DEI even though it wasn’t required.
Christa Dutton and Jasper Smith, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/12
Idaho’s four public universities are among more than 80 colleges tracked by The Chronicle that altered or dissolved diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in 2023 and 2024 even though the law didn’t require it. The changes ranged from name alterations of diversity offices to sweeping bans of cultural centers and programs supporting minority students.

SYRIA: Exiled scholars have a critical role in rebuilding the nation [COMMENTARY]
Hiba K Massoud and Rami M Ayoubi, University World News, 2/12
However, substantial challenges remain for these academics as they navigate the complex process of reintegration and look to what they can do to contribute to the country’s reconstruction efforts. Addressing these challenges will be essential to harnessing the full potential of the Syrian academic diaspora in shaping the future of a post-Assad Syria.

BANGLADESH: UN report finds brutal, systematic repression of protests, calls for justice for serious rights violations
United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2/12
Bangladesh’s former Government and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League party, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during last year’s student-led protests, a report by the UN Human Rights Office has found.

GLOBAL: Defending academic freedom: Higher education unions mobilise against escalating attacks
Education International, 2/12
A central theme of the conference was the critical role of education unions in resisting these attacks. On the second day, Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), delivered a keynote speech underscoring why trade unions must lead the fight to protect free inquiry, independent research, and democratic values in higher education.

UNITED STATES/GLOBAL: Latitudes: Are states getting tough on colleges’ foreign ties?
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/12
The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce is expected to approve a measure on Wednesday to tighten federal reporting rules for overseas gifts and contracts to colleges. Public officials have increasingly sounded the alarm about foreign influence in higher education, warning that campuses could be vulnerable to governments, particularly that of China, interested in obtaining American research and intellectual property.

UNITED STATES: A direct hit [COMMENTARY]
Holden Thorp, Science, 2/11
This agreement between higher education and the government has been a hallmark of the funding system for 70 years. The scientific community must unite in speaking out against this betrayal of a partnership that has enabled American innovation and progress.

SOUTH KOREA: Dongduk Women’s University students rally as legal battle over coed protests intensifies
Lee Tae-Hee, Korea JoongAng Daily, 2/10
Dongduk Women’s University students held a rally protesting against their school’s decision to file a lawsuit against students, with around 150 students also applying to take a semester off in protest. Around 1,000, according to police estimates, and 700 according to students, gathered in front of the Dongduk Building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sunday to protest.

NIGERIA/UNITED STATES: Trump’s ‘deadly, anti-people policy’ is taking its toll
Afeez Bolaji, University World News, 2/9
The pause in funding is already taking a toll on ongoing research on HIV/AIDS, malaria and vaccines in higher education institutions in Nigeria and Africa at large.

PAKISTAN: Protests over provincial law allowing bureaucrats to be VCs
Ameen Amjad Khan, University World News, 2/7
University classes have been suspended since early January, and demonstrations held on campuses in Pakistan’s Sindh Province as part of an academic staff boycott of classes in protest against the provincial government’s move to allow bureaucrats to be appointed as vice-chancellors of public universities.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: These Gaza scientists are keeping research alive amid war, destruction and uncertainty
Michele Catanzaro, Nature, 2/6
Elessi and Abuzerr are among more than ten scientists who spoke to Nature for this article. These scholars managed to continue their research, and some even published their results, despite facing homelessness, recurrent displacement and a dearth of food and basic necessities.

SOUTH AFRICA/UNITED STATES: Trump leaves South African universities reeling
Desmond Thompson, University World News, 2/6
As institutions assess the full scope of the freeze, it has become evident that it delivers a double blow – one to public health interventions and another to research and higher education institutions.

EGYPT/UNITED STATES: Universities ‘save’ students’ amid Trump’s aid pause
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 2/6
Egyptian students funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) who are currently studying at public and private universities will be financially supported by their universities following the United States President Donald Trump’s decision to pause all foreign development aid for about three months.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: War damage to endure, but Gazan universities ‘must be rebuilt’
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 2/6
Higher education in Gaza will need years of international support and rebuilding after being in effect destroyed by Israeli bombardments, Palestinian academics said.

UNITED STATES: As the DEI Crackdown Escalates, Faculty Choose Between Silence and Resistance
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 2/6
Inside Higher Ed interviewed a dozen professors for this article, including some at institutions that have seen changes since Trump’s return to office, to see how the crackdown is, or isn’t, affecting them and their colleagues. Their responses range from defiance to self-censorship beyond what Trump’s DEI actions actually require, but all share concern about what’s yet to unfold.

UNITED STATES: Students, faculty express concern surrounding inconsistent enforcement of university demonstration policies 
Nineth Kanieski Koso, The Daily Northwestern, 2/5
Stevens said these new policies give the University authority that can be abused. There will be incentives for faculty and students to appease the University’s administration since the policy has been enforced arbitrarily, she said.

EUROPE: Universities urged to commit to protect academic freedom
Frances Jones, Research Professional News, 2/4
Universities across Europe have been urged to commit to protect academic freedom, amid widespread concern that it is under threat globally. The European University Association made the call on 4 February, as it published a guide to how universities can protect academic freedom—defined by the association as “the freedom to learn and teach, to conduct and valorise research and to communicate the results of scientific work.”

UNITED STATES: Trump’s US science freeze a ‘threat to academic freedom’
Fred Schwaller, DW, 2/4
The funding freeze came in a package of executive orders that President Trump signed on January 27. The orders are designed to shift policies on several scientific issues, including climate and public health. They also aim to cut the government workforce, which includes scientists.

SERBIA: Serbia protests ‘about protecting present and future’, students say
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 2/3
Protesting has become a “full-time effort” for many Serbian students, who have spent months demanding accountability from the government following a deadly railway station collapse.

MYANMAR/UNITED STATES: US funding freeze creates difficulties for projects of Burmese students and scholars
Ying Yingna, VOA Chinese, 2/2
President Donald Trump’s decision to block $45 million in U.S. federal funding for more than 400 Burmese students has left many shocked and frustrated as their scholarships were abruptly canceled. The move also raised concerns about the broader impact it could have on Burmese people in Myanmar, which has been mired in political turmoil and a broken education system under military rule.

GERMANY: Germany Rethinks Separation of Civilian and Military Research
Laura Alviž, Bloomberg News, 2/1
As Germany ramps up spending on its military, a clash is brewing around what some politicians and defense executives say is one of the nation’s biggest untapped resources: public universities.

AFGHANISTAN: Female academics in Afghanistan keep scholarly work alive despite roadblocks
Salam Watandar, 2/1
Eight female professors interviewed for this report revealed that, in spite of being removed from university settings, they have successfully published articles in national and international journals and made significant contributions to academic endeavors.

UNITED STATES: The Curricular Cull: Inside a sweeping attempt to regulate general education in Florida.
Emma Pettit and Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/29
A Chronicle analysis of how campuses adapted to the law sheds new light on what courses lost the general-education designation — should the Board of Governors, which oversees Florida’s 12 public universities, approve the final lists at its Thursday meeting — and why. 

UNITED STATES: Trump Threatens to Deport International Students and Scholars Who Protested the War in Gaza
Sarah Brown, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/29
The Trump administration on Wednesday issued guidance suggesting that international students and scholars who participated in protests against the Israel-Hamas war could lose their visas and face deportation.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO/RWANDA: ‘All we can do is wait and hope that this madness ends soon’
Jean d’Amour Mbonyinshuti, University World News, 1/29
As fighting rages on in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where rebels claimed to have seized Goma, the DRC’s third-largest city and home to about two million people, thousands of students are among the civilians who are scared and stranded in the area.

SERBIA: Inside the student blockades in Serbia
Jelena Brankovic, Wonkhe, 1/28
Over the past two months, students in Serbia have been at the forefront of nationwide protests and institutional occupations, bringing higher education in the country to a standstill.

GEORGIA: Georgian scholars fear reforms will entrench government control
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 1/27
The Georgian government’s plan to reform the country’s universities has been met with suspicion by scholars, who see it as an effort to exert more control over institutions as students and staff continue to protest against the ruling Georgian Dream party.

PAKISTAN: University teachers strike escalates over government’s vice-chancellor appointment plan in Sindh
ANI News, 1/27
The ongoing standoff between the provincial government and university teachers over the plan to appoint bureaucrats as vice-chancellors at public universities in Sindh escalated, as reported by the Dawn. 

UNITED STATES: College Leaders Galvanize to Fight the Anti-DEI ‘Chaos’
Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed, 1/27
More than 50 higher ed leaders and staff members took part in the training session by Education for All, a grassroots coalition of mostly community college administrators advising each other on how to fight legislative attacks on DEI. Gavin, who spearheaded the group, said the group has offered a series of trainings during the last six months or so, over Zoom and at conferences, to an estimated 1,300 people—with more to come.

VENEZUELA: Las universidades se convierten en el “foco de la verdad” pese a la persecución política
Crónica Uno, 1/26
Students at public and private universities in Venezuela are turning their attendance at classes into an “act of resistance,” in the face of police cordons, persecution, intimidation and arrests that mark the beginning of 2025.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban conditionally agree to allow Afghan girls to study in Pakistan
Ayaz Gul, Voice of America, 1/25
Taliban authorities in Afghanistan reportedly have agreed to allow female students to pursue higher education in Pakistan, provided that their male guardians also are granted visas to accompany them, according to officials privy to the understanding.

LEBANON: Between bombs and books: The lasting impact of war on Lebanese students
Urooba Jamal, Al Jazeera, 1/25
Abou Mrad, a hospitality and tourism management major, is just one of the hundreds of thousands of young people in Lebanon whose lives – and education – were upended by the conflict.

CHINA: China hopes for increased cross-border scientific collaboration
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 1/24
China has signalled its intent to work more closely with foreign universities in a new blueprint for the country’s education system – and analysts believe the focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics could have international appeal despite security concerns. 

UNITED STATES: Trump Takes Aim at DEI in Higher Ed
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 1/23
One of President Donald Trump’s latest executive orders aims to end “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion policies and could upend programs that support underrepresented groups on college campuses.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Finding solidarity “beyond the border” in Southeast Asia – Khoo Ying Hooi on how building regional coalitions can help protect scholars & academic freedom
Scholars at Risk, Free to Think Podcast Episode 40, 1/22
Free to Think speaks with Dr. Khoo Ying Hooi, an Associate Professor at the University of Malaya and 2022-23 Mellon/SAR Academic Freedom Fellow, on academic freedom and coalition building in Southeast Asia.
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SERBIA: Dva meseca studentskih blokada: „Ovo je vapaj za pravnom državom”
BBC News, 1/22
University students across Serbia have been blocking faculties for two months, demanding full criminal responsibility for the collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad that killed 15 people and seriously injured two. Here’s what has happened since the student protests began.

NIGERIA: Beyond the Placards: The Reality of Nigerian Youths Participation in Protests
Glorious Olajire, Campus Reporter, 1/20
Nigerians have been dissatisfied for a long time. In August, social media was agog over the #EndBadGovernance protest.  However, there was low turnout of youths in different states of the country. Despite school fees hike in various tertiary institutions in the past year, Nigeria’s protests are experiencing a decline in youth participation.

INDIA: New rules for Indian vice-chancellor hires ‘disastrous’
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 1/19
Proposed guidelines that would allow non-academics to become vice-chancellors of Indian universities have been criticised by politicians and faculty members as central government overreach. India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) has released draft regulations setting out new guidelines for the recruitment and promotion pathways of university faculty and leaders. 

UKRAINE: Students who fail military exam or refuse oath cannot continue higher ed, official says
Abbey Fenbert, Kyiv Independent, 1/18
Ukrainian university students who fail the basic military training exam or refuse to swear the military oath will not be permitted to continue their studies, Deputy Defense Minister Serhii Melnyk said on Jan. 18. Melnyk’s comments follow the Defense Ministry’s announcement on Jan. 17 that basic military training for students enrolled in higher education institutions will begin in September 2025.

UNITED STATES: Why the American Historical Association Rejected a Resolution on Gaza
Christa Button, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/17
The American Historical Association’s leaders vetoed a resolution Thursday condemning Israel’s deadly attacks on Gaza, an issue that sparked fierce debate among historians at the group’s convention this month.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: End of US-China institute raises fears of more ‘decoupling’
Amber Wang and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 1/17
Academics in China expressed fears of more to come, with “deep uncertainty” surrounding US-China policy under incoming US president Donald Trump, who initiated a “decoupling” between the US and China during his first term as president from 2017 to 2021, and increased scrutiny of US universities’ ties.

UNITED STATES: ‘An alarming overreach’: Florida professors sue over DeSantis-signed DEI restrictions
Douglas Soule, Florida Today, 1/16
A group of Florida professors filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in an attempt to block a 2023 Gov. Ron DeSantis-signed law banning funding for public college and university diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. It “represents an alarming overreach of government control, threatening the very foundation of free expression in Florida’s public universities,” said Jerry Edwards, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, in a statement.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: 90,000 students have lost access to HE in Gaza – Academic
Paul Cochrane, University World News, 1/16
Over and above those tragically killed, as many as 90,000 students in the Gaza Strip have lost access to higher education as a result of Israel’s ongoing military attacks on universities that started in October 2023, according to a senior West Bank university official.

SWEDEN: Academics wary over centralised approach to security risks
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 1/16
Academics are alive to the need for a more strategic approach to internationalisation within the context of a shifting geopolitical landscape but understandably worry about the implications of a new level of bureaucracy for the ability to pursue their core work and enjoy academic freedoms.

INDONESIA: Indonesian scientist under fire for revealing extent of illegal tin mining
Hans Nicholas Jong, Mongabay, 1/14
Prominent Indonesian environmental forensic expert Bambang Hero Saharjo faces yet another potential lawsuit for serving as a state witness against alleged violators, this time in a high-profile tin laundering case.

CHINA: Release Professor Ilham Tohti
Scholars at Risk, 1/15
I write on behalf of the Scholars at Risk Network to express our continued grave concern for Professor Ilham Tohti, a public intellectual and economics professor, who has been imprisoned for 11 years today.
Take Action 

HUNGARY-UNITED STATES: Why Hungary Inspired Trump’s Vision for Higher Ed
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/15
While differences between the educational systems in the two countries could make Hungary’s approach difficult to replicate in the United States, the embrace of Orbán offers insight into the game plan for higher education in the second Trump administration.

EUROPE: Will Europe ramp up defence research? War prompts major rethink
Elizabeth Gibney, Nature, 1/15
A drive to increase university participation in military research is gaining pace across Europe — and meeting resistance.The European Commission is proposing ways to boost dual-use research — that with both civilian and military uses — including by bringing such studies into its flagship multibillion-euro research programme, from which they have historically been excluded.

UNITED STATES-GLOBAL: Latitudes: As Trump nears return, colleges’ foreign ties draw more heat from Congress
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/15
The congressional inquiries into Michigan and other institutions highlight how, in Trump’s four-year absence from power, Congress has continued scrutiny of American colleges’ relationships with China. Lawmakers have approved new disclosure requirements for foreign funds to colleges and barred researchers who receive federal grants from taking part in “malign” talent-recruitment plans like China’s Thousand Talents program, which offers visiting appointments and research stipends to foreign scholars. 

IRAN: La voce di Amadreza Djalali dal carcere di Evin: l’appello per la libertà
Tgr Piedmont, 1/14
On the occasion of his 53rd birthday, which falls on January 14, the Swedish-Iranian scientist Ahmadreza Djalali, arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death since 2017, has sent a desperate appeal from the Iranian prison of Evin to the international community to mobilize to allow his return to Stockholm.
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RUSSIA: Russian academics focus on teaching amid wartime pressures
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 1/11
With new restrictions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, academics prioritised protecting teaching over research, study finds.

GLOBAL: 2024 was tough for higher education. 2025 will be tougher [COMMENTARY]
Hans de Wit and Philip G Altbach, University World News, 1/8
Surprisingly, many in the higher education community are still feeling pretty good about future trends. While 2024 was problematic for higher education and research worldwide, 2025 is not looking better at all.

RUSSIA: “My own classmates turned me in”: How Russian universities are cracking down on anti-war activists
Alyona Lobankova, The Insider, 1/4
Over the past 10 years, 86 students have been expelled, and 92 professors have been dismissed from Russian universities for political reasons, according to The Insider’s tally. 

UNITED STATES: Watching Their Words: Faculty Say They’re Self-Censoring
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 1/9
Newly released results from a wide-ranging survey of U.S. faculty indicate scholars are self-censoring in their communication—both inside and outside the classroom. More than half said they’ve often or occasionally “felt concerned” about their ability to express what they “believe, as a scholar, to be correct statements about the world.”

SUDAN: War shut down Sudan’s universities. But its students refused to give up.
Kate Okorie, The Christian Science Monitor, 1/6
More generally, the war has dealt Sudan’s higher education system a catastrophic blow. Universities have been regularly attacked, looted, and even converted into military bases. This has forced many Sudanese university students to abandon their education. But some, like Ms. Alrashid and Ms. Suleiman, have found ways to continue it abroad.

UNITED STATES: Historians’ Group Votes to Condemn ‘Scholasticide’ in Gaza
Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times, 1/6
Members of the American Historical Association, the country’s largest group of professional historians, approved a resolution on Sunday evening condemning Israel’s military action in Gaza. It argued that the destruction of most of the enclave’s education infrastructure, along with many archives and libraries, amounted to “scholasticide.”

UNITED KINGDOM: Universities failing academics targeted by online abuse – paper
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 1/3
Research found that 74 per cent of academics had experienced online harms as a result of sharing research publicly. Universities have been urged to be more proactive in helping academics who receive “shocking” abuse online, after another year of persistent issues on social media.

UNITED STATES: For Federal Censorship of Higher Ed, Here’s What Could Happen in 2025 [COMMENTARY]
Jeffrey Adam Sachs and Jeremy C. Young, PEN America, 1/2
The GOP’s victory in the November 2024 election will have major implications for academic freedom, free speech, and university autonomy in American higher education. Colleges and universities are entering an extraordinarily difficult period, as many recent proposals aimed at restricting ideas on campus are now more likely to become law or policy. 

SINGAPORE: Singapore academics told to rate speakers’ controversy risk
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 1/2
Singapore’s top-ranked university has introduced a framework for assessing potential campus speakers’ suitability, a year after the disinvitation of a scholar sparked concerns about academic freedom.

UNITED STATES: As Florida colleges change protest rules, some see voices stifled
Divya Kumar, Tampa Bay Times, 1/2
In the months since pro-Palestine protests on college campuses captured the nation’s attention, Florida’s universities have implemented new rules that some feel target certain viewpoints. While the policies don’t explicitly target protests, some are questioning the broader impact of what civic engagement is permitted on colleges.

SYRIA: Women’s place in higher education in question after Syrian coup
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 12/29
Women’s groups have been concerned by statements from the government’s spokesperson, Obeida Arnaout, that women may be “biologically” unsuited for roles in politics. Sardar Saadi, an assistant professor in sociology and anthropology at the University of Carleton and a former co-director of the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities at Syria’s University of Rojava, warned that the future of women in academia may be under threat if the government enforces an Islamist regime and sharia. 

VENEZUELA: USB warns of crisis due to lack of teachers, workplace harassment and attacks on autonomy
Carla Zambrano, TalCual, 12/25
The Universidad Simón Bolívar (USB), recognized as one of the best universities in the country, is facing a serious crisis that ranges from the deterioration of its facilities to the lack of teaching staff. This problem, according to the Association of Professors of the USB (Apusb), is the result of the intervention of the State to control the academic and administrative authorities of the university.

SYRIA: After years of war, can Syria rebuild its ‘miserable’ scientific community?
Richard Stone, Science, 12/23
Once the immediate crisis passes, Syria’s long-term recovery “will rely on rebuilding higher education,” Alachkar says. And with the backing of institutions that threw them lifelines years ago, she and other members of Syria’s scientific diaspora are hatching plans to help beleaguered colleagues who stayed.

CHINA-UNITED STATES: Press Release: Chairs Release 2024 Annual Report
Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 12/20
The 2024 Annual Report provides a detailed account of the People’s Republic of China‘s (PRC) systematic abuses of human rights—most brutally implemented in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tibet, and Hong Kong—and documents the widespread use of arbitrary detention and torture targeting ethnic minorities, human rights lawyers, and advocates for free speech, religious freedom, and an independent civil society. It also reports on two of the Scholars in Prison SAR advocates for: Ilham Tohti and Rahile Dawut. 

UNITED STATES: Is political interference causing faculty brain drain in the southern United States?
Laurie Udesky, Nature, 12/20
A survey of faculty members working in US southern states shows that a significant majority frequently witness or experience political interference that affects morale and is causing many to look for positions in other regions or to leave academia altogether.

NEW ZEALAND: Government to change free speech rules for universities
John Gerritsen, Radio New Zealand, 12/19
The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” consistent with the central government’s expectations.

HUNGARY: Hungarian universities stay blocked from EU grants despite appeal
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 12/18
The European Union has declined to lift measures excluding most Hungarian universities from receiving Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe funding, stating that Hungary “has not sufficiently addressed breaches of the principles of the rule of law.”

UNITED STATES: Idaho education board bans DEI across state’s 4-year colleges
Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive, 12/18
The Idaho State Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday that largely bans diversity, equity and inclusion programming at the state’s public four-year colleges: Boise State University, the University of Idaho, Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College. Under the resolution, the colleges can neither operate student resource or success centers nor have policies or initiatives based on “DEI ideology.” 

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: Academics strike over government’s unfulfilled promises
Augustin Sadiki, University World News, 12/17
Academic staff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have halted all academic activities since 9 December in a protest about unfulfilled promises by the government to increase their salaries. According to the striking academics, they will not return to classes until all their concerns have been resolved.

SYRIA/GERMANY: Syria’s Universities: Between Hope and New Beginnings
Michael Lang, SWR, 12/16
In a recent statement dated December 14, 2024, German and Syrian academics appeal to Germany to finance research projects and, in addition to building infrastructure, to support the education system in Syria. 

UNITED STATES: DEI Bans Flourished in 2024. Politicians Aren’t Finished.
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 12/16
Six states passed new anti-DEI laws this year, leading institutions to change hiring practices, close DEI offices and end DEI trainings. Look for more in 2025.

UNITED STATES: ‘A chilling effect’: Conduct guidelines cast shadow of concern over faculty
Hope Pisoni, Washington Square News, 12/14
In a series of interviews with WSN, faculty members expressed concern over NYU’s updated conduct guidelines for the academic year, which cite “code words, like ‘Zionist,’” as examples of speech that could violate the university’s non-discrimination policy.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: US and China sign new science pact — but with severe restrictions
Natasha Gilbert & Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, 12/13
The United States and China have signed a brand-new, five-year agreement that dictates how the nations will cooperate on science and technology research. The pact is narrower in scope than its predecessor, covering only collaboration on basic science projects between departments and agencies of the two governments and excluding work on ‘critical and emerging technologies’ potentially important to national security, such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors. 

IRAN: Iran’s brain drain will not be stemmed by repression [COMMENTARY]
Roohola Ramezani, Times Higher Education, 12/13
Iran’s leaders must recognise that emigration is not a betrayal but rather a symptom of deeper societal issues that must be addressed. Otherwise, whatever repressive measures they introduce, the exodus will persist, leaving Iran’s universities – and its future – in jeopardy.

UNITED STATES: How Students Feel About Campus Speech, in 5 Graphics 
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 12/13
A new Student Voice flash survey on campus speech issues from Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab finds that students most blame other students (versus other groups) for escalating tensions over campus speech. Politicians aren’t off the hook, though, coming in at a close second. At the same time, just one in 10 students is very concerned about the climate for campus speech at their institution; another three in 10 are somewhat concerned.

NIGERIA: Justice for outspoken lecturer 22 years after he was fired
Abdulganiyu Abdulrahman Akanbi, University World News, 12/12
A lecturer who has been embroiled in a legal battle with the University of Uyo in Nigeria because he was fired unjustly has won his case after 22 years. The Court of Appeal, Calabar, Cross River State, has found in his favour, which means the university has to reinstate him and pay him damages.

MYANMAR: Physical university in ‘liberated’ area continues to expand
Padone, University World News, 12/10
Amid the ongoing fighting in Myanmar, Kachin State has set up an autonomous university on the ground at Laiza, an area in the north of the country controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), an ethnic armed group in Myanmar.

NIGERIA: Stop taking oil funding, Nigerian students urge universities
Sibusiso Biyela, Research Professional News, 12/12
The report claims that scholarships from fossil fuel companies can create a conflict of interest for recipient individuals and institutions, resulting in the suppression of research criticising the environmental and social impacts of the oil industry. “Moreover, students who receive these scholarships may feel indebted to their benefactors, potentially influencing their future career choices and ethical stances,” the authors write. 

MYANMAR: In divided Myanmar, graduates of a parallel education system struggle for recognition
Kiana Duncan, Radio Free Asia, 12/11
After the military largely crushed a civil disobedience movement, many angry young people have refused education under its auspices. Instead, they look to independent institutions including ones run by a parallel government in exile, the National Unity Government, or NUG.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: The Plight of the Palestinian Scientist
Katrina Miller, The New York Times, 12/10
Four Palestinian researchers describe how conflict in Gaza and the West Bank has hindered their careers in science and medicine.

INDIA: Court Stays Delhi Univ Student’s Expulsion Over Slogan On A Wall, But Crackdown On Student Dissent Grows Nationwide
Saher Hiba Khan, Article 14, 12/10
Delhi University’s expulsion of an MA Student for writing a slogan calling for protests against a government examination agency on a campus wall—stayed by the Delhi High Court—reflects a larger clampdown on freedom of speech and activism across India’s educational institutions. The university proctor, Rajni Abbi, said the university faced a dilemma in dealing with wall writing with the Delhi High Court ‘coming after them’ if they do not take punitive action and students protesting if they do.

ARGENTINA: ‘There will be nothing left’: researchers fear collapse of science in Argentina
Martín De Ambrosio and Fermín Koop, Nature, 12/9
It has been one year since libertarian President Javier Milei took office in Argentina, and the nation’s science is facing collapse, researchers say. Milei’s agenda to reduce the country’s deficit and lower inflation — which had topped 211% last year — has meant that, as his administration’s slogan says, “there is no money” for science or anything else. 

SYRIA: What’s next for Syria’s science: a view from Nature’s reporter who was a refugee [COMMENTARY]
Miryam Naddaf, Nature, 12/9
Syria might now have an opportunity to rebuild its scientific community, says Miryam Naddaf who fled her country a decade ago.

AFGHANISTAN: Despair grips Afghan women healthcare students facing ban
France24, 12/9
For Saja, studying nursing at a healthcare institute in Kabul was her last lifeline to make something of herself after women were banned from universities in Afghanistan two years ago. But the Taliban government has crushed this ambition by ordering, according to multiple sources, the exclusion of Afghan women from medical training, sparking panic across institutions.

UNITED STATES: A Firestorm Against the AAUP
Garrett Shanley, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/6
At a time when Republican lawmakers and conservative activists are pushing to restrict what’s said and taught on college campuses, the professoriate needs to send a message, supporters say. But the AAUP’s fresh vision has provoked a reckoning over how academic freedom should be defined and defended, particularly amid the ongoing war in Gaza and the incoming Trump administration.

UNITED STATES: Trump promises a crackdown on diversity initiatives. Fearful institutions are dialing them back already
Alice Speri, The Guardian, 12/5
As the president-elect and his allies plan a multi-pronged attack on DEI policies, companies and campuses are complying with threats even though they don’t have to. 

UNITED STATES: Should a Student Reporter Face Prosecution for Embedding with Protesters?
Bill Grueskin, Columbia Journalism Review, 12/4
Dilan Gohill won an award for his work at the Stanford Daily, but his coverage of campus protests has set university officials against him. 

Bangladesh: Student death sparks new violence between student groups
Mohiuddin Alamgir, University World News, 12/4
Classes and exams in at least eight major colleges, some of them affiliated with Dhaka University and another university in the Bangladesh capital, faced disruption for over a week following a number of violent clashes between students, in which many were injured.

AFGHANISTAN: Global outcry grows over new Taliban decree targeting Afghan women
Ayaz Gul, VOA News, 12/4
The United Nations called on Afghanistan’s radical Taliban leaders Wednesday to refrain from implementing a recently reported decree that prohibits women from pursuing medical education in the crisis-ridden country.

UNITED STATES: A Punishing Year: Student discipline is shrouded in secrecy. But antiwar protests have cast a harsh spotlight.
Kate Hidalgo Bellows, Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/4
The student-conduct system is a routine part of campus life. But over the past year, the tidal wave of disciplinary cases from pro-Palestinian protests, the scrutiny from politicians and advocacy organizations, and the lawsuits claiming unfair treatment have been anything but routine.

CHINA/HONG KONG: South China Sea: scientists see China collaboration as crucial to saving marine life
Holly Chik, South China Morning Post, 12/4
Foreign marine science researchers in Hong Kong are working to exchange expertise and partner with scientists in mainland China amid geopolitical tension and restrictions on fieldwork in sensitive waters such as the South China Sea.

GEORGIA: “I will not obey this law or censor myself” – Georgian universities strike in response to the actions of the country’s pro-Russian government
Aino Mielo, Häme Sanomat, 12/3
The division that is tearing Georgia apart between the country’s pro-European and pro-Russian forces has now caused some of the country’s universities to go on strike. Higher education institutions oppose the postponement of EU membership negotiations and the reform of the law on teaching censorship.

INDIA: Jamia Millia Students Up in Arms Over Ban on Protests, Sloganeering
Clarion India, 12/2
The move by the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) administration to impose a ban on all demonstrations, sit-ins, and sloganeering without prior permission has triggered widespread protests and concern across the campus. The controversial notice, issued on Sunday, is a direct response to a recent protest by students against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

AFGHANISTAN: Now the Taliban is banning lecturers from pursuing higher study abroad [COMMENTARY]
Anonymous, Times Higher Education, 12/2
Scholars who win foreign scholarships will have no jobs to return to in Afghanistan if they decide to take them up, says an Afghan academic.

INDIA: Will the Centre’s ‘one nation one subscription’ scheme restrict academic freedom?
Johanna Deeksha, Scroll.in, 11/28
Though the government has claimed that the “one nation, one subscription” scheme is “a timely step towards establishing India in the global research ecosystem,” faculty members from institutions across the country told Scroll that they were concerned that it could actually constrain their work.

LEBANON/ISRAEL: Israeli military attacks worsen Lebanese university crises
Paul Cochrane, University World News, 11/27
The two-month long Israeli military attacks on Lebanon – an escalation of a year-long conflict between Israel and Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah – has hit the country’s higher education sector hard. 

AUSTRALIA/CANADA/UNITED KINGDOM: Limits on foreign students are harming research, universities warn
Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, 11/27
From the United Kingdom and Canada to Australia, universities say that border restrictions have led to large declines in international-student enrolments, and that these are crunching their budgets, global reputations and ability to contribute to global science.

AUSTRALIA: University of Sydney review proposes ‘civility rule’ that requires ‘meaning of contested words’ to be made clear
Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian, 11/27
The University of Sydney senate has backed the introduction of a new “civility rule” requiring speakers to “make the meaning of contested words and phrases clear to the audience” and to maintain its strict ban on protests in buildings, prompting accusations it is curbing freedom of speech.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE: How the invasion of Ukraine is affecting Russian expat researchers
Benjamin Plackett, Nature, 11/25
Anti-Russian sentiment and government sanctions have left many Russian scientists struggling to develop their careers abroad.

UNITED STATES: Florida politics is seeping into FIU curriculum. Enraged professors call it censorship
Clara-Sophia Daly, Miami Herald, 11/22
A state law that limits the content allowed to be taught in general education classes at universities is being implemented and has caused uproar among professors at Florida International University. The law aims to weed out general education courses “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.”

UNITED STATES: Conservative professors and students are suing California’s community colleges, and winning
Adam Echelman, CalMatters, 11/21
CalMatters identified at least seven cases filed since 2020 in which professors or students have sued their community college districts for issues related to free speech. Most of the cases are still ongoing and are located in California’s Central Valley, in counties where Republicans often outnumber Democrats. Although separate, many of these lawsuits include similar allegations: that programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion are restricting the right to free speech under the First Amendment. 

UNITED STATES: Texas Governor Orders New Restrictions on Colleges’ Ties to China and Other ‘Adversarial’ Countries
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/21
An executive order issued by Texas’ governor to “protect the state” from China and other “foreign adversary countries” would impose new restrictions and security requirements on public colleges, including potentially barring travel for faculty research and student recruitment to China.

GLOBAL: The Crisis of Displaced Scientists—And How You Can Help
Kendra Redmond, Radiations, 11/15|
Hundreds of scientists—even thousands—can be displaced from their home countries in any given year, according to Michael Martin, a national laboratory scientist and advocate for displaced scientists. According to the National Academies, an estimated 5,000 have fled Ukraine alone since 2022. Persecution, conflicts, and war are simultaneously displacing scientists from Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela, Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, and other areas.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Gaza war dashes hopes of scholarship holders 
Amira Dakroury, BBC Arabic, 11/21
Israa’s story is one of hundreds of stories of students enrolled in international universities who were unable to continue their studies because they were in the Gaza Strip when the war broke out on October 7, 2023, which put their future in danger because most of them have scholarships that are conditional on students achieving certain study rates that require their presence in universities. 

UNITED STATES/ASIA: How Project 2025 could reshape US HE for Asian students
James Yoonil Auh, University World News, 11/20
Project 2025’s tighter immigration controls and visa restrictions could impact international students, especially those from Asia, who make up over 60% of the US international student population. Increased scrutiny may deter students from key countries like China, India and South Korea, potentially affecting US universities reliant on foreign STEM talent.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong jails pro-democracy academic Benny Tai for 10 years
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 11/19
A law academic fired by Hong Kong’s top university after helping to spearhead the city’s pro-democracy movement has been sentenced to 10 years in jail in a landmark case. Benny Tai, 60, was one of 47 activists accused of conspiring to commit subversion for their role in organising an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 ahead of a legislative election.

MOZAMBIQUE: Post-election political protests disrupt academic activities 
Clemence Manyukwe, University World News, 11/19
Ongoing political protests in Mozambique have disrupted learning at institutions of higher education across the country amid claims that some students who participated in the demonstrations have been kidnapped and tortured. Mozambique has been gripped by unrest since 24 October when the results of the 9 October election were announced.

UNITED STATES: As Trump Threatens Deportations, Campus Leaders Tread Carefully
Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed, 11/18
When Trump sailed to victory this month on a platform that promised mass deportations while blaming undocumented immigrants for many of the country’s ills, fear and uncertainty spiked among the roughly 400,000 undocumented students in the U.S. In the days since, some higher ed leaders have started bolstering counseling and legal services for undocumented students.

UNITED STATES: Trump’s anti-science appointees ‘drive demonisation of scholars’
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 11/18
Researchers who have stood up against vaccine scepticism are likely to face increased threats as Donald Trump appoints “anti-science” figures to his administration, experts have warned. Since Mr Trump was elected US president on 5 November, high-profile scientists have been deluged with abuse on social media, most notably with renewed calls for Anthony Fauci, America’s former public health chief, to be prosecuted and “held responsible” for his advice during the pandemic.

SWITZERLAND: How Swiss universities prevent spying from high-risk countries   
Matthew Allen, Swissinfo.ch, 11/15
Swiss universities actively collaborate with their counterparts around the world, drawing on a wide variety of expertise, perspectives and cultures. “International collaborations create an ideal breeding ground for tackling major global challenges,” said swissuniversities in 2022. External link, the organization that brings together tertiary education in the Confederation. However, Swiss and other intelligence services warn that cutting-edge research also becomes fertile ground for foreign espionage by hostile countries. 

GLOBAL: International enrollment hit by policies, visa curbs – Study
Nathan Greenfield, University World News, 11/15
According to a new global benchmark survey across 66 countries, 41% of responding universities reported a decline in the number of international postgraduate students these universities have enrolled compared to last year, while 31% of responding universities reported a decline in their undergraduate international enrollees. 

GLOBAL: Les libertés académiques sont de plus en plus menacées dans un monde où s’accroissent les tensions géopolitiques
Antoine Reverchon, Le Monde, 11/14
But the case of Victor⁢ Dupont, a doctoral student at the University of Aix-Marseille, arrested ‌on 19‌ October in‌ Tunisia – while there he was working on his thesis on the relationship between young graduates and politics – and brought before ‌a military tribunal for “having⁤ put State security⁣ is in danger” has made visible a trend that alarms the community of social science researchers: academic freedoms are increasingly threatened in a world⁣ in which⁤ geopolitical tensions and the control of authoritarian political powers are‍ increasing. 

SOUTH KOREA: Uproar over bid to turn women’s university co-ed spreads
Yumi Jeung, University World News, 11/14
Moves to turn South Korea’s Dongduk Women’s University into a co-educational institution sparked a fierce response from the university’s students this month. The protests, which began on 11 November, rapidly intensified, involving hundreds of students, with police called to the campus this Monday.

TANZANIA: Tanzania’s academics seek to reclaim ‘lost’ intellectual freedom 
Jacob Mosenda, The Citizen, 11/13
Academics in Tanzania are reigniting their voice and intellectual role in society, striving to restore a legacy of critical thought and social advocacy once synonymous with the nation’s universities. Central to the effort is the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), an institution historically celebrated as a hub of thought-provoking debates and social insights.

AZERBAIJAN: Calls to free Azerbaijani academic as climate summit kicks off
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 11/13
Rights groups are calling for the release of an academic who was detained in Azerbaijan after criticising the government’s fossil fuel policies, as the country hosts the COP29 climate conference.

UNITED STATES: A Texas University Tells Professors Their Teaching and Research Will be Under ‘Intense Scrutiny
Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/13
Faculty members at the University of North Texas at Denton fear their teaching and research on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion will be curtailed by their own university’s interpretation of a state law targeting DEI efforts — and, in one college, they say it already has.

UNITED STATES: Latitudes: What Trump 2.0 means for international education
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/13
International education had an uneasy relationship with Donald J. Trump during his first term in office, and his reelection to the presidency has many wondering what’s next. Over the past week, I’ve spoken with leaders and experts and heard from many of you about the big questions Trump’s victory poses for the field.

ISRAEL: Israeli budget cuts ‘devastating’ for universities
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 11/11
“Devastating” government budget cuts have left university leaders concerned about the future of Israel’s higher education sector. 

PHILIPPINES: Activists urge private schools association to rethink affiliation with NTF-ELCAC
Ched Rick Gatchalian, ABS-CBN News, 11/9
The inclusion of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict has raised concerns of potential red-tagging, intimidation and surveillance in schools from groups that have been targeted by the task force. In a statement on Saturday, ACT Teachers Party-List said the move, which includes planned “information campaigns” in schools, “poses serious threats to academic freedom” and could put students and teachers at risk.

ARGENTINA: ‘Scienticide’: Argentina’s science workforce shrinks as government pursues austerity
Maria De Los Angeles Orfila, Science, 11/8
For the first time in 2 decades, Argentina’s scientific community is experiencing substantial job losses and funding cuts as a result of austerity policies imposed by President Javier Milei, two recent analyses have found. Researchers worry diminishing prospects at home will lead more Argentine scientists to look for work abroad.

NICARAGUA: Alarming erosion of freedom and academic autonomy
UN News, 11/8
In a new report released on Friday, the three-person group of experts – who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council – found authorities have used physical and psychological violence, including threats of intimidation, beatings and prolonged solitary confinement against both students and faculty. Some of these cases could amount to torture and largely involve students and professors who participated in widespread anti-Government protests in 2018 or those who have publicly criticised the Government of President Daniel Ortega.

CANADA: A breach in university autonomy [COMMENTARY]
Christian Blanchette, Ledevoir, 11/8
The members of the National Assembly of Quebec are beginning the study of Bill 74, which aims to further regulate the reception of international students. Through this approach, the government hopes to give the Ministers of Immigration, Education and Higher Education the means to control the number of international registrations. It is crucial to highlight the impact of this legislation on university autonomy, a fundamental pillar of our higher education system.

NIGER/BURKINA FASO/ MALI: Universities struggle as military rulers fight other threats
Chiaka Doumbia and Labarou Baba, University World News, 11/7
During the past few years, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been caught up in political turmoil. From coups to Islamist insurgencies, these West African Sahel countries have been facing ongoing insecurity that has also opened them up to power struggles involving global foreign powers that want to wield influence in the region.

UNITED STATES: Assessing the Trump factor in US science: fear and uncertainty
Richard L. Hudson, Science|Business, 11/7
Indeed, what Trump will actually do on science and tech policy is a mystery, of his own making. On the campaign trail, he presented voters with a bundle of contradictions and exaggerations about what he might do – and those were further muddled by alarming pledges from allies like anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., mega-billionaire Elon Musk, the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank and a crowd of Republican state and Congressional candidates, all vying for media attention.

IRAQ: Higher education corruption is ‘threatening Iraq’s future’
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 11/7
International higher education adviser Professor Mohamed Al-Rubeai, an emeritus professor and Conway Fellow at the University College Dublin and chair of the Network of Iraqi Scientists Abroad (NISA), told University World News the Raseef22 report “underscores the severe decline of higher education in Iraq due to rampant corruption, political interference and underfunding”.

SWITZERLAND: ETH foreign student screening leans on West’s sanctions list 
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 11/7
A move by one of Switzerland’s top ranked universities to vet students from a list of countries that includes China has brought the university, despite Switzerland’s neutral geopolitical stance, in line with approaches taken by the United States and European Union countries in response to research security concerns.

UNITED STATES: What Trump’s Victory Means for Higher Ed
Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed, 11/6
A second Trump administration will likely ramp up scrutiny of colleges and universities and empower advocates for sweeping reform of the sector during a historically unstable time for American higher education. As enrollments flounder and public disillusionment with college cost grows—and after a year of negative public attention over campus protesters and federal policy blunders on student debt and financial aid—that shift could have transformative implications for higher ed.

GEORGIA/MOLDOVA: Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 11/6
Academics have raised fears that Georgian higher education could face “complete isolation” from the European Union after the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party claimed victory in last month’s parliamentary elections, a result contested by the country’s pro-EU opposition. The poll followed an unexpectedly tight referendum result in Moldova, in which voters backed EU membership by an exceptionally slim margin.

SUDAN: In yet another global hot spot, education is a casualty
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/6
A report from the Rift Valley Institute, an education-focused nonprofit organization that operates in eastern and central Africa, details the toll on Sudanese higher education. The ferocity of the fighting in Khartoum, the capital and Sudan’s educational hub, has dislocated the “overwhelming majority” of the country’s 700,000 students and 14,000 professors. Yet some institutions have managed to keep going in some capacity, allowing students to continue or even complete their studies.

MALTA: Faculty of Education wants restrictions on teachers speaking to media lifted
Times of Malta, 11/5
“As educational scholars and advocates for academic freedom, we view these restrictions as a troubling encroachment on educators’ fundamental right to freedom of expression – a right enshrined not only in democratic values but also in international human rights frameworks,” the Faculty said in a statement on Tuesday that was signed by its Dean, Colin Calleja.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: GOP Rep Calls on U of Michigan to End Chinese Partnership
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 11/5
A Michigan Republican has called on the University of Michigan to break ties with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a Chinese institution, alleging potential risks to research integrity and ties to the Chinese military, according to a copy of the letter that U.S. Representative John Moolenaar sent to UM president Santa Ono.

INDONESIA: Academic freedom fears as new Indonesian president takes office
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 11/4
Academic freedom in Indonesia looks set to continue to decline under the leadership of a new president known for his authoritarian stance, scholars have warned.

LEBANON: ‘Existential’ threat to Lebanese universities amid Israeli action
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 11/4
Lebanon’s higher education system faces “existential” threats as students and staff are displaced by Israel’s invasion, a sector leader has warned.

UNITED STATES: Amid Protests, Iowa Regents Begin Messy Process of Rooting Out DEI
Brian Charles, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/4
The Iowa Board of Regents is getting a jump-start on eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at its three public universities months before a state law banning the programs goes into effect. The Board of Regents is conducting a “unit by unit” examination of DEI programming at Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa. 

UNITED STATES: Defending Democracy, Defending the University [COMMENTARY]
Michael S. Roth, Inside Higher Ed, 11/1
During this electoral season, we have seen a dramatic escalation of attacks on the autonomy of our educational institutions. These have gone hand in hand with the attacks on democracy. Both are under direct threat from populist authoritarianism in this country and around the world. 

NORDIC COUNTRIES: Academic unions demand action over academic freedom threats
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 11/1
Academic trade unions from Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland presented a report on academic freedom at universities to the 2024 session of the Nordic Council which called for renewed efforts to protect academic freedom which they say is increasingly under pressure in the region.

EUROPE: Far-right governments seek to cut billions of euros from research in Europe
David Matthews, Nature, 10/28
A surge in far-right parties entering governments across Europe is raising concerns for science. The parties, whose focus is typically immigration, care little about research, say policy experts. In the Netherlands — where the Party for Freedom (PVV), led by the anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, entered a coalition government in July — researchers are bracing for €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) in cuts to the budget, the worst in decades.

UNITED STATES: The AAUP’s New President Is Not Staying Neutral
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 10/30
“There are massive political intrusions coming on, coming at us around academic freedom. There’s no way to be a neutral arbiter. We must stand for things in this environment.” Wolfson says he’s fighting two crises: divestment from public higher education that began in the 1970s, plus the “attempt from the right wing to take control of our institutions and control what we think and say and research and what our students learn and say.”

ARGENTINA: UBA goes to court against Milei over government-led audits
Martina Jaureguy, Buenos Aires Herald, 10/29
The University of Buenos Aires (UBA) will go to court over the government’s decision to audit the institution via a public body controlled by the Executive Power, which, they state, would violate public university autonomy. “We want to be audited according to what the law states,” said UBA rector Ricardo Gelpi during a press conference on Monday.

UNITED STATES: U of Missouri–Kansas City Dissolves DEI Office
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 10/29
The University of Missouri–Kansas City announced Friday it will dissolve its diversity and inclusion office, KCUR reported. In an email to the campus community, UMKC chancellor Mauli Agrawal said the institution would move to a “decentralized campus inclusion model” starting Nov. 1.

UNITED STATES: A Clash Over Core Curriculum at New College of Florida
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 10/29
Amid statewide efforts to overhaul general education courses, New College of Florida is making sweeping changes to its core curriculum. Faculty members say those efforts, driven by conservative ideologues, will limit students’ access to knowledge and undermine NCF’s founding mission as Florida’s only public liberal arts college.

NORWAY: Released Ahmadreza Djalali now [COMMENTARY]
Svein Stølen, University Forum, 10/28
The researcher Ahmadreza Djalali has been imprisoned in Iran with a death sentence hanging over him since 2016. In addition to being a violation of basic human rights, the trial and sentence against him are a serious attack on academic freedom.

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh’s new outcasts: Students from ex-PM Hasina’s party now in hiding
Mehedi Hasan Marof, Al Jazeera, 10/27
Fahmi’s story mirrors that of thousands of students formerly affiliated with the AL, whose once-powerful hold over Bangladesh’s campuses collapsed overnight. The former powerbrokers on campuses and the AL’s muscle on the streets now face eviction, retribution and even imprisonment for their role in trying to suppress the popular revolt against Hasina and for the rights violations they allegedly committed while she was in power.

SOUTH KOREA: 99% of medical school professors: “Government’s refusal to allow medical students to take a leave of absence is a violation of university autonomy”
Pyo Tae-jun, The Chosun Daily, 10/26
A survey found that 99% of medical school professors believe that the government’s decision to not allow medical students to take a leave of absence is an infringement on the autonomy of universities.

AZERBAIJAN: The Persecution of Iqbal Abilov Undermines Academic Freedom –  SAR
24RG, 10/26
The international network Scholars at Risk (SAR) Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates has expressed concern regarding the criminal prosecution of Iqbal Abilov, a Talysh researcher in Azerbaijan. The organization noted that Abilov, a citizen of Azerbaijan and a lecturer at Belarusian State University, was arrested in July of this year on charges of “high treason,” “calls against the state,” and “inciting interethnic hatred.” This situation raises alarms about the state of academic freedom and the safety of scholars in Azerbaijan.

GLOBAL: Universities have a duty beyond the production of knowledge [COMMENTARY]
Nishat Riaz and Mary Stiasny, University of World News, 10/25
Universities can transcend their traditional roles of teaching and research. They can actively engage with society’s most urgent challenges, working towards building fairer, more resilient communities. The future of higher education lies not just in the production of knowledge but in its application to real-world problems, fostering empathy, inclusivity and sustainable development. 

NETHERLANDS: Discord over planned cuts to international student numbers
Jan Petter Myklebust, University of World News, 10/25
Protests by higher education stakeholders are set to continue after the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Eppo Bruins presented a policy to the House of Representatives that will limit the number of undergraduate international students coming to study in the Netherlands by one-third and save the government €293 million (US$317 million).

INDIA/CANADA: India row adds to challenge of attracting students to Canada
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 10/25
Diplomatic tensions between Canada and India could further damage “brand Canada” among international students, experts have warned.

IRAN: Women Scientists Around the World: Strategies for Gender Equality
Léa Nacache and Marie-Françoise Roy, International Science Council, 10/17
Dr. Encieh Erfani, ISC Fellow, is an Iranian physicist specialized in cosmology. Amid Iran’s oppressive regime towards women, her resignation in 2022, following Mahsa Amini’s death, marked a significant act of resistance against gender apartheid and set her on the path to exile. 

UNITED STATES: International University Leaders Convene to Discuss Threats to Academic Freedom
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 10/24
Speakers linked academic freedom and the future of democracy less than two weeks before the presidential election.

BANGLADESH: Why are students protesting in Bangladesh again, a month after Sheikh Hasina fled the country?
The Economic Times, 10/23
Protests have once again erupted in Bangladesh. On Tuesday, several hundred protesters attempted to storm the presidential palace, known as Bangabhaban, but the army blocked their way with barricades. Witnesses and TV footage showed demonstrators, representing various groups, clashing with police as they tried to enter the palace.

CHINA: Xi Jinping tightens stranglehold on China’s academia
Joe Leahy, Sun Yu, Kana Inagaki, The Financial Times, 10/23
Hu is one of a growing number of scholars targeted in recent years as the Communist party under Xi tightens its grip on academia. The crackdown has targeted Chinese intellectuals overseas as well as those working within the country, muzzling public discussion of not only traditionally sensitive topics such as politics and international relations, but also China’s struggling economy.

AUSTRALIA: Geopolitics underpins Australian caps, says policy analyst 
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 10/23
Universities must come to grips with the geopolitical undercurrents driving Canberra’s international education crackdown, rather than simply dismissing it as an “isolated populist thing”, according to a foreign policy expert. Philipp Ivanov said Australian universities had failed to appreciate the global trends underpinning the government’s proposal to cap international enrolments, and this had blunted their ability to mount an effective defence.

CHINA: Security concerns about Chinese students ‘may be politicised’
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 10/22
Incidents involving Chinese international students in prohibited or sensitive areas could be “politicised” ahead of key elections, a security analyst has warned. It comes as five Chinese students in the US were charged with misleading investigators and clearing images from their phones after being found on a military site in Michigan.

INDIA: The Heart That Never Surrendered: A Mother’s Fight for G.N. Saibaba 
Ashok Kumbamu, The Wire, 10/21
Despite the immense pain she endured, G.N. Saibaba’s mother Suryavati embodied the spirit of resistance.

ARGENTINA: Public university protests escalate in challenge to Argentina’s President Milei
Isabel Debre, Associated Press, 10/21
Last week’s road blockades were the latest in a series of protests this month expected to intensify across Argentina in response to Milei’s veto of a law increasing funding for public universities. Many professors began a 48-hour strike Monday. After convincing centrist lawmakers to abandon their support for the teacher salary boost meant to compensate for sky-high inflation, Milei’s minority far-right government upheld the veto in the Senate earlier this month. 

QATAR/INDONESIA/AFGHANISTAN: Qatar, Indonesia join efforts to provide Afghan students with university scholarships
Asmahan Qarjouli, Doha News, 10/21
Qatar and Indonesia are providing scholarships to students from Afghanistan to pursue their higher education in the latter under a new memorandum of understanding signed between both countries.

UNITED STATES: Pro-Palestinian college protests lose some steam in new academic year
Lexi Lonas Cochran and Yash Roy, The Hill, 10/18
The pro-Palestinian protests that roiled university life last academic year have been much quieter in the first few weeks of the fall semester, as a combination of activist turnover, fatigue and new rules turn down the volume on campus turbulence.

GLOBAL: Student voices on the global policy-making stage are growing [COMMENTARY] 
Manja Klemencic, University World News, 10/16
Organisations representing students exist at most universities and colleges in the world, but their involvement in institutional decision-making varies significantly: from no involvement and needs-based consultation to representing at least a third of all members in academic senates.

IA: Universities beef up security as Al-Shabaab threat grows
Ramadhan Rajab, University World News, 10/17
Universities in Somalia are facing heightened alerts as the country’s security situation continues to deteriorate. While Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab has been pushed away from controlling large swathes of Somalia, especially in the country’s south over the past 12 years, it has recently increased terror attacks.

SOMALIA: Universities beef up security as Al-Shabaab threat grows
Ramadhan Rajab, University World News, 10/17
Universities in Somalia are facing heightened alerts as the country’s security situation continues to deteriorate. While Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab has been pushed away from controlling large swathes of Somalia, especially in the country’s south over the past 12 years, it has recently increased terror attacks.

UNITED STATES: How a Rejected Course on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Rattled a Department
Amanda Friedman, The Chronicle on Higher Education, 10/15
DeGraff has accused the university of infringing on his academic freedom, which he’s written about in columns for The Tech, MIT’s student newspaper, and in social-media posts. Meanwhile, linguistics faculty members have pushed back, condemning DeGraff for pinning the course’s rejection on political bias and for singling out the head of their department, who is Jewish and Israeli.

ALBANIA: Draft Law “On Science and Scientific Research”/ VOA: Contradicts the Constitution and violates academic freedom
Politiko, 10/13
In Albania, the draft law “On Science and Scientific Research” submitted for public consultation by the government is provoking discussions among researchers and official authorities, at a time when funding for it is low, and scientific products do not penetrate into different areas of life in Albania.

INDIA: GN Saibaba obituary: Voice that never stopped defending Dalit-Adivasi rights
Jinka Nagaraju, The Federal, 10/13
With the death of Prof. Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba on Saturday (October 12), a vibrant chapter of resistance against the violence against Adivasis in the central Indian mineral-rich forests came to an end. The 57-year-old former professor, despite his 90 per cent disability and wheelchair-bound life, never hesitated to defend in public the rights of the Dalits and Adivasis till his arrest on May 9, 2014. 

PAKISTAN/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: First batch of 27 Palestinian medical students leave for Pakistan to continue studies 
Arab News, 10/13
The first batch of 27 Palestinian medical students left for Pakistan from Cairo on Sunday to continue their medical studies in the South Asian country, the Pakistani embassy in Egypt said in a statement. 

IRAN: Iranian president faces protests at Tehran University, avoids key issues 
Iran International, 10/13
Two years ago, during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, Iranian universities became hubs of unrest, with students openly protesting against the government, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Pezeshkian’s speech, which was broadcast live on state television, was a reminder of the divide between the government and the student body. 

PHILIPPINES: Military deal threatens academic freedom, say Filipino students
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 10/12
In August, the University of the Philippines (UP) entered into a controversial agreement with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that will see the two parties collaborate on research, partnerships and “capacity-building initiatives”. Since then, faculty and students alike have condemned the agreement for endangering them and jeopardising academic freedom.

UNITED STATES/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Inside the Partnership Between Harvard Researchers and a Palestinian University
Tilly R. Robinson, The Harvard Crimson, 10/11
Amid escalating conflict in the Middle East — and scrutiny in the American media — the Palestine Program’s faculty have done their best to continue research that they say is more urgent than ever.

UNITED STATES: Colleges rethink their political voice
Rebecca Carballo, Politico, 10/11
More than a dozen universities are banning official stances on politics a year after Hamas’ attack on Israel spiraled into an international crisis and felled several university presidents in its wake. The schools argue they put their students’ rights at risk when institutions take sides on major issues. A competing contingent of colleges insists they have an obligation to speak out against societal wrongs. 

SCOTLAND/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: ‘My children still panic’: Academic opens up on family life in Scotland after escaping war-torn Gaza
Martyn McLaughlin, The Scotsman, 10/10
Amani Ahmed was forced to leave her four young children behind when she fled the Palestinian territory to pursue her PhD in Scotland, and was left fearing for their safety as their family home was damaged by air strikes. But after becoming one of the first Gazan academics to be spirited to safety by the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA), she is now enrolled in a fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, with her family alongside her.

POLAND: Academics push back against moves to put Polish Academy of Sciences under government control
Anna Rzhevkina, Science | Business, 10/9
The Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) has hit back at government plans to reform the structure of the academy, claiming the ministry of science is attempting to impose political control. The government says the goal is to “democratise” the academy.

GLOBAL: University attacks in democracies ‘embolden illiberal regimes’
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 10/8
Restrictions on academic freedom in Europe and the US are being “exported to the rest of the world”, says Free to Think 2024, published on 8 October by Scholars at Risk, which adds that liberal and authoritarian governments are “increasingly taking pages from each other’s playbooks” to damage their higher education sectors.

UNITED STATES: Princeton reverses ban on fossil fuel companies funding research
Amanda Chu and Andrew Jack, Financial Times, 10/8
Princeton University has reversed a policy that had sharply constrained the funding of academic research by fossil fuel companies, after pressure from faculty members and concerns that the rules risked hindering work on environmental challenges.

INDIA: India slipped on academic freedom index over the past decade: report
Maitri Porecha, The Hindu, 10/8
Annual report published by the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Academic Freedom Monitoring Project says the most pressing threats to the academic freedom of students and scholars include measures to exert political control and impose a Hindu nationalist agenda on universities. 

UNITED STATES: A Year of Investigations, Punishments and Arrests of Scholars
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 10/8
Fired. Or suspended until a limited employment contract expired. Delisted from the university’s website, with no public explanation. Facing criminal charges. Possible deportation. Or back at work, after seeing charges dropped and investigations end. These have been among the varied fates—so far—of multiple faculty and graduate student workers who’ve faced controversies since Oct. 7, 2023, for their actual or alleged speech or protest participation regarding Israel and Palestine.

UNITED STATES: Higher Ed Censorship Becoming More Discreet, PEN Reports
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 10/8
According to PEN America’s 2024 “America’s Censored Classrooms” report, a total of 29 bills aimed at dismantling the “autonomy” of higher education were proposed over the past year across 12 states; five were passed. The most common categories of proposed bills were ones that sought to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion; mandate institutional neutrality; or take curriculum control out of faculty’s hands.

NEPAL: Nepal university strives to break free of political interference
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 10/7
A new national university planned to open next year could lead the way in reforming Nepal’s underperforming higher education sector if it can secure sustainable funding and resist political pressure, academics believe.

ISRAEL/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: The Israel–Hamas conflict one year on: researcher resilience in the face of war
Josie Glausiusz, Nature, 10/7
Scientists, tech entrepreneurs and educators on both sides of the border describe the devastation of lost homes, destroyed laboratories and slain colleagues. 

UKRAINE: Ukrainian scholars track war-related ecocide in real time
Nathan M. Greenfield, University Worlds News, 10/4
In the days after the full-scale Russian attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022, as dark grey smoke from collapsed buildings and inky black smoke from burning oil depots stained the sky above the country’s capital, Ukraine’s ecological scientists were already in the process of totalling up what they knew was an ecological crisis in the making.

INDIA: Company’s defamation suit raises research freedom concerns
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 10/4
A recent defamation lawsuit filed by pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech against researchers from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has caused concern regarding academic freedom in India. It also raises important questions regarding the balance between corporate interests and the authority of scientists to conduct and publish independent research, particularly in matters related to public health.

UNITED STATES: Censorship and Consternation Mar Oct. 7 Campus Remembrances
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 10/4
With Monday marking the first anniversary of Hamas’s deadly attack on Israeli civilians and the beginning of the war in Gaza, numerous colleges are aiming to commemorate and honor the lives lost in the Middle East over the past year while also preparing for a new wave of protests.

IRAN: Calls to reinstate students, professors fall on deaf ears
Shafigeh Shirazi, University World News, 10/3
Despite continued demands from students, professors and the general public, little has been done to review the cases of students and professors dismissed from Iranian universities which have been the focus of renewed state scrutiny in the run-up to the start of the new academic year on 22 September.

LEBANON: Escalating conflict puts university operations in turmoil
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 10/2
On Saturday 28 September Lebanon’s Caretaker Minister of Education and Higher Education, Abbas Al-Halabi, announced the suspension of educational activities at the Lebanese University and all private universities until 6 October, with the condition that administrative and logistical work continued, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

UNITED STATES: A Battle Over Florida’s General Education Courses
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 10/3
Florida International University’s Board of Trustees voted last week to drop 22 courses from the core curriculum, including Anthropology of Race & Ethnicity, Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies, and Sociology of Gender. The move follows last year’s passage of SB 266, a sweeping higher ed bill that, among other things, limits the scope of general education courses permitted at public universities.

GLOBAL: We cannot adopt a blanket approach to research security [COMMENTARY]
Tommy Shih, University World News, 10/2
On the global stage, the geopolitics of recent years have affected the era of open research collaboration. With the emergence of a multipolar world, governments have increasingly been concerned about the academic and research sectors being vectors for the transfer of technologies and foreign interference, which can adversely impact national competitiveness.

ALBANIA: Even scientific research under Rama’s control replaces academics with ministers
Politiko, 10/2
The government has brought the new draft law to the Assembly for approval, through which the National Council for Science and Scientific Research will be established, which will be headed by the Prime Minister and there will be 7 ministers in the council who will replace the academics.

BANGLADESH: Campuses reopen but struggle to deal with political rifts
Mohiuddin Alamgir, University World News, 9/27
The number of students returning to public university campuses in Bangladesh, shuttered for a period by protest action, has risen significantly this week, although fear and insecurity persist, exacerbated by the deaths of a student and one other in attacks widely seen to be the product of ongoing political tensions between rival student groups.

UNITED STATES: Tenured Jewish Professor Says She’s Been Fired for Pro-Palestinian Speech
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 9/27
In January of this year, Maura Finkelstein, a tenured associate professor at Muhlenberg College, temporarily reposted on Instagram a statement from a Palestinian American poet. Months later, a faculty and staff committee recommended firing her over that post, she said.

NORWAY: Norwegian researchers fear pressures on academic freedom
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 9/27
Two-fifths of union representatives at Norwegian universities believe that academic freedom has “weakened” over the past five years, according to a new study, while two-thirds say their institution does too little to train on and raise awareness of academic freedom and a fifth believe their university does not adequately safeguard their ability to “express themselves freely” in the public sphere.

CHINA/ISRAEL: Chinese university closes Israel campus as relations ‘sour’
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 9/27
A Chinese university campus in Israel has permanently closed as relations between the two countries sour in the wake of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

VENEZUELA: ‘Afraid to talk’: researchers fear the end for science in Venezuela
Luke Taylor, Nature, 9/27
As President Nicolás Maduro continues a crackdown on his political opposition, researchers in Venezuela are increasingly considering leaving the country. His government has detained more than 1,600 people, including students and professors, since the National Electoral Council declared him the winner of July’s contested presidential election, according to Foro Penal, a human-rights organization based in Caracas. 

HUNGARY: Researchers in Hungary raise fears of brain drain after ‘body blow’ EU funding suspension
Adrian O’Dowd, Nature, 9/26
A survey of early-career academics finds that one in four is considering moving abroad amid concerns of stigmatization from some international colleagues.

Philippines: Statement of the UP Diliman University Council on the UP-AFP “Declaration of Cooperation on Strategic Studies Research, Publication, and Capacity-Building” [Statement]
Diliman Information Office, 9/25
The UP Diliman (UPD) University Council expresses alarm over the signing of the “Declaration of Cooperation on Strategic Studies Research, Publication, and Capacity-Building” at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on 8 August 2024 by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. and UP President Angelo A. Jimenez (through his representative, VP for Academic Affairs Dr. Leo Cubillan). The signed agreement sets the “initial framework for future projects involving collaborative research, publications, and capacity-building initiatives” between UP and the AFP.

CHINA: “We Can’t Write the Truth Anymore”: Academic Freedom in Hong Kong Under the National Security Law
Human Rights Watch, 9/24
Hong Kong’s universities used to be places where free speech and expression were protected as part of liberal education traditions during British colonial rule. Now, students, academics, and administrators, especially those from Hong Kong studying contemporary socio-political issues, feel as if they are living under a microscope. 

Bahrain: Joint Letter on Human Rights Priorities to All Member States of the United Nations General Assembly
Scholars at Risk, 9/26
SAR, along with 28 other organizations, contributed to a joint statement sent to United Nations General Assembly members, ahead of UNGA 79. The statement details current health and other concerns relating to several wrongfully imprisoned political prisoners in Bahrain, including Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, and calls for their immediate release.
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HONG KONG: Censorship rising as academic freedom declines in Hong Kong
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 9/25
Hong Kong students and university faculty previously accustomed to academic freedom must now tread carefully to avoid retribution for what they teach, research and publish – and even with whom they associate – according to a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on academic freedom in the city since the 2020 National Security Law was imposed by Beijing.

AUSTRALIA: Excessive secrecy ‘undermining security’ of Australian research
John Ross, Time Higher Education, 9/25
Excessive secrecy in Australian security circles is fostering an all-or-nothing mentality that undermines natural justice and exacerbates security risks, according to an expert.

ISRAEL: Israeli research increasingly isolated one year into Gaza war
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 9/24
Research in Israeli universities faces “catastrophic” damage following a collapse in international collaboration and an exodus of overseas staff and students, one year since the country’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza erupted.

China: Free Uyghur Economist Ilham Tohti From Life Sentence
Human Rights Watch, 9/23
The Chinese government should quash the conviction and release Ilham Tohti, the prominent Uyghur economist and government critic, on the 10th anniversary of his sentencing, Human Rights Watch said today.

US/CHINA: US-China research has given Beijing’s military technology a boost, House GOP says
Didi Tang, The Associated Press, 9/23
Partnerships between the U.S. and China at universities over the past decade have allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to aid Beijing in developing critical technology that could be used for military purposes, congressional Republicans asserted in a new report.

NIGERIA: World Bank, IMF interference stifling Nigerian universities, pro-chancellor alleges
Tunde Eludini, Premium Times Nigeria, 9/21
The Pro-Chancellor and Chairperson of the Governing Council of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Ayodeji Omole, has accused both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) of unfair interference in the policies on, and administration of university education in Nigeria.

BANGLADESH: University teachers propose far-reaching sectoral reforms
Mohiuddin Alamgir, University World News, 9/20
Bangladesh’s University Teachers Network (UTN), which actively supported students involved in the recent protests that led to the overthrow of the regime of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was among a group of stakeholders that put forward proposals aimed at reforming higher education in Bangladesh.

CHINA/CANADA: China ‘intimidating’ international academics travelling to Taiwan
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 9/20
Academics have accused China of intimidation tactics after one of the country’s embassies complained about a Canadian university professor’s attendance at a conference in Taiwan. 

NAMIBIA: ‘Banning political activism on campus is wrong’
Eino Vatileni, The Namibian, 9/19
The Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) does not welcome the ban on political activities at the University of Namibia (Unam). Nanso president Dorthea Nangolo yesterday told Desert Radio this policy stifles students’ rights. The university came under fire last week after a group of students participated in an unauthorised march at the main campus.

SUDAN: War-torn Sudan’s lost scientists ‘may never return’
Linda Nordling, Research Professional News, 9/19
The war in Sudan has ravaged the country’s academic community, with scores of academic staff and students having left and many likely never to return, a webinar has heard. The event on 17 September was part of the UN Science Summit, an 18-day virtual programme held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

NIGERIA: Student leaders allege ongoing police brutality, harassment
Abdulrasheed Hammad, University World News, 9/19
Students in Kwara State, Nigeria, are angry about alleged ongoing incidents of police brutality, harassment and extortion. Student leaders are calling for the establishment of a police-student relationship committee and dialogue to address areas of concern, in particular an end to alleged victimisation following the death earlier in September of Quayum Abdulyekeen Ishola, a second-year electrical and electronics engineering student at Kwara State Polytechnic, who was allegedly shot and killed by the police while on a shopping errand in Ilorin, the state capital.

INDIA: National Science Awards spark debate: Selection criteria questioned after govt critics dropped from shortlist
Ritika Chopra and Abhinaya Harigovind, Indian Express, 9/17
The alleged exclusion of three distinguished scientists from the list of potential awardees in the final stage of selection of the newly constituted Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) has prompted top scientists, even including some from the jury, to raise questions about the “integrity” of the process.

UNITED STATES: Fla. Board of Governors to Gain More Oversight of Presidential Searches
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 9/19
The Florida Board of Governors will have more say in presidential searches at the state’s public institutions, approving a new policy Wednesday that will require its chair to sign off on a list of finalists before the candidates are submitted to individual governing boards.

UNITED STATES: GOP officials say states could punish colleges that divest from Israel. Could they?
Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 9/15
Antiboycott laws are on the books in many states. Student activists aren’t worried they’ll be a problem for the divestment movement, but some attorneys general think otherwise.

RUSSIA/GLOBAL: Is collaboration with Russia really declining? Our analysis suggests not
Lin Zhang, Zhe Cao, Gunnar Sivertsen, Dmitrii Kochetkov, Times Higher Education, 9/15
As a team of scientists who have studied research collaboration between Russia, Asia and Europe – regions from which we come – we suggest the statistics produced by Clarivate and reported by Times Higher Education tell a slightly different story.

VENEZUELA: Science on the run: Researchers leave Venezuela due to lack of investment and loss of academic freedom [PORTUGUESE]
Amanda Scatolini, O GLOBO, 9/15
For years, the university system and research institutions have faced severe challenges, such as lack of funding, inadequate infrastructure and, above all, low salaries, which have contributed to the decline in scientific production and a growing brain drain. Now, in addition to precarious working conditions, there is a loss of academic freedom and freedom of thought, researchers report.

GHANA: Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana declares nationwide strike
Hamdia Mohammed, Citi Newsroom, 9/14
The Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) has announced a total nationwide strike on Monday, September 16, 2024, over the government’s failure to address their demands for improved working conditions, despite numerous protests and negotiations.

UNITED STATES: Should a ‘Diverse’ Campus Mean More Conservatives?
Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times, 9/14
Criticism of universities as hotbeds of liberal elitists and tenured radicals is nothing new. But more than a decade after conservatives turned “free speech” into a rallying cry, they are increasingly championing another concept: “viewpoint diversity.”

INDONESIA: Student pressure helps to thwart political ‘maneuvering’
Kafil Yamin, University World News, 9/14
Universities and academic communities in Indonesia are proving to be effective in influencing government policies and thwarting ‘maneuvering’ by political groups, according to analysts and civil society groups, after student-led protests produced a climbdown by the government over attempts to change election-related rules ahead of November’s regional elections.

UNITED STATES: Their academic freedom in jeopardy, university faculty in NC, other southern states want out
Joe Killian, NC Newsline, 9/13
University faculty members in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Texas say they wouldn’t recommend their state to other academics, according to a new survey from the American Association of University Professors. Many of them want to leave their campuses for jobs in other states or abandon the profession altogether, citing a hostile political climate for higher education and threats to academic freedom.

UNITED STATES: ACLU sues IU and Purdue over SEA 202 free speech policies
Ryan Murphy, Indianapolis Star, 9/13
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday over a recently enacted state law requiring universities to establish disciplinary procedures for faculty and staff who fail to “foster a culture of free speech” or do not expose students to multiple political perspectives.

UNITED STATES: DeSantis pushed for post-tenure review of Florida professors. The first results are in.
Andrew Atterbury, Politico, 9/12
The results of initial tenure reviews across the state’s public universities show that most faculty in Florida — 91 percent — either met or exceeded the expectations set by their universities, a performance that earned them bonuses or raises. But the outcome was more damaging for a small minority. 

UNITED STATES: Inside Columbia’s surveillance and disciplinary operation for student protesters
Sarah Huddleston and Maya Stahl, Columbia Daily Spectator, 9/12
These are some of the many ways Columbia and Barnard have employed surveillance measures to identify and discipline dozens of students accused of violating University policies for participating in campus protests over the war in Gaza, according to interviews with students and documents obtained by Spectator.

UNITED STATES: How Colleges Are Changing Their Rules on Protesting
Isabelle Taft, The New York Times, 9/12
Across the country, some universities have enacted a wave of new rules and tightened restrictions around protest and speech in an effort to avoid a repeat of the spring semester, when thousands of people were arrested at protests and encampments prompted by the Israel-Hamas war. 

AFRICA: Report finds scientific freedom ‘not yet mainstream’ in Africa 
Linda Nordling, Research Professional News, 9/12
The freedom to engage in scientific inquiry, pursue and apply knowledge and communicate it openly remains poorly established in Africa, a report has found. The report, published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), reviewed “scientific freedom” in six African countries: Ghana, Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

HONG KONG: Political science: An ‘endangered species’ in Hong Kong
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 9/12
Following the latest downgrading of the discipline, academics in Hong Kong are privately lamenting the decline of political science, which they say is regarded by the city’s universities, under scrutiny from Chinese authorities, as ‘risky’.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Latitudes: Another American college says zàijiàn to a Chinese partnership
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/11
Georgia Institute of Technology will sever ties with a blacklisted Chinese university, ending degree programs. It’s the latest American college to retreat from an academic partnership in China.

UNITED STATES: Anti-DEI Bills Failed in Kentucky. Universities Are Restricting It Anyway.
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 9/11
Some of the state’s biggest public institutions have voluntarily dissolved their DEI offices. But will that be enough to forestall legislation that guts them even more?

NICARAGUA: Retired Professor Freddy Quezada: “I Didn’t Think My Opinions Represented Danger”
Confidential, 9/10
“I was betrayed by trust, my trust in believing that a retired professor didn’t represent a significant danger to them,” admits academic Freddy Quezada, 66, imprisoned by the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo dictatorship and now exiled to Guatemala along with 134 other former political prisoners.

INDIA: India’s Manipur imposes curfew, cuts internet to quell escalating violence
Al Jazeera, 9/10
Authorities in India’s northeastern state of Manipur have imposed an indefinite curfew and blocked internet access following student protests against a new surge in the ethnic violence that has rocked the region for more than a year.

PAKISTAN: The Dire State Of Higher Education In Pakistan
Ashfak Siyal, The Friday Times, 9/5
Universities in Pakistan are ostensibly autonomous institutions, free from direct government control. However, this autonomy has often been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it allows universities to manage their affairs without undue interference. On the other hand, it has led to a lack of accountability and transparency, with vice-chancellors wielding disproportionate power.

UNITED STATES: New Rules and Familiar Challenges as Antiwar Protesters Return to Campuses: ‘The Stakes Are Extraordinarily High’
Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/5
Students have been returning to classes this week amid tightened security, stricter rules about campus demonstrations, and the familiar sound of chants and drums as protesters continue to demand that their campuses cut ties with Israel.

INDIA: South Asian University is now a pale shadow of itself. Blame geopolitics, protests & academic control
Fareeha Iftikhar, The Print, 9/5
A recent controversy at the Delhi-based university over a student citing American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky’s criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his research proposal and the subsequent retirement of a foreign professor has sparked severe criticism of the university for allegedly interfering with academic freedom.

INDIA: TISS revises honour code: Bans participation in ‘anti-establishment’, ‘unpatriotic’ discussions
Pallavi Smart, The Indian Express, 9/4
The Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) revised its honor code for students which, for the first time, includes instructions related to political activities of students, bans participation in demonstrations which are “anti-establishment” and tells them to keep away from “unpatriotic discussions”.

UNITED STATES: Can You Teach Free Speech? These Colleges Are Trying. 
Christa Dutton, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/3
While the mission isn’t new, campus leaders see the stakes as higher than ever in the wake of last spring’s tumultuous protests over the war in Gaza, and also looking toward a contentious presidential election. In the midst of this, college presidents have had to balance two crucial, sometimes competing, priorities: the right to free speech and the responsibility to maintain a safe, inclusive campus.

MYANMAR: No education ‘better than oppressive one’ for Myanmar students
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 9/2
A pledge by the Myanmar military to build eight new universities over the next year has been met with skepticism as young people continue to show their dislike of the junta by boycotting higher education.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: China-born neuroscientist Jane Wu lost her US lab. Then she lost her life
Ling Xin, South China Morning Post, 8/31
In addition to the personal tragedy for Wu’s family and friends, the scientist’s death drew attention yet again to much criticised efforts to pursue researchers suspected of having undisclosed ties to Beijing.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghans feel ‘abandoned’ by UK after scholarship closure
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 8/30
Alumni of a prestigious UK government scholarship are disappointed that Afghan nationals have once again been shut out of the scheme, as the Taliban imposes new draconian restrictions on women. Applications for the latest round of Chevening Scholarships, which fund “emerging leaders” from around the world to study a master’s course in the UK, opened in August for all other eligible countries. 

CHINA: Chinese export rules make collaboration riskier, researchers warned
David Matthews, Science | Business, 8/29
As European universities weigh China collaborations in a darkening geopolitical environment, they also need to worry about whether Beijing’s increasingly tough export control rules could deny Europeans access to jointly developed technology, a think tank has warned in a new analysis.

AUSTRALIA: Prospective international students worried about federal government caps
Natasya Salim and Oscar Coleman, ABC News Australia, 8/29
Two international students say they’re more anxious about getting a spot in an Australian university, following the federal government’s decision to cap the number of applicants.

UNITED STATES: NYU cites ‘code words, like ‘Zionist’’ as discriminatory in updated student conduct policy
Aashna Miharia, Washington Square News, 8/26
NYU updated its student conduct guidelines to include “code words, like ‘Zionist,’” as examples of speech that could violate the university’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment policies, Dean of Students Rafael Rodriguez announced in a universitywide email Thursday. 

IRAN: Iran’s presidential election is no breakthrough for reform or for science [COMMENTARY]
Ali Arab, Rana Dadpour, Shideh Dashti & Encieh Erfani, Nature, 8/20
As representatives of the International Community of Iranian Academics (ICOIA), an independent network, we think that your News story on the election of Masoud Pezeshkian as Iran’s president (see Nature 631, 490–491; 2024) presents an overly optimistic view of his reformist credentials.

GERMANY: Germany mulls new research security organisation  [INTERVIEW]
Tim Gabel, Science | Business, 8/29
Last Thursday, more than 20 German and US representatives from science and politics met at the German Research Foundation’s (DFG) North America office. The main topic: how research security can be guaranteed in international collaborations without restricting academic freedom. 

AFRICA/GLOBAL: SAR urges universities to stand firmer on academic freedom
Wachira Kigotho, University World News, 8/28
African universities have been urged to support scholars and students who face violent attacks and are denied academic freedom because of their ideas and opinions. Clarissia Bourdeau, a programme associate with the membership and university relations team at Scholars at Risk (SAR), made the call when she addressed the 26th annual conference of the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) in Johannesburg on August 23. 

GLOBAL: New frameworks of reference stir hope for academic freedom [COMMENTARY]
Liviu Matei, University World News, 8/28
The emergence of new frameworks of reference for academic freedom is a remarkable recent development. Frameworks of reference for academic freedom can be identified at different levels: institutional, national or system, regional and global.

UNITED STATES: Academic Associations Face Critique for Political Statements
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 8/27
Higher education and policy experts generally agree that the movement for institutional or associational neutrality is gaining momentum, pointing to a recent policy change at Johns Hopkins University as one example. But what they don’t necessarily agree on is whether neutrality is the best response.

MYANMAR: The Academic Brain Drain Since Myanmar’s Military Coup [COMMENTARY]
Tuang Za Khai, The Diplomat, 8/27
The military takeover has devastated the country’s education system, driving thousands of students and teachers out of the country.

UNITED STATES: How America’s billionaire alumni weaponise elite university donations
Andrew Jack, Financial Times, 8/25
These very differing relationships between rich donors and the universities they support is sparking a wider reflection about the institutions’ reliance on big gifts, the influence that wealthy philanthropists should be allowed to wield, and the tensions over academic freedom.

AUSTRALIA/CHINA: Excluding nationalities from research collaboration ‘ineffective’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 8/24
Research bans targeting particular nationalities are counterproductive, a security expert has warned, amid reports that an Australian university campus has forbidden its academics from collaborating with Chinese researchers.

UNITED STATES: Dumped university books spark accusations of cultural purge
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 8/23
As millions of American college and university students prepare to buy their assigned texts, the administration of New College of Florida in Sarasota is busy explaining why it threw hundreds of books belonging to the student-run Gender and Diversity Center (GDC) and others belonging to the library, some of which were on LGBTQ+ subjects, into a garbage dumpster.

GLOBAL: Global loss of innovation identified 
Forschung & Lehre, 8/22
In many countries, scientists are now able to work less freely than they did just a few years ago. Since the global level of academic freedom has declined, researchers are predicting a corresponding loss in the ability to produce new things. 

INDIA: How the government undercut TISS over the past decade
Johanna Deeksha, Scroll.in, 8/21
For faculty members and staff, the institute’s socially-engaged work and contribution to national life have been a source of pride. But in recent years, this confidence has been unravelling, as the institute has come under tremendous financial strain, coupled with what current and former staff described as an erosion of autonomy.

UNITED STATES: New College of Florida Is Dumping Books—and Losing Professors
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 8/20
Last week also revealed that books aren’t the only thing New College is losing. Amy Reid, a French professor, the chair of the faculty, the board member representing the faculty and the director of the gender studies program—which the board majority has decided to phase out—is taking leave.

GLOBAL: Rebuilding HE after war is essential to a nation’s recovery [COMMENTARY]
Savo Heleta and Logan Cochrane, University World News, 8/20
Higher education systems and institutions require substantial support and assistance to recover and strengthen in the aftermath of violent conflict. However, over the past few decades, rebuilding higher education has not been a priority.

BANGLADESH: What’s next for Bangladesh’s divisive student politics?
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 8/19
One week after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh, droves of students once again gathered at Dhaka University. This time, instead of leading the calls for political reforms, they were demanding the ejection of politics from the country’s campuses.

CHINA/UNITED STATES: China-US tensions erode co-operation on science and tech
Michael Peel and Eleanor Olcott, Financial Times, 8/19
Rising tensions between the US and China threaten to sever a 45-year-old science and technology pact due for renewal later this month, hindering the superpowers’ collaboration in critical areas.

UNITED STATES: How Project 2025 could affect higher education
Matthew Burkhart and Matthew Junkroski, Technician, 8/17
As the 2024 presidential election approaches, discussions surrounding Project 2025 are gaining momentum as several provisions of the plan could impact the world of academia and the lives of college students. 

UNITED STATES: Anticipating Fall Protests, Colleges Adopt a Range of Approaches
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, 8/16
College leaders are also thinking about how to prepare for the next academic year, whether that means putting in place new safety infrastructure, reworking protest policies or introducing new opportunities for civic dialogue and education about Israel and the Palestinian territories.

NICARAGUA: A Year After the Ortega Regime Stole the UCA, It Still Hurts
Confidencial, 8/16
   “I’d have my psychology diploma today, but they snatched away that possibility,” laments Mariana, who used to study at Managua’s Central American University (UCA). One year ago, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo ordered the university closed and confiscated; on August 16, 2023 the university confirmed it had ceased operating. Since then, Mariana has gone through grief, rage, hopes and great uncertainty.

RUSSIA/UNITED STATES: Russian Scholars Press US for Visa Changes to Avoid Going Home
Andrew Kreighbaum, Bloomberg Law, 8/15
Russian scholars in the US on temporary visas are pressing federal agencies to let them stay in the country, asserting that they will be persecuted by their government if forced to return. But the scholars, who came to the US through the Fulbright exchange program, have been frustrated by a convoluted inter-agency process and year-plus waits for a decision on those requests.

IRAN: Cabinet choices signal dark days ahead for Iran’s academia
Iran International, 8/15
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s nomination of Hossein Simayi Sarraf as Minister of Science, Research and Technology, is unsettling academics who are concerned that he will continue the university purges witnessed in recent years.Sarraf’s nomination is particularly significant given the recent history of Iran’s universities as hotbeds of political dissent. 

UGANDA: How Facebook Posts Brought Heat on Ugandan Professor, Congo Activist 
Busiinge Aggrey, The Black Examiner, 8/14
Sylvester Danson Kahyana, a Ugandan professor and writer, has made his mark with poetry and children’s literature. However, it was his Facebook posts that drew unwanted attention.

PHILIPPINES: UP faculty dread increased military presence after AFP agreement
Cristina Chi, Phil Star Global, 8/14
Some faculty members of the University of the Philippines have continued to condemn the university’s new agreement with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, citing concerns over its impact on academic freedom and its potential to normalize military presence on campus.

UNITED STATES: Leading Republican Wants Sweeping Investigation of Colleges’ DEI Spending
Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, 8/14
Leading Senate Republican has requested that the Education Department’s Office of Inspector General investigate how colleges and universities use federal money to support diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies.

UNITED STATES: Anti-Science Harassment Is on the Rise [OPINION]
Samuel Mendez, Inside Higher Ed, 8/14
Abortion is on the ballot in South Dakota. Insulin prices were a key issue in the June debate between Biden and Trump. The U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis, and the Florida governor called the declaration a pretext to “violate the Second Amendment.” In an intense presidential election year, the issue of anti-science harassment is likely to worsen. Universities must act now to mitigate the harm of online harassment.

GLOBAL/PALESTINE: Universities can take concrete steps to support HE in Gaza [COMMENTARY]
Mona Jebril, University World News, 8/13
What can the world’s universities do to support Gaza’s universities and the academic community at this time of crisis? And how? In a new briefing paper, I examine the role of universities at times of war and crisis, putting forward ideas for universities to implement.

BANGLADESH: In historic first, students form part of interim government
Mohiuddin Alamgir, University World News, 8/12
Bangladesh’s new interim government led by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus includes two university students who were among key figures in the student-led protests that ultimately forced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the country on 5 August, leaving jubilant crowds celebrating in her wake.

UNITED STATES: AAUP Ends Two-Decade Opposition to Academic Boycotts
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 8/12
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has dropped its nearly 20-year-old categorical opposition to academic boycotts, in which scholars and scholarly groups refuse to work or associate with targeted universities. The reversal, just like the earlier statement, comes amid war between Israelis and Palestinians.

UNITED STATES: Indiana Argues Professors Lack First Amendment Rights in Public Classrooms
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 8/14
In February, Republican lawmakers in Indiana passed a law saying public colleges and universities must deny tenure to professors who are “unlikely to foster … intellectual diversity.” The legislators left it to university trustees, many of whom are appointed by the governor, to determine what intellectual diversity actually means for faculty members and whether they have provided it.

AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban ‘took my life’ — scientists who fled takeover speak out
Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, 8/9
Three years after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, some five million people have left the country, including many of the country’s scientists. Nature spoke to a handful of these refugee researchers and discovered that while most consider themselves lucky, they are anything but settled. They worry about those that they left behind, about their visas expiring and having to choose between returning to a life-threatening situation or living as an undocumented person in a foreign land.

UNITED KINGDOM: Antisemitism incidents at universities reach record high
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 8/8
Universities saw a near six-fold increase in antisemitic incidents in the first six months of 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. New figures released by the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, show there were 96 reported antisemitic incidents in which the victims or offenders were students or academics, or which involved students’ unions, societies or other representative bodies, compared with 17 in the same period in 2023.

ZIMBABWE: More allegations of government torture of student leaders
Clemence Manyukwe, University World News, 8/8
Four people appeared in a court in Harare on 7 August amid calls from the All-Africa Students Union for an independent investigation and regional and international support for Zimbabwean students following allegations that their government has stepped up its persecution of young activists, including students, and former student leaders.

AUSTRALIA: Campus support services ‘too homogeneous’ for refugee students
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 8/8
Once Samah Shda had navigated Australia’s baffling humanitarian resettlement programme, after the Islamic State insurgency forced her family to flee Iraq, she faced a new challenge: how to navigate Australia’s baffling higher education system.

INDIA: Professor departs South Asian University after Modi criticism row
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 8/7
The departure of a sociology professor from a university in India established by eight South Asian nations has been seen as the latest sign of trouble at the controversy-mired institution.

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh’s students paid a high price for a freedom that may not last
C. Rashaad Shabab, Times Higher Education, 8/7
It is a remarkable achievement for student protests to bring down a repressive government, as they have in Bangladesh. Yet whether the country in general and universities in particular change for the better as a result remains to be seen.

UNITED STATES: Florida’s Public Universities Are Told to Review Courses for ‘Antisemitism or Anti-Israeli Bias’
Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/6
Last week the State University System of Florida instructed the leaders of its 12 public universities to screen certain courses for “antisemitism or anti-Israeli bias,” The Chronicle has learned.

UNITED KINGDOM: Free speech complaints ‘not going away’ despite law pause
Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 8/6
Labour’s decision to delay – and potentially repeal – new freedom of speech legislation has been hailed by some as bringing an end to the culture wars on campuses.

PALESTINE/NORWAY: Gazan medical students granted Norway visas as ministers step in
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 8/5
A group of medical students from Gaza who were initially denied student visas will begin an exchange programme at the University of Oslo this month, following intervention from the Norwegian government.

UNITED STATES: What now for DEI in the US?
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 8/1
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have come under sustained attack from the political right, resulting in the shuttering of DEI offices and curbs on teaching and research. With affirmative action also banned, how might universities continue to support minority students and staff.

UNITED STATES: ‘A New Low’: Civil Rights Chief Calls Out Discrimination on Campuses
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 8/2
Catherine Lhamon said Thursday that the handling of discrimination on college campuses has hit “a new low” and that protecting free speech should not have to conflict with combating discrimination. Others are not so sure.

GLOBAL: UN unveils tool to track universities’ SDGs performance
Laura Syrett, University Word News, 8/1
Higher education institutions worldwide are being encouraged to focus on achieving global sustainability targets with the help of a new United Nations-sponsored reporting and measurement resource. On 15 July 2024, UNESCO unveiled its Sustainability Self-Evaluation Tool for Higher Education Institutions, or SET4HEI.

UNITED KINGDOM: St Andrews rector stripped of roles over Gaza comments
Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education, 8/1
The University of St Andrews has stripped its rector of her role on its governing body after she wrote an open letter accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “genocidal attacks”.

RUSSIA: Repression grows in Russian universities
Table Media, Science|Business, 8/1
Civil rights activists believe that repression in Russia in the wake of the war of aggression against Ukraine has also put universities and colleges under greater political pressure. The organisation Molnija, which campaigns for students’ rights, has recorded significantly more cases of forced expulsions since the start of the war in 2022.

RUSSIA: Russian research ‘increasingly isolated’ amid Ukraine war
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 7/31
Russia’s war in Ukraine has triggered a collapse in its international research collaborations, as data shows that China has become the main partner of the country’s increasingly isolated scientific community.

SUDAN: Academics, students back civil society campaign to end war
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 7/31
Sudanese universities, academics and unions representing professionals including doctors, engineers, journalists and lawyers are supporting a ‘Stop the War’ campaign as part of ongoing efforts from the country’s civil society to end the deadly conflict that erupted in mid-April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

BANGLADESH: Students win jobs quota reform despite campus crackdown
Mohiuddin Alamgir, University World News, 7/24
In the wake of a Supreme Court order, the Bangladesh government this week said it will make its biggest ever reform in the quota system for coveted public service jobs in the country. The statement followed a week of heavy bloodshed as law enforcers came down heavily on students protesting on university campuses and in many cities for modification of a system they regard as deeply unfair. However, student leaders pledged to carry on their protests.

BANGLADESH/UNITED STATES: Latitudes: Amid a government crackdown at home, Bangladeshi students in the U.S. speak out
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/24
Bangladeshi students in the United States have been speaking out about their government’s crackdown on student protests. More than 1,800 students at some 100 American colleges have signed a petition in solidarity with the demonstrators.

HUNGARY: Hungarian researchers struggle amid EU funding ban 
Júlia Koltai, Gábor Kecskés, Imola Wilhelm and Balázs Lengyel, Nature, 7/23
In 2022, the Council of the European Union suspended research funding for Hungarian universities run by public trusts, stating that they were failing to uphold academic freedom and transparency. As this debate continues, Hungarian academics are increasingly isolated.

IRAN: Swedish-Iranian academic faces imminent execution in Iran, Amnesty warns
Iran International, 7/10
Amnesty International has issued a warning that Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Jalali, who has been detained in Iran for more than eight years, is at imminent risk of execution following the exhaustion of all legal options to reverse his death sentence.

• Take action: https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/actions/ahmadreza-djalali-iran/#Dr.%20Ahmadreza%20Djalali 

UNITED STATES: White House revamps guidelines for research security at top universities
Richard L. Hudson, Science|Business, 7/11
Universities must track foreign travel and give security training. The cost and the impact on cross-border research are unclear.

UKRAINE: Study raises fears of a ‘lost generation’ of scientists
Nathan Greenfield, University World News, 7/11
The war with Russia has decimated Ukraine’s scientific intellectual community: over 33% of the country’s pre-war scientists are either no longer in Ukraine or have stopped practising science, according to an academic study, “The effects of war on Ukrainian research”.

UNITED STATES: ‘Vindicated’: Embattled misinformation researchers celebrate key US Supreme Court decision
Jeff Tollefson, Nature, 6/26
The justices rule that the US government can keep talking to scientists and social-media firms with the aim of curbing falsehoods online.

TURKEY: Turkish academics doubt court ruling will limit president’s power
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Ed, 6/26
Academics have offered measured responses to a recent court ruling appearing to nullify the Turkish president’s power to appoint university rectors, telling Times Higher Education that a complete “overhaul” of the country’s higher education system was needed.

PORTUGAL/UNITED KINGDOM: Call to boycott publisher after sexual misconduct book scrapped
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Ed, 6/24
Academics are being urged to boycott a publisher after it “unpublished” a book on sexual misconduct in universities which had triggered legal threats.

GLOBAL: Academic freedom just as crucial as a free press or independent judiciary, says Special Rapporteur
Special Rapporteur on the right to education, 6/24
In every region of the world, people exercising their academic freedom face repression, whether through direct and violent or more subtle methods, an independent expert warned today. In her report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed, said restrictions aimed to control public opinion undermine free thinking and limit academic and scientific debate. Read the Special Rapporteur’s report.

VIETNAM: Academic freedom in Vietnam: when education goes hand in hand with politics [VIETNAMESE]
BBC Vietnam, 6/23
Vietnam is still in the low-ranking group in terms of academic freedom, as education must always be associated with the policies, guidelines and stance of the Communist Party.

GLOBAL: Steep rise in military attacks on higher education globally
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 6/21
The latest Education under Attack report published by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) notes a steep rise in military and political violence against education in general and higher education in particular during 2022 and 2023 as conflict around the world increased.

UNITED STATES: Florida Argues It Could Stop Professors From Criticizing Governor
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 6/21
A nationally prominent conservative lawyer, hired to defend the state’s Stop WOKE Act, asserted that what public university professors say in classrooms “is the government’s speech.” The national implications for academic freedom could be dire.

UNITED STATES/UAE: Scholars blast NYU Abu Dhabi ‘crackdown’ on Palestinian support
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 6/21
The apparent silencing of pro-Palestinian activism at New York University Abu Dhabi has “shattered the perception” that the institution can provide real academic freedom within its United Arab Emirates campus, according to critics.

INDIA: Is Narendra Modi’s electoral setback a win for Indian HE?
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 6/20
A decade of rule by the Hindu-nationalist BJP has seen a combustible mixture of technocratic reform and political interference in higher education. But the party’s below-par showing in this month’s general election has left some academics daring to hope for quieter days ahead. Helen Packer reports

GLOBAL: Education Under Attack 2024 report
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 6/20
The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack has released its annual flagship report covering attacks on education in 2022 and 2023.

GLOBAL: ‘It can feel like there’s no way out’ — political scientists face pushback on their work
Dyani Lewis and Alison Abbott, Nature, 6/19
In a year in which numerous countries are going to the polls, many election-watching scientists are under pressure.

SYRIA: University of Damascus student body tortured students amid Syria revolution, report reveals
Middle East Monitor, 6/19
A student body at Syria’s University of Damascus committed acts of detention, torture and gender-based violence during the first few years of the Syrian revolution, a new report has revealed.

IRAN: A Message from a Swedish Prisoner: Prime Minister Kristersson, You Left Me Behind
Shima Shahrabi, IranWire, 6/18
Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian doctor on death row in Iran, has demanded answers from the Swedish government for “leaving him behind” following an Iran-Sweden prisoner swap that released a convicted war criminal. Take action.

ESTONIA/RUSSIA: Russian professor jailed in Estonia on espionage charges
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 6/18
A former professor at Estonia’s University of Tartu has been convicted on espionage charges and sentenced to six years and three months in prison.

GERMANY: German science official steps down in row about pro-Palestine protest
David Matthews, Science|Business, 6/17
An academic freedom scandal in Germany has claimed a top-ranking official in the country’s federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), after the ministry appeared to check whether it could strip funding from academics who had supported a pro-Palestinian protest camp.

UNITED STATES: New Louisiana law seeks crackdown on civil disobedience in campus protests
Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator, 6/17
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has enacted a law to exclude acts of civil disobedience from free speech protections on college campuses.

UNITED STATES: Michigan, CUNY didn’t suitably assess if Israel-Hamas war protests made environment hostile, US says
Collin Binkley and Annie Ma, Associated Press, 6/17
The University of Michigan and the City University of New York did not adequately investigate complaints about antisemitic or anti-Palestinian harassment linked to campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war and other incidents, according to the results of investigations by the U.S. Education Department announced Monday.

UNITED STATES: Middle East scholars are under pressure [ESSAY]
Marc Lynch and Shibley Telhami, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/14
Since October 2023, fierce arguments over the appropriate balance between free speech and campus security, the role of external advocacy groups and congressional intervention, and the real intentions of those protesting the Israel-Hamas war have consumed virtually all sectors of campus life. But faculty members and graduate students who work on the Middle East were among those most directly affected by the controversies.

MEXICO: Mexican scholars hope for change as scientist takes presidency
Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 6/13
A climate scientist has become the first female leader of Mexico after winning a record-breaking majority on the back of promises to make the country into a “scientific and innovation power”, but questions remain over how far she will break from the populist policies of her predecessor.

GERMANY/UKRAINE: Ukrainian science needs coordinated support, German alliance says
Thomas Brent, Science|Business, 6/13
A coordinated approach to supporting and rebuilding Ukraine’s science ecosystem is necessary and should be planned for now, the Alliance of German Science Organisations said as it set out a new plan with a long-term scope.

UNITED KINGDOM: Legal action over Gaza encampments on UK campuses
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 6/13
The fate of pro-Palestinian encampments on UK university campuses appear to be up in the air as term draws to a close – with some celebrating victories for the divestment movement and others facing court action.

UNITED STATES: Affirmative Action Fallout Sours Donor Relations
Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed, 6/13
The University of Missouri system is removing racial criteria from endowed scholarships, saying they run afoul of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ban. Donors feel disrespected—and some may be ready to go to court.

SINGAPORE: Space for expressing Gaza solidarity ‘narrower’ – Students
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 6/12
The narrow space for campus protests over issues such as the conflict in Gaza will be restricted even more by Singapore’s proposed new law on the ‘Maintenance of Racial Harmony’ according to Singaporean students and alumni.

CANADA: Canadian universities say foreign influence registry could harm research partnerships
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press, 6/10
Canada’s leading research universities warn that a proposed foreign influence transparency registry could have an unintended “chilling effect” on international partnerships, meaning Canada misses out on cutting-edge opportunities.

MYANMAR: Myanmar’s conscription law is threatening student activism [OPINION]
Julie Marie Hansen, University World News, 6/10
Young people are at the forefront of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. Yet, their futures look bleak amidst constant attacks from the military junta, known as Tatmadaw. With the recent enforcement of the 2010 conscription law, young people are not only being coerced to give up their educational and professional pursuits, but also their fight for a free Myanmar.

GERMANY: The war in the Gaza Strip has heightened emotions in German universities [RUSSIAN]
Lena Shmitz, Deutsche Welle, 6/10
Protests have been taking place on campuses in various German cities for months, and the head of a university in Berlin may lose his post due to the scandal. What’s happening?

UNITED STATES: Colleges in Republicans’ Crosshairs Enroll Only a Sliver of U.S. College Students
Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, 6/10
Only about one percent of U.S. undergraduates attend the 12 mostly elite, mostly private institutions under Congressional scrutiny. But conservatives are casting them as emblematic of higher education writ large.

The ‘Scholars of Ukraine’ to Receive Scholars at Risk 2024 Courage to Think Award
On June 10, SAR announced that the ‘scholars of Ukraine’ are the recipient of the 2024 Courage to Think Award, recognizing their courage, resilience, and unwavering commitment to their teaching, research, students, and higher education institutions, despite the existential threat posed by war. The award will be presented at the SAR Global Congress on Wednesday, June 26th at the European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius, Lithuania. Learn more about the SAR 2024 Global Congress.

TANZANIA: University professors’ exodus to politics: A growing concern for Tanzania’s higher education
Jacob Mosenda, The Citizen, 6/8
Professors and lecturers, once the custodians of knowledge and academic excellence, are increasingly abandoning their posts for the allure of political and government appointments.

UNITED STATES: FBI asks scientists for trust in taking anti-Asian bias seriously
Neil Savage, Nature, 6/11
In a rare meeting between the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the academic community on Thursday, members of the FBI sought to reassure researchers of Asian descent that their concerns over discrimination are being heard.

RUSSIA: ‘Spy mania’: Why is Russia accusing its own physicists of treason?
Sergei Goryashko, BBC, 6/8
Russian President Vladimir Putin frequently boasts that his country is leading the world in developing hypersonic weapons, which travel at more than five times the speed of sound. But a string of Russian physicists working on the science underlying them have been charged with treason and imprisoned in recent years, in what rights groups see as an overzealous crackdown.

AUSTRALIA: Senators berate Australian National University over Gaza position
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 6/7
In rerun of US Congress hearing, Australian university executives reprimanded over both insensitivity to antisemitism and ‘complicity’ in Gaza slaughter.

IRAN: The Mahsa Revolution and Student Protests in Iran
Amirkabir Newsletter, 6/5
This report details the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran that emerged after the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, while in police custody. Despite facing intense repression, these student movements persist in their advocacy for human rights in Iran.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Advisory committee makes recommendations on research security, transnational repression
Karin Fischer, Latitudes/Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/5
A federal academic-advisory council is urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to do more to tackle research security and transnational repression, including strengthening cross-governmental coordination, sharing risk assessments and recommendations for best practices with colleges, and working with higher-education and Asian American groups to limit inadvertent harm to researchers from government policies.

UNITED STATES: UNC System’s Controlled DEI Demolition
Liam Knox, Inside Higher Education, 6/5
The University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted to repeal the system’s DEI policy. Will the outcomes differ from those in states that did so through legislation?

UNITED STATES: US campus protests expose special risk for adjuncts
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 6/5
Hundreds of adjunct faculty are believed to have withheld their views or altered their teaching amid the student anti-war protests that have swept the US, while others have faced job-related repercussions for voicing pro-Palestinian opinions, in actions that some argue are eroding academic freedom.

ISRAEL: Israeli University Heads Accuses Student Union of ‘McCarthyist Incitement’ in Proposed Law
Lior Dattel, Haaretz, 6/4
Research universities in Israel are opposing a law initiated by the Student Union that ‘lethally harms academic independence and freedom of expression’ and mandates academic institutions to fire lecturers who speak out in a way perceived as harming the state

UNITED KINGDOM: More campus events and speakers barred by English universities
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 6/3
The number of events or speakers rejected by English higher education providers has more than tripled since the pandemic, figures show, though an overwhelming majority were still approved.

CHINA: Fears mount over detention of academics who travelled to China
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 6/3
New details have been revealed about the fate of academics who have not been seen or heard from since visiting China, leaving scholars “extremely concerned” about repression.

UNITED STATES: Colleges Eye Rule Changes in the Wake of Spring Protests
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Education, 5/31
Pro-Palestinian encampments and protests strained college policies this spring. As summer sets in, some are revising rules ahead of a potentially tumultuous fall.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban push for normalizing male-only higher education
Akmal Dawi, Voice of America, 5/28
In coming weeks, tens of thousands of students in Afghanistan are set to sit for university entrance examinations. Notably absent from the list of candidates will be females.

MEXICO: Mexico’s next president is likely to be this scientist — but researchers are split in their support
Humberto Basilio, Nature, 5/30
Some are hopeful, but others worry that Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo will follow in her controversial predecessor’s footsteps rather than stand up for science.

BAHRAIN: Joint Letter on Human Rights Situation in Bahrain
Scholars at Risk, 5/30
Scholars at Risk joins over 30 civil society organizations in calling on Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council to raise concerns over the human rights situation in Bahrain, including the unjust imprisonment of Bahraini scholar Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace.

UNITED STATES: Tenure Under Fire—Again—in North Dakota
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Education, 5/30
Republican lawmakers and a university president pushed a bill last year that would diminish faculty job protections at two institutions. It failed by a hair, but the State Board of Higher Education has taken up the mantle.

UNITED STATES: AAUP Report Finds ‘Well-Funded’ Right-Wing Attacks on Higher Ed
Jessica Blake, Insider Higher Education, 5/30
More than 150 bills designed to “undermine academic freedom and university autonomy” were introduced in 35 state legislatures across the country between 2021 and 2023, according to a new white paper released by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on Wednesday.

NETHERLANDS: Foreign students and research funding face ‘shocking’ cuts
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 5/29
The Dutch right-wing coalition platform’s recently published outline agreement promises to scrap research funding schemes, slash research spending by billions of euros and reduce the number of foreign students in the Netherlands. Experts describe it as bad news for higher education innovation and internationalization.

CHINA/TAIWAN: China likely to rebuff Taiwanese president’s call for students
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 5/24
Beijing is unlikely to allow its citizens to resume enrolling at Taiwanese universities, according to academics, as the inauguration of a new president causes cross-Strait relations to deteriorate further.

UNITED STATES: US parents flex power in campus confrontations
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 5/27
As US campus confrontations evaporate with the summer break, a key but mostly behind-the-scenes constituency – the parents of students – is flexing its power in ways that could be critical in shaping the long-term effects and future course of free speech uprisings.

AUSTRALIA: Dialogue prevails as Australian campus Gaza protests recede
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 5/24
Conversation is trumping confrontation at Australian universities, as protest camps gradually disband and administrators resist demands to treat pro-Palestine activists with a heavy hand.

SWEDEN: Biggest threats to academic freedom are political – Report
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 5/23
Over half of higher education academics surveyed in an investigation conducted by the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) recently indicated that they believed that academic freedom is under strain, with the most frequently identified challenge to academic freedom being political governance and research funding.

EUROPE/ISRAEL: Academic boycotts over Gaza war jeopardises Israel’s place in Horizon Europe
David Matthews, Science|Business, 5/23
A growing number of European universities are ending their ties with Israel over the war in Gaza, including in existing Horizon Europe projects, prompting Israel’s science minister to hold emergency talks with the country’s research leaders over how to retain scientific links with Europe.

GLOBAL: Harassment of scientists is surging — institutions aren’t sure how to help
Bianca Nogrady, Nature, 5/21
As researchers increasingly face many kinds of attack over their work, there is debate about how to support and protect them.

AMERICAS: Academic freedom and peaceful protest on university grounds
Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), 5/21
Read CAFA’s statement calling on states and on higher-education authorities to protect and promote academic freedom and institutional autonomy across the Americas amidst widespread demonstrations on campuses.

KYRGYZSTAN: Thousands flee as foreign students come under mob attack
Ameen Amjad Khan and Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 5/21
Thousands of Pakistani students, some of them with injuries, have been evacuated from Kyrgyzstan in the wake of violent mob attacks that have mainly targeted international medical students in the country’s capital city Bishkek but have left all foreign students feeling insecure.

JAPAN: Gaza war sparks unprecedented, sustained campus protests
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 5/21
Hundreds of Japanese students have been liaising via social media across the country’s leading universities in a campaign on their campuses for a halt to Israel’s escalating war in Gaza and the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation.

PALESTINE: Scholars and students fight to keep Palestinian education alive
Zahra Khan, Times Higher Education, 5/17
Two hundred days into the invasion of Gaza by Israel and not a single university is left standing. At least 95 university professors and 5,000 students are reported to have been killed, while more than 500,000 children have been out of school for over seven months.

CANADA: Scholar finds refuge and voice at University of Windsor
Christopher Waters, University of Windsor Daily News, 5/13
It was a long journey for one scholar to return to a university lecture hall — from facing persecution for speaking out against his government to delivering food upon seeking refuge in Canada.

CHINA/JAPAN: Scholar’s jailing for spying set to dampen bilateral ties
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 5/16
Beijing has slapped a six-year prison sentence for spying on a former Chinese professor from Hokkaido University of Education in Japan, according to press agency reports this week. Academics in Japan, who maintain there is no evidence for the espionage charges, say the latest move deals a severe blow to bilateral academic flows.

CHINA: Promote ‘love’ for China, Beijing tells Hong Kong universities
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 5/14
Hong Kong’s universities must focus on contributing to national development and promoting patriotism towards China, a Beijing official has told universities.

CHINA/NORTH AMERICA/EUROPE: “On My Campus, I Am Afraid” – China’s Targeting of Overseas Students Stifles Rights
Amnesty International, 5/12
This report seeks to broaden awareness of the impacts of government repression on Chinese international students studying on university campuses across Western Europe and North America. It is based on new research by Amnesty International conducted between June 2023 and April 2024 on the ability of international students from China to freely exercise their human rights on university campuses overseas.

TURKEY: Turkish universities become new recruitment grounds for intelligence as surveillance concerns mount
MedyaNews, 5/11
The Turkish National Intelligence Organisation’s (MİT) recruitment drive at universities such as Boğaziçi has sparked fears of increased surveillance and the politicization of educational settings, threatening the independence and trust within academic circles.

INDIA: Amid election, vice-chancellors become party-political issue
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 5/10
As India’s six-week long national elections reach the halfway mark, the appointment of university vice-chancellors has become a source of party-political controversy after a senior leader of the main opposition party claimed that vice-chancellors were selected on the basis of their affiliation with Hindu organisations rather than merit.

UNITED STATES: Nearly all Gaza campus protests in the US have been peaceful, study finds
Lois Beckett, The Guardian, 5/10
An independent non-profit that tracks political violence and political protests around the world found that 97% of campus demonstrations over the war in Gaza that have taken place in the US since mid-April have been peaceful.

UNITED STATES: The Anatomy of a University’s Encampment Negotiation
Erin Gretzinger and Maggie Hicks, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/10
UW-Madison is one of more than 90 campuses where students have set up encampments, refusing to leave until their institutions agree to cut all financial ties with companies that have aided Israel and its military. Most colleges have ignored student demands or responded with mass arrests and disciplinary proceedings. Others have taken a more diplomatic approach, entering tedious negotiations that have often stalled out.

NAMIBIA: Ban on political activities on campus angers students
Zachariah Mushawatu, University World News, 5/8
The Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) has come out strongly against an internal memorandum issued earlier in May by the University of Namibia’s (UNAM) Pro-Vice Chancellor for Finance, Administration and Resource Mobilisation, Ellen Namhila, to the effect that political activities are now banned on campus.

ASIA: Asian students swell ranks of ‘global’ anti-war protesters
Shuriah Niazi, Ameen Amjad Khan and Mohiuddin Alamgir, University World News, 5/9
Pro-Palestine student protests – in many cases inspired by university protests in the US – have emerged in recent weeks on university campuses and in the streets of cities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as other Asian countries.

RUSSIA: To please Putin, universities purge liberals and embrace patriots
Mary Ilyushina, Washington Post, 5/7
Russian university leaders are imbuing the country’s education system with patriotism to favor Putin, quashing Western influences and dissent.

EUROPE: Clashes and arrests as pro-Palestinian protests spread across European campuses
Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian, 5/7
Student protests demanding that universities sever ties with Israel over the Gaza war have spread across Europe, sparking clashes and arrests as new demonstrations broke out in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria.

UNITED KINGDOM: Digital surveillance of scholars ‘eroding academic freedom’
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 5/7
Tracking teaching, grades and research productivity with electronic systems is affecting staff independence and well-being, union-backed survey finds.

AUSTRALIA: Australian encampments mimic US precursors but not in pugnacity
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 5/7
Pro-Palestinian encampments at Australian universities have remained all but free of the violence marring the US camps that inspired them, despite demands for US-style crackdowns.

UNITED STATES: The US universities that allow protest encampments – and even negotiate
Gabrielle Canon, The Guardian, 5/4
While semesters at other schools speed toward a violent close, several universities have sought a more amicable solution.

FRANCE: ‘We’re infantilised or demonised’: French students criticise Gaza protests crackdown
Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, 5/3
University students air frustration that sit-ins motivated by peace are being shut down instead of heeded.

UNITED STATES: Will Academic Freedom and Campus Free Speech Survive?
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Education, 5/3
Faculty and free expression groups are sounding alarms about threatened limitations and crackdowns on professors’ speech and student protests.

MIDDLE EAST: MENA universities join global protests over war in Gaza
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 5/3
Students and academic communities at universities and higher education institutions located in Middle East and North African (MENA) countries including Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Iran, Kuwait, Mauritania, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco have organised protests to demand an end to the Israeli military operation and rising death toll in Gaza while acknowledging the efforts of student protesters around the world.

UNITED STATES: For international students, protesting on campuses has higher stakes
Maham Javaid, Washington Post, 5/3
Students studying in the United States run the risk of visas being revoked, and potentially being forced to leave the country, if they’re suspended.

UNITED STATES: How best should US universities respond to campus protests?
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 5/2
Tough decade-old experience with police violence taught California universities the value of restraint, though divisive politics may already be straining its ability to keep its ideals.

GERMANY/CHINA: Chinese scientific espionage in Germany: what next?
Markus Weisskopf, Science|Business, 5/2
The research minister is calling for a review of university collaborations with China. Science organizations point to a lack of regulations and warn over potential red line.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: No degree and little hope for protesting students behind bars
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 5/2
Student leaders protesting their university’s failure to accredit their degrees find themselves in Papua New Guinea jail, after ‘opportunist’ torches vehicles.

AFGHANISTAN: Female academics turn to domestic work to avoid starvation
Manija Mirzaie, University World News, 5/1
While the impact on students of the closure of girls’ schools and the barring of women from Afghanistan’s universities has been well documented, little attention has been paid to the female academic staff who lost their jobs and status in society due to gender discrimination.

NEW ZEALAND: University postpones free speech event, over free speech concerns
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 5/1
The postponement of a panel discussion about free speech has illustrated the challenge confronting New Zealand universities, whose funding may be withdrawn over perceived failures on the issue.

UNITED STATES: How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words
Rachel Treisman, NPR, 5/1
Sarah Phillips was on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington for meetings Saturday when she saw social media posts calling for help protecting students’ free speech rights. When Phillips, an anthropology professor at IU, arrived at the site of the campus protest she recognized some of her students, “completely peaceful,” standing face-to-face with what she described as heavily armed riot police. Reflexively, she started walking toward them.

FRANCE: Paris regional leader suspends Sciences Po funding over Gaza protests
Agence France-Presse/The Guardian, 4/30
The Paris regional authority has temporarily suspending funding for Sciences Po, one of France’s most prestigious universities, after it was rocked by pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

IRAN: Female students living in fear under new hijab crackdown
Shafigeh Shirazi and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 4/30
Female students in Iran are reporting feelings of fear and apprehension when entering university campuses after the regime in Tehran began a new crackdown to enforce the wearing of the hijab or head covering, reportedly deploying more than 32 agencies to enforce it and sometimes inflicting beatings upon those who do not comply.

UNITED STATES: Abrupt Changes to Protest Policies Raise Alarm
Liam Knox, Inside Higher Education, 4/30
Indiana University changed a 55-year-old policy on student assembly hours before protesters set up an encampment. Free speech advocates are worried.

RUSSIA/UNITED STATES: Winning a Fulbright Was a High Honor for Russians. Now It Could Jeopardize Scholars Who Go Home.
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/29
For scholars from around the world, a Fulbright award is an academic triumph, a chance to study and live in the United States. But for Russian participants in the flagship U.S. exchange program, that achievement may have soured. Top Russian officials have called alumni of Fulbright and other American exchange programs potential spies and agents of foreign influence.

UNITED STATES: College protesters want ‘amnesty.’ At stake: Tuition, legal charges, grades and graduation
Jocelyn Gecker, Associated Press, 4/28
Maryam Alwan figured the worst was over after New York City police in riot gear arrested her and other protesters on the Columbia University campus, loaded them onto buses and held them in custody for hours. But the next evening, the college junior received an email from the university. Alwan and other students were being suspended after their arrests at the “ Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” a tactic colleges across the country have deployed to calm growing campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

AUSTRALIA: Australian university governance a ‘circular system of patronage’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 4/26
The co-opting of corporate heavyweights onto university governing councils constitutes a “circular system of patronage” that perpetuates the underpayment of staff and the overpayment of bosses, according to Australia’s academic union.

UNITED KINGDOM: Security vetting plan for researchers of sensitive technologies
Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education, 4/26
Academics with access to sensitive research in UK universities could be required to undergo security vetting, ministers have said.

UNITED STATES: Why Are Students Camping on University Lawns?
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Education, 4/24
Since Columbia University shut down an encampment last week where pro-Palestinian protesters were demonstrating for divestment from companies with ties to Israel, students on other campuses have set up their own encampments, making similar demands.

ARGENTINA: Argentina’s students take to streets in protest against Javier Milei’s austerity plan
Isabel Debre, The Independent, 4/24
Milei is slashing spending across the country in his drive to reach zero deficit, leaving even elite universities struggling to keep lights on.

ITALY: Academic prosecuted for calling minister’s speech ‘neo-Hitlerite’
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 4/23
An Italian academic is facing criminal defamation charges after describing a government minister’s espousal of a white supremacist conspiracy as “neo-Hitlerite”.

NIGERIA: University closed after bandits kill 15, including a student
Afeez Bolaji, University World News, 4/22
The Plateau State University in Bokkos in the northern part of central Nigeria has been temporarily closed following a bandit attack on communities around the institution during which a second-year computer science student, Dading James Jordan, was killed.

UNITED STATES: The Review: The antisemitism hearing forgot about academic freedom [opinion]
Len Gutkin, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/22
“I don’t think that phrase was used even once,” is how the retired Columbia University Sanskritist Sheldon Pollack put it. The phrase was “academic freedom”; the event was Wednesday’s congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, the second since December, this time with Columbia’s president Nemat (Minouche) Shafik in the hot seat. The failure of Shafik or any of the other witnesses — David Greenwald and Claire Shipman, co-chairs of Columbia’s Board of Trustees, and David Schizer, a Columbia law professor and co-chair of the university’s antisemitism task force — to name the concept that was at the very heart of the hearing surely had something to do with the watery imprecision of the whole conversation.

UNITED STATES: Louisiana’s flagship university lets oil firms influence research – for a price
Sara Sneath, The Guardian, 4/21
For $5m, Louisiana’s flagship university will let an oil company weigh in on faculty research activities. Or, for $100,000, a corporation can participate in a research study, with “robust” reviewing powers and access to all resulting intellectual property.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: FBI ‘did not intend negative impact’ of prosecuting Chinese academics with ties to Beijing under Trump-era China Initiative
Mark Magnier, South China Morning Post, 4/20
The FBI did not intend the “negative impact” that the China Initiative had on the Asian-American community and is willing to learn, said an official from the agency on Friday, addressing members of the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American civic group.

UNITED STATES: Advocacy Day at Muhlenberg
Shinam Hussain, The Muhlenberg Weekly, 4/18
On April 15, members of the student body of the College participated in Advocacy Day. Students currently in their RJ Fellows Senior Seminar and students part of the course Rights, Refugee and Resettlement: Scholars at Risk Seminar spent the semester researching a respective scholar that the non-governmental organization, Scholars at Risk (SAR), had been advocating for. Start a seminar.

NEPAL: Political influence in universities ‘threat’ to Nepal’s democracy
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 4/18
A delay in appointing senior leadership at Nepal’s largest university has reignited concerns about political influence over recruitment at the country’s institutions.

UNITED STATES: At Heated Congressional Hearing, Lawmakers Scrutinize Columbia U.’s Response to Campus Antisemitism
Maggie Hicks, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/18
Congressional leaders berated Columbia University’s president during a three-and-a-half-hour hearing over how her administration has responded to allegations of rampant antisemitism on campus since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

AFGHANISTAN/CANADA: Latitudes: The Taliban cut off access to education. A new partnership wants to change that.
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/17
The Taliban has limited access to education for Afghan women and teenage girls. But Arizona State University and a Canadian nonprofit have teamed up to provide online English-language courses to 2,000 students.

UNITED STATES: Punishments Rise as Student Protests Escalate
Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed, 4/15
Six months after the Israel-Hamas war set off a new wave of campus activism in the United States, students are still protesting in full force. And at some institutions administrators are responding to student demonstrators—especially supporters of Palestinians—with increasingly harsh discipline.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Far fewer young Americans now want to study in China. Both countries are trying to fix that
Didi Tang and Dake Kang, Associated Press, 4/13
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he sees interest among fellow scholars wane even after China reopened. Common concerns, he said, include restrictions on academic freedom and the risk of being stranded in China.

BANGLADESH: Bangladeshi students urge end to violent campus politics
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 4/12
Students at a Bangladeshi university campaigning to keep political groups off campus are unlikely to succeed, academics warned, as the government continues to rely on its student arm to keep dissidents in check, despite the resulting violence.

YEMEN: Education offers a path out of the ruin of war – Report
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 4/11
After nine years of war between the Yemeni government and the Houthis movement, immediate policy interventions are needed to stabilise the country’s higher education system before it reaches the point of no return, according to a recent study.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Professors, students say ‘no’ to Florida as new law targets Chinese
Bochen Han, South China Morning Post, 4/10
The law requires colleges and universities to get approval before hiring or working with Chinese people who aren’t US citizens or green card holders. A legal challenge filed by two graduate students and a professor argues, among other things, that the state law usurps the power of the federal government.

SUDAN: Study reports on destruction at medical schools in Sudan
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 4/10
During a three-month period of warfare in Sudan, just over half of the medical schools in three of the worst hit conflict zones were attacked, looted and even turned into military bases.

GERMANY: German university rescinds Jewish American’s job offer over pro-Palestinian letter
Kate Connolly, The Guardian, 4/10
A leading Jewish American philosopher has been disinvited from taking up a prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne after signing a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces.

GLOBAL: Restricting international research is largely a European and North American trend, global survey finds
David Matthews, Science|Business, 4/9
Tensions with China have made scientific cooperation with the West more fraught. But in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, collaboration is largely unaffected by geopolitics.

IRAN: Iran frees scientists who studied big cats in surprise move
Michele Catanzaro, Nature, 4/9
Four members of a conservation group focused on big cats who were jailed in Iran six years ago were pardoned on 7 April as part of a mass amnesty of prisoners ahead of Eid holidays at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

IRAN: Niloufar Bayani released from prison
Scholars at Risk, 4/8
Scholars at Risk celebrates the release of wrongfully imprisoned conservationist Niloufar Bayani and the news that she has been reunited with her loved ones.

DRC: Ongoing, worsening conflict’s devastating HE consequences
Augustin Sadiki, University World News, 4/8
Éric Rusinge sits in the scorching sun behind a tiny, makeshift room awaiting clients of the sports betting company he works for. The 23-year-old has just joined the company after his third-year courses at the Higher Institute of Rural Development of Rutshuru were halted because of the ongoing armed conflict that has been raging in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

UNITED STATES: Students Are Voting to Support Boycotts of Israel. How Are Colleges Responding?
Alicia Taylor, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/5
Amid a surge in campus activism related to the Israel-Hamas war, more students are voting on whether to call for their colleges to divest from Israel. Colleges have struggled with how to respond to the votes. Two colleges prevented students from voting at all.

UNITED STATES/CHINA: Professors, students say ‘no’ to Florida as new law targets Chinese
Bochen Han, South China Morning Post, 4/10
The law requires colleges and universities to get approval before hiring or working with Chinese people who aren’t US citizens or green card holders. A legal challenge filed by two graduate students and a professor argues, among other things, that the state law usurps the power of the federal government.

SUDAN: Study reports on destruction at medical schools in Sudan
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 4/10
During a three-month period of warfare in Sudan, just over half of the medical schools in three of the worst hit conflict zones were attacked, looted and even turned into military bases.

GERMANY: German university rescinds Jewish American’s job offer over pro-Palestinian letter
Kate Connolly, The Guardian, 4/10
A leading Jewish American philosopher has been disinvited from taking up a prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne after signing a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces.

GLOBAL: Restricting international research is largely a European and North American trend, global survey finds
David Matthews, Science|Business, 4/9
Tensions with China have made scientific cooperation with the West more fraught. But in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, collaboration is largely unaffected by geopolitics.

IRAN: Iran frees scientists who studied big cats in surprise move
Michele Catanzaro, Nature, 4/9
Four members of a conservation group focused on big cats who were jailed in Iran six years ago were pardoned on 7 April as part of a mass amnesty of prisoners ahead of Eid holidays at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

IRAN: Niloufar Bayani released from prison
Scholars at Risk, 4/8
Scholars at Risk celebrates the release of wrongfully imprisoned conservationist Niloufar Bayani and the news that she has been reunited with her loved ones.

DRC: Ongoing, worsening conflict’s devastating HE consequences
Augustin Sadiki, University World News, 4/8
Éric Rusinge sits in the scorching sun behind a tiny, makeshift room awaiting clients of the sports betting company he works for. The 23-year-old has just joined the company after his third-year courses at the Higher Institute of Rural Development of Rutshuru were halted because of the ongoing armed conflict that has been raging in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

UNITED STATES: Students Are Voting to Support Boycotts of Israel. How Are Colleges Responding?
Alicia Taylor, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/5
Amid a surge in campus activism related to the Israel-Hamas war, more students are voting on whether to call for their colleges to divest from Israel. Colleges have struggled with how to respond to the votes. Two colleges prevented students from voting at all.

INDIA: Student election win signals scale of anti-Modi sentiment
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 4/4
During a fervent campaign leading up to India’s national general elections slated for April and May, a left-wing student coalition last month swept to power in student union elections held at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.

UNITED STATES / ISRAEL: As conflict in the Middle East persists, study abroad in Israel becomes a flash point
Karin Fischer, Latitudes/Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/3
Pitzer College will pull back from a longstanding study-abroad partnership with the University of Haifa, in Israel, a relationship that has been the subject of a boycott campaign by students, faculty members, and alumni of the California liberal-arts college.

BAHRAIN: Joint Letter: Marking Al-Singace’s 1,000 Days on Hunger Strike
Scholars at Risk, 4/3
On April 3, SAR joined 27 organizations in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace. Dr. Al-Singace has now been on a hunger strike for 1,000 days to protest the confiscation of his research documents.
Take action.

INDIA: ‘Crisis’ as Indian states battle BJP for control of universities
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 4/1
The tussle for control of universities between India’s state governments and the country’s ruling BJP party is causing a “crisis” in many institutions, as an ongoing spat in Kerala has escalated to presidential levels.

UNITED STATES: A Public University Wants to Prevent ‘Disruptive Activities.’ That’s Complicated.
Maggie Hicks, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/1
The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has proposed a new “disruptive activity policy” prohibiting people from interrupting campus events, activities, and other university operations. Once finalized, it’ll be one of the first policy updates at a public college in response to protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

UNITED STATES: Black Scholars Face Anonymous Accusations in Anti-DEI Crusade
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 4/1
Since right-wing firebrand Christopher Rufo helped bring down Harvard’s president, at least seven more scholars—most of them Black—have confronted accusations of plagiarism or research misconduct spread by conservative media.

GLOBAL: Geopolitical realities and academic freedom: Whose narrative prevails? [opinion]
Khoo Ying Hooi, Malay Mail, 3/29
As part of the academic community, academic freedom holds a profound significance for me. Regrettably, for many scholars, the importance of academic freedom often goes overlooked until its absence becomes glaringly apparent. This oversight is particularly concerning in disciplines like international relations and political science, where the exploration of contentious issues is common.

SUDAN: Destruction of HE will demand post-war reform of sector
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 3/28
The imprint that the current war in Sudan and the post-war environment will have on universities underscores the importance of introducing structural reforms in the country’s higher education sector, as well as involving the Association of Sudanese Universities and private higher education institutions in post-war recovery efforts.

INDONESIA: Claiming election flaws, academics stand ready to protest
Kafil Yamin, University World News, 3/28
Concerned about election irregularities, academics are stepping up criticism of last month’s poll which saw Minister of Defence Prabowo Subianto declared the country’s president-elect on 20 March.

AUSTRALIA: Australian travel bans would cover study and research
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 3/27
People from specified countries could be banned from visiting Australia for almost any purpose, including study or research, under the latest politically fuelled crackdown on migration.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Government HE reform efforts promote discord and anger
Andreia Nogueira, University World News, 3/26
Students and lecturers in Guinea-Bissau have been protesting against their new government firing educational directors and a rector, and their replacements leading a higher education sector that has been accused of being mired in graft and inefficiency.

MALAYSIA: Student bodies laud changes to university Act
Nuqman Adam, The Sun, 3/26
Amendments empower councils with autonomy in policy and finance management

UNITED KINGDOM: Free speech tsar issues warning to universities about overseas arrangements
Eleanor Busby, The Independent, 3/26
Universities in England could be told to terminate their arrangements with foreign countries if freedom of speech and academic freedom is undermined, the Government’s free speech tsar has said.

CHINA/UNITED KINGDOM: Threats, fear and surveillance: how China targets students in the UK who criticise regime
Jesse Lau, The Guardian, 3/25
Chinese students tell the Guardian they are scared to return home and worry for their families after being followed and harassed.

UNITED STATES: Indiana Law Requires Professors to Promote ‘Intellectual Diversity’ or Face Penalties
Campbell Robertson and Anna Betts, The New York Times, 3/24
Faculty members in public universities could be disciplined or fired, even those with tenure, if they are found to fall short of the new requirements.

UNITED STATES: Can Colleges Foster Civil Discourse? Why some campus events about the war in Gaza have succeeded while others sparked controversy.
Erin Gretzinger, Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/22
Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, protests and disruptions have proliferated on college campuses. Institutional statements have flopped. Speakers have come under fire. Events have been canceled. Leaders of elite institutions have resigned from their posts.

HONG KONG: Academics adrift after Hong Kong passes new security law
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/22
When Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park secured a tenure track position at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) just over a decade ago, it was the dream job for the American academic specializing in Hong Kong’s action cinema. “I felt that I had won the academic lottery,” he said. Since then, however, much has changed in a city once admired for its freedoms and openness.

CHINA/JAPAN: ‘Unease’ among China scholars as Japan-based academic disappears
Helen Packer, Times Higher Education, 3/22
Scholars are growing increasingly wary of conducting research on and in China as the country strengthens national security laws.

UNITED STATES: House Panel Advances Anti-‘Political Litmus Test’ Bills
Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, 3/22
Democrats call the GOP-sponsored bills an unnecessary attempt to codify rights already protected by the First Amendment that could hinder antisemitism response.

ZIMBABWE: Tempers flare after US researchers’ deportation from Zim
Clemence Manyukwe, University World News, 3/21
Zimbabwe’s government continues to deport foreign researchers and academics from the country. The latest group to be expatriated was a group of four American researchers carrying out assessments for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

RUSSIA: What Putin’s next term means for science
Olga Dobrovidova, Nature, 3/20
Researchers in Russia expect growing isolation as Vladimir Putin embarks on six more years as president.

ROMANIA: Legal loophole allows Romanian rectors to remain in post
Mădălina Cocea, Science|Business, 3/20
Recent elections of rectors in Romania have extended long-standing leadership in universities across the country, with only six of 38 civilian state universities voting in new rectors. The rest saw their incumbent leaders secure additional terms – more than a quarter for the fourth time.

FRANCE: Controversy at Sciences-po: deans and researchers angry after Gabriel Attal’s “unannounced” visit [FRENCH]
Le Parisien with AFP, 3/19
The prestigious school is mired in heavy controversy, after accusations of anti-Semitism against the organizers of a pro-Palestinian demonstration. The Prime Minister went there, to the great dismay of teachers and researchers, who criticized on Monday a desire for “interference” by the executive.

PHILIPPINES: UP units establish Academic Freedom Committee in campuses
University of the Philippines, 3/18
The systemwide campaign for the creation of the Committee on the Promotion and Protection of Academic Freedom and Human Rights (CAFHR) gains further ground with several constituent units establishing academic freedom committees.

UNITED STATES: Virginia Officials Scrutinize Two Universities’ DEI Course Syllabi
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 3/18
A spokesman for Governor Glenn Youngkin invoked concerns about “core curriculum mandates that are a thinly veiled attempt to incorporate the progressive left’s groupthink.” Two universities’ diversity education initiatives may be in peril.

KAZAKHSTAN: Former president of Nazarbayev University issues warning
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/17
The former head of Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University (NU), a flagship research university in the Central Asian republic which teaches in English and has many international professors among its staff, has warned that the university’s much lauded academic freedom and institutional autonomy are under threat.

PALESTINE: Plan Lets Students of Gaza’s Shattered Universities Continue Studies Online
Ismail Salama, Al-Fanar Media, 3/16
The Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education said the plan would allow Gazan students whose educations have been disrupted by the Israel-Hamas war to resume their studies at institutions in the West Bank. Israeli forces invaded Gaza in October in pursuit of Hamas, and Gazan universities and schools have sustained extensive damage to their research and study facilities.

UNITED KINGDOM: After being dismissed after complaints from Chinese students, a British professor accused universities of ignoring academic freedom and bowing to money [CHINESE]
Wang Gang, VOA Chinese, 3/15
Michelle Shipworth, associate professor at the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources at University College London (UCL), revealed to the media that a course she teaches called “Data Detective” was unfairly sanctioned by UCL after Chinese students complained.

UNITED STATES: Civil Rights Groups Push Back Against Wave of Anti-DEI Bills
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 3/15
So far this year, at least five state legislatures have passed bills seeking to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. This year’s batch may seep more into the classroom.

CHINA: Overseas students, exchanges deterred by spy laws – Academic
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/14
A prominent Peking University academic has said recent anti-espionage laws introduced by the Chinese government are deterring prospective foreign students from coming to China, while overly stringent restrictions are preventing Chinese academics from attending international events, despite the government’s avowed commitment to academic exchanges.

INDIA: Campus protests over citizenship law revive bitter memories
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 3/14
Protests have erupted on university campuses in India this week after the government announced on 10 March the immediate implementation of its contentious citizenship law ahead of the upcoming 2024 general elections expected to be held between late April and May.

UNITED STATES: Attempt to revive the China Initiative killed
Karin Fischer, Latitudes/Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/13
A provision that would have reinstated the China Initiative, the federal inquiry into academic and economic espionage, has been stripped from a spending bill that President Biden signed over the weekend.

MYANMAR: Military deployment on campuses put staff, students at risk
Padone, University World News, 3/12
The presence of Myanmar’s military on university campuses since the military coup in 2021 has caused chaos in the past few months, with staff and students being effectively trapped on site during outbreaks of armed conflict, raising allegations of civilians serving as human shields.

INDIA: ‘Very Well Reasoned’: SC Refuses to Stay Bombay HC Order Acquitting Saibaba, Others
The Wire, 3/11
The Supreme Court on Monday (March 11) refused to stay the Bombay high court judgment acquitting former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba and five others in a UAPA case, saying that the high court’s order is prima facie “very well reasoned”.

PALESTINE: In pictures and videos: BBC documents the destruction of most of Gaza’s universities [ARABIC]
Lamis Talbi and Paul Kuziak, BBC Arabic, 3/11
Videos and photos confirmed by a BBC Arabic fact-finding team showed the destruction or damage of the largest higher education institutions in Gaza following the military operations launched by Israel in the Strip.

AFGHANISTAN: Discrediting the education system of Afghanistan; Clergymen get a university degree without studying [PERSIAN]
Mukhtar Wafai, Independent Farsi, 3/9
“The meaning of this action of the Taliban is to auction off university degrees in Afghanistan.”

GREECE: Greece approves ending state monopoly on university education, despite student protests
Euronews with AP, 3/9
Greek lawmakers approved sweeping reforms early on Saturday that will end the state monopoly on university education, breaking what powerful left-wing student groups have long regarded as a major taboo.

HONG KONG: Academic freedom a top concern as new security law looms
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/8
A new security law for Hong Kong, which is expected to have a chilling effect on academic and other freedoms, is being rushed through the city’s legislature under an accelerated process after less than a month of public consultations.

GLOBAL: Academic Freedom Index 2024 Update
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and V-Dem Institute, 3/7
The latest edition of the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) provides an overview of the state of academic freedom in 179 countries in 2023, and trends over time.
Read the 2024 Update. Learn more about AFi.

INDIA: Ex-DU professor Saibaba released days after HC acquits him of Maoist links
Pradip Kumar Maitra, Hindustan Times, 3/7
The Bombay high court’s Nagpur bench overturned a 2017 judgment of a sessions court in Gadchiroli sentencing Saibaba to life imprisonment.

AFRICA: Attacks on education in West and Central Africa on the rise
Wachira Kigotho, University World News, 3/7
Attacks on education in West and Central Africa have increased in the past 10 years and universities have not been spared, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.

KENYA: Concerns deepen over femicide. Students are also victims
Scovian Lillian, University World News, 3/7
16 women were murdered in Kenya in January 2024. According to an analysis carried out by Africa Data Hub, about 500 women have been victims of femicide in Kenya between 2016 and 2024, a number that is likely to be higher because not all cases are reported.

GERMANY: Warning as Germany urged to revisit military research bar
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 3/7
German universities could face “severe” conflicts among academics and students if the country’s stringent division between military and civilian research is eroded, it has been warned, as politicians and advisory bodies call for a reassessment, motivated in large part by Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

UNITED STATES: Columbia Has Changed Its Protest Policy—Again
Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Education, 3/7
The university established controversial demonstration guidelines after Oct. 7. Now, it has implemented new ones—this time incorporating faculty and student feedback.

UNITED KINGDOM: UKRI clears academics accused by minister of backing ‘extremism’
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 3/5
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has found no evidence of wrongdoing by academics on an equality advisory body who were criticised by the science secretary for their social media posts questioning the government’s policy in the Israel-Gaza war.

UNITED STATES: After Texas’ DEI Bans, Administrators Got ‘Creative.’ Then They Got in Trouble.
Katherine Mangan, Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/4
As director of student belonging at the University of Texas at Tyler, Tarecka Payne was still adjusting to how her job had changed under a new law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion activities when she was ambushed in her office and secretly recorded by an undercover reporter from a right-wing news group.

UNITED STATES: College Dorm Decorations Become a Front in the Campus Free Speech Wars
Sharon Otterman, The New York Times, 3/1
Barnard College is requiring students to strip decorations from their dorm doors in the wake of protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

UKRAINE: One in five HE institutions damaged or destroyed in war
Dylan Carter, University World News, 3/1
One in five higher education institutions in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed during the Russian invasion since 24 February 2022, according to new data.

ISRAEL: Fallout from Israel-Hamas war causing ‘significant harm’ to researchers in Israel, survey finds
Michele Chabin, Science, 2/28
Academic researchers in Israel say they are being “affected dramatically” by negative international reactions to Israel’s military actions against Hamas in Gaza, a recent survey finds. And many fear the professional fallout from the war will become much worse in the future.

UKRAINE: Overseas students still in Ukrainian limbo after two years of war
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 2/29
Some international students are still stuck in Ukraine more than two years on since Russia’s invasion, trapped in a legal limbo that means they can neither officially stay in nor leave the country.

UNITED STATES: This Bill Could Silence Pro-Palestine Student Groups. It’s Not the Only One.
Alecia Taylor, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/28
A bill progressing quickly through the Indiana legislature could censor pro-Palestinian student organizations, mirroring a handful of bills across the country that purportedly aim to ban public colleges from engaging with terrorist groups.

UNITED STATES: The Kinsey Institute, the world’s top sex research center, faces existential threat from conservative attacks
Carter Sherman, The Guardian, 2/28
The future of the Kinsey Institute, the world’s premier sex research center, is in limbo. Last April, lawmakers in Indiana’s Republican-dominated state legislature voted to block the Kinsey Institute from receiving any state funds through Indiana University (IU), which houses the institute. Its researchers have spent the months since scrambling to figure out what this means for their work – and Indiana University, they say, has largely left them out of the discussion.

UNITED STATES: What Else Are We Seeing? 
Maggie Hicks, Nell Gluckman, and Audrey Williams June, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/26
The Chronicle highlights three emerging trends that could affect higher education this year.

AUSTRALIA/IRAN: Where freedom meets repression: Australian academics tread a fine line over ties to Iran
Jonathan Yerushalmy, The Guardian, 2/24
More than 20 papers involving collaboration have been published in the past year, despite the government warning against joint research projects.

IRELAND: Belfast event on ‘Academic Freedom under Threat: Global and Local Perspectives’
Queen’s University Belfast, 2/23
To discuss threats to academic freedom, over 50 people gathered in Belfast on Tuesday the 20 February, at an event of the Scholars at Risk Ireland Committee. This is the first ever event held in Northern Ireland, and as such was a joint offering hosted by Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University. Join the network.

UKRAINE: MSCA4Ukraine: standing with Ukraine’s research community
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, 2/23
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are helping safeguard Ukraine’s research and innovation ecosystem by allowing its researchers to continue their work. Two years after the start of the invasion, we spoke to five researchers supported by MSCA4Ukraine about their journey. The MSCA4Ukraine Programme of the European Commission is implemented by a consortium comprised of Scholars at Risk Europe hosted at Maynooth University, Ireland (project coordinator),  the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the European University Association, with the French national PAUSE programme, hosted by the Collège de France, and the global Scholars at Risk Network participating as associated partners. Learn more about MSCA4Ukraine. 

IRAN: Tehran University Deploys More Hijab Enforcers
Iran International, 2/19
Iran’s University of Tehran has deployed hijab enforcers amid nationwide rebellion of mandatory headscarves, reports Iran International.

BELARUS: The State of Academia in Belarus 2023 Report
Belarusian Students’ Association, 2/14
Following the 2020 and 2021 reports on the state of academia in Belarus, the exiled Belarusian national student union BSA has published the 2023 edition of the report covering the state of academia in Belarus in 2023. Learn more.

ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe’s government bans scholarships for LGBTIQ+ students
Clemence Manyukwe, University World News, 2/22
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ+) student community in Zimbabwe is living in fear after the government threatened organisations offering scholarships to such students with “appropriate measures to enforce national laws, and to protect and defend national values” – a development that activists believe may affect the access to higher education of this group.

AFRICA: How universities in Africa lost their academic freedom
Wachira Kigotho, University World News, 2/22
What is the current state and fate of academic freedom in African universities? How and why did universities in Africa lose their academic freedom in the first place? What are the ongoing forms of struggle and resistance to regain academic freedom in higher education in Africa?

CHINA/RUSSIA: China becomes Russia’s biggest collaborator after war decimates science ties with the west
David Matthews, Science|Business, 2/22
China has become Russia’s biggest scientific collaborator following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, largely because ties to the west have dramatically shrunk since the war began.

GLOBAL: Scientists under arrest: the researchers taking action over climate change
Daniel Grossman, Nature, 2/21
Fed up with a lack of political progress in solving the climate problem, some researchers are becoming activists to slow global warming.

MYANMAR: Compulsory army conscription law shatters education hopes
Padone, University World News, 2/21
A new law reactivating compulsory military conscription for young men and women came into effect in Myanmar last week, filling thousands of young men and women with dread. While the law permits students to be granted temporary deferments, fears of forced conscription means many are considering leaving the country to avoid serving in the junta’s army.

UNITED STATES: Colleges Would Have to Eliminate Dozens of Jobs Under a New DEI Bill in Idaho
Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/21
Public colleges in Idaho would have to close offices and centers that do diversity, equity, and inclusion work if a Republican-backed bill introduced last week is enacted.

MAURITANIA: Student union vows to continue its protests over services
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 2/20
Protests by the National Union of Mauritanian Students, or UNEM, have entered a third month over demands related to educational services, including housing and transport for students and the allocation of scholarships.

CHINA: Release Renowned Uyghur Scholar Rahile Dawut
Scholars at Risk, 2/20
SAR sent a letter to Chinese authorities, urging them to secure the immediate release of wrongfully imprisoned Uyghur scholar Rahile Dawut. Take action.

BANGLADESH: Chhatra League in the fight for supremacy [BENGALI]
Harun Ur Rashid, Deutsche Welle, 2/18
At least four universities in Bangladesh currently have an unstable environment due to the student political organization the Chhatra League. As a result, opposition student organizations do not have much opportunity to be active.

UNITED STATES/QATAR: Scholars detect politics in Texas A&M’s decision to quit Qatar
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 2/17
The closure of Texas A&M University’s Qatar campus, which has prompted a bitter fallout, reflects the growing political influence on US institutions, according to academics.

UNITED KINGDOM: Antisemitic incidents in higher education triple amid Gaza crisis
Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education, 2/15
The number of antisemitic incidents recorded in UK higher education tripled last year as the war in Gaza fuelled anti-Jewish hate on campuses, according to a new report.

UNITED STATES: The Fight Over Academic Freedom
Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times, 2/16
Amid spiraling campus speech debates, many professors are rallying in defense of a bedrock principle. But can they agree on just what it means?

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: ‘We are tired of wars …’ say protesting students and staff
Augustin Sadiki, University World News, 2/15
Thousands of students from universities across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) took to the streets from 12 February as part of national protests against the ongoing attacks, incursions and fighting, in particular in the east, that have been ravaging the country and are continuously disrupting their education.

VENEZUELA: Arrest of professor and human rights defender Rocío San Miguel also violates academic freedom and democracy [SPANISH]
Aula Abierta, 2/13
Aula Abierta rejects the arbitrary detention and forced disappearance for more than four days of the university professor and human rights defender in Venezuela Rocío San Miguel, since she was approached by agents of the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) and the Bolivarian Intelligence Agency (SEBIN) on February 9, 2024.

INDIA: ‘It Is Suffocating’: A Top Liberal University Is Under Attack in India
Sameer Yasir, The New York Times, 2/10
A campaign to make the country an explicitly Hindu nation has had a chilling effect on left-leaning and secular institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University.

INDONESIA: Indonesia election 2024: students protest Jokowi’s perceived lack of neutrality, but will movement impact voters?
Resty Woro Yuniar, South China Morning Post, 2/10
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been a target of mounting criticisms from academics and students for his perceived lack of neutrality in the coming election, but observers say that the movement will do little to change the course of the election on February 14.

NEPAL: Academics reject draft law that ‘politicises’ universities
Binod Ghimire, University World News, 2/9
A draft law on universities and higher education in Nepal has met with fierce criticism from the country’s academics who say it allows political leaders and bureaucrats to become involved in policy decisions at universities.

THAILAND: Student groups criticise court verdict that blocks royal reform
Teeranai Charuvastra, University World News, 2/8
Student organisations at nine universities across Thailand have rallied behind a liberal-leaning political party’s effort to amend a law that practically forbids any open discussion about the country’s royal family, days after a top court blocked the attempt at the reform.

GHANA: UTAG kicks against re-submission of Public Universities Bill
Emmanuel Bonney, Graphic Online, 2/8
The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) says it is against the passage of the Public Universities Bill in its current form and, therefore, demands its immediate withdrawal from Parliament. It said the disregard for consultation with the association, coupled with the alarming disregard for the concerns of the university community, demonstrated a lack of respect for the principles of shared governance and academic freedom. Learn more about academic freedom in Ghana in Free to Think 2022.

UNITED STATES: Is Institutional Neutrality Catching On?
Michael Vasquez, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/8
Amid a polarized political climate and debates about the war in Gaza and hot-button social issues like abortion rights, university leaders’ statements about current events have attracted attention and scrutiny. A small but growing number of institutions are responding to the pressure by swearing off such statements altogether.

UNITED STATES: Six dangerous bills that would censor speech on campuses across the country
Samantha LaFrance, PEN America, 2/7
It has been a tumultuous few months for higher ed. Responding to low public trust, raucous protest, and rising incidents of both antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, legislators are doubling down on their yearslong campaign to destabilize academia, censor college classrooms, and wear down the safeguards that help protect academic freedom.

UNITED STATES/UKRAINE: Bringing Rehabilitation Expertise to Ukraine’s Wounded: Organizing Training for Doctors During Wartime
Scholars at Risk, 2/7
In November 2023, rehabilitation specialists from Ukraine participated in a two-week training program established by Dr. Alex Moroz at New York University. Join the Network. Host a Scholar.

UNITED STATES: Campus Vote on Antisemitism Resolution Is Microcosm of National Debate
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 2/7
Someone called Oct. 7 “a beautiful day” at a University of North Carolina event. The Faculty Council then “indefinitely postponed” a resolution that would have condemned the statement.

IRAN: The continuation of “self-improvement” in universities; Dismissal of 25 professors of Tehran University in two years [PERSIAN]
Voice of America, 2/7
Iranian media has reported the continuation of a series of dismissals of professors. More than 25 professors were dismissed from the University of Tehran in two years, most of whom are in the field of humanities.

HONG KONG: Another security law proposed as academic exodus continues
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 2/7
A new local security law proposed by the Hong Kong government specifically under the city’s legal system outlines seven national security offenses and also adds new ‘state secrets’ prohibiting disclosure of economic and social information or technology and science deemed to be of importance to the security of Hong Kong or China.

KUWAIT: Impact of gender segregation in Kuwait university debated
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 2/7
The implementation of gender segregation at Kuwait’s public university is another blow to gender equality in the oil-rich state, some experts believe. Manar Sabry, senior assistant director of strategic analysis at Binghamton University in the US, said some Kuwait University faculty had raised concerns about the autonomy of the institution, particularly around governmental decisions and interference.

UNITED STATES: When a threat becomes an excuse to muzzle: A sweeping punishment, a canceled art show, and the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices
Maggie Hicks, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/6
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, many colleges have limited where protests can happen, restricted what people are allowed to say, suspended student groups from campus, and canceled events. Often, colleges have cited safety as the sole reason an event or protest can’t take place.

AUSTRALIA/CHINA: ‘Hostage diplomacy’: Yang Hengjun death sentence rocks relationship with China
Eryk Bagshaw and Matthew Knott, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2/5
Australia and China’s push to stabilize relations after years of turmoil has been shattered by the shock suspended death sentence handed to Australian academic Yang Hengjun after five years of being held on vague espionage charges.
Read SAR’s report on his arrest in 2019.

RUSSIA: Academics face scrutiny of contact with foreign peers
University World News, 2/2
The Russian government will continue to tighten control over the communication and cooperation of local university professors with foreign academics, according to recent statements made by representatives of the state and sources close to leading Russian universities.

GREECE: Students and police clash in Greece as debate rages over legalizing private universities
Srdjan Nedeljkovic And Costas Kantouris, Associated Press, 2/1
Police and student protesters clashed in the center of the Greek capital on Thursday after a demonstration against government plans to allow private universities.

UZBEKISTAN: ‘We’ll Kill You’: Karakalpak Students Face Threats, Arrest In Uzbekistan For Voicing Support For Anti-Government Protests
Farangis Najibullah, RFE/RL, 2/1
“I was taken to a dark room with no windows, where four men — two of them in police uniforms — threatened me, saying: ‘We’ll kill you here and no one will know.'” This is how a university student from Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region in Uzbekistan’s northwest that was the scene of unprecedented protests in 2022, described the threats he said he received during detention.

UNITED STATES: Foreign Governments Silencing International Students and Educators in the United States
Yana Gorokhovskaia and Grady Vaughan, Freedom House, 1/31
Authoritarian governments are using dangerous tools to intimidate international students, visiting scholars, and faculty on American campuses. While Chinese authorities pose the single greatest threat, the governments of Egypt, India, Rwanda, and Saudi Arabia have also targeted international students and faculty with online harassment, digital surveillance, hacking and spyware, threats, and the intimidation of family members residing in their homelands.

ISRAEL: The war in Gaza is leading to deep divisions at Israeli universities
Jackie Northam, NPR, 1/30
The University of Haifa sits high on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, offering spectacular views from Mount Carmel for its 17,000 students. It is Israel’s most diverse university — about 40% of students are Palestinian citizens of Israel. It’s a place where you can hear both Hebrew and Arabic, and where learning — until recently — overrode many of Israel’s deep divisions. That delicate equilibrium changed Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel.

PALESTINE: Academia in Gaza ‘has been destroyed’ by Israeli ‘educide’
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 1/29
Israel has been accused of deliberately targeting universities and academics in Gaza as part of a strategy branded “educide”.

UNITED STATES: College Presidents Are Quietly Organizing to Support DEI
Eric Kelderman, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/29
About a year ago, as state legislatures grew interested in dismantling higher ed’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, a small group of college presidents started getting together to discuss what they could do about it.

CHINA: Party strengthens control of Chinese university administration
Patrick Jack, Times Higher Education, 1/29
China’s move to take more direct control of university governance is likely to presage a further crackdown on academic freedom, experts have warned.

UNITED STATES: What Removing Sociology as a Core-Course Option Means for Florida’s Students
Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/26
Pulling introductory sociology from the list of courses students could take to meet the state’s social-sciences requirement is just the latest in a long list of moves by Florida Republicans to reshape higher education in the Sunshine State — a push that a special committee of the American Association of University Professors has characterized as a “systematic effort to dictate and enforce conformity with a narrow and reactionary political and ideological agenda.”

EUROPE: Abandon plan for foreign funding register, universities tell EU
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 1/26
Sector leaders have called on the European Union to abandon a planned initiative aimed at combating “foreign interference in [the EU’s] democratic systems”, fearing that universities could be unduly charged with “representing foreign interests”.

AFGHANISTAN: A relocated university restores hope for female students
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 1/26
When the Afghan capital Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, more swiftly than anyone had anticipated, it unleashed chaos in the lives of Afghan people, including students at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) who felt particularly vulnerable due to the institution’s association with the United States.

PAKISTAN: Terror threat prompts university closures ahead of polls
Ameen Amjad Khan, University World News, 1/26
Four major universities and several colleges and schools have been closed in Pakistan’s federal capital Islamabad based on intelligence reports of a possible suicide attack following Pakistan’s killing this month of Baloch activists hiding in the area close to the border with neighbouring Iran.

UNITED STATES: NYPD investigating claims that pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia were hit with ‘skunk spray’
Ramsey Khalifeh, Gothamist, 1/23
The NYPD and federal authorities are investigating a possible hate crime targeting pro-Palestinian students who were blasted with suspected “skunk spray” while rallying at Columbia University.

BRAZIL: A year after Bolsonaro, Brazilian campuses are still recovering
Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 1/25
A change in atmosphere has encouraged academics to return to the country where they were once maligned, but funding pressures and issues with polarisation continue.

EUROPE: EU project to explore impact of nationalism on HE freedoms
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 1/24
A 38-country interdisciplinary research project funded by Horizon Europe – coordinated by Aarhus University in Denmark – will examine how shifting geopolitics and the rise of new nationalisms restrictively influence freedom and openness in European higher education and research and suggest ways to address perceived threats.

EUROPE: Brussels commits to institutional autonomy on research security
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 1/24
European Commission stresses that ‘with academic freedom comes academic responsibility’, aiming to ‘de-risk, not to de-couple’ scientific collaboration.

UNITED STATES: Barnard College’s Restrictions on Political Speech Prompt Outcry
Sharon Otterman, New York Times, 1/24
Professors and free speech advocates are protesting a decision by the college to monitor and remove pro-Palestinian statements and other speech the college deems too political.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE: Israel’s military says it will review its demolition of a university building in Gaza
Aaron Boxerman, Arijeta Lajka and Riley Mellen, New York Times, 1/22
After a video of the Israeli military’s demolition of a large university building in Gaza circulated widely on social media, prompting pushback from U.S. officials and others, the military said Sunday that it would review the incident.

UNITED STATES: Amid Gaza Protests, Universities Are Cracking Down On A Celebrated Protest Tactic: Sit-ins
Prem Thakker, The Intercept, 1/21
On college campuses around the country, administrators are responding to peaceful sit-ins with sanctions and criminal charges.

UNITED STATES: ‘America Is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-D.E.I. Crusade
Nicholas Confessore, New York Times, 1/20
Long before Claudine Gay resigned Harvard’s presidency this month under intense criticism of her academic record, her congressional testimony about campus antisemitism and her efforts to promote racial justice, conservative academics and politicians had begun making the case that the decades-long drive to increase racial diversity in America’s universities had corrupted higher education.

SINGAPORE: Government influence on university events ‘concerning’, says MP
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 1/20
Jamus Jerome Lim, who raised issue in Singaporean parliament, says diverse ideas must be ‘allowed to circulate and be subject to debate’.

EUROPE/GLOBAL: Students advocate for wrongfully-detained scholars worldwide – European Student Advocacy Days 2023
Scholars at Risk, 1/19
On December 14-15, 2023, Scholars at Risk, in collaboration with the University of Trento, the University of Padova, and SAR Italy, and co-funded by the European Union, co-hosted the first-ever in-person European Student Advocacy Days. Throughout the two days, over 200 students, faculty, SAR scholars, civil society representatives, and members of the public gathered at University of Trento for the event, a conference and workshop for students and faculty from SAR’s Student Advocacy Seminars and Legal Clinics. Start a seminar. Start a legal clinic.

CHINA: China’s ruling party takes direct control of country’s universities
Gu Ting, Radio Free Asia, 1/18
The Chinese Communist Party is taking a direct role in the running of universities across the country amid ongoing mergers of embedded party committees with presidents’ offices, Radio Free Asia has learned.

HUNGARY: Erasmus ban ‘regretful’ but MEPs agree the EU must safeguard academic freedom in Hungary
Thomas Brent, Science|Business, 1/18
The European Parliament has rejected a call to bring Hungarian universities back into the Erasmus student and academic mobility scheme, with a large majority of MEPs insisting prime minister Viktor Orbán must make the required reforms first.

PALESTINE: Israel destroys last university in Gaza as strikes continue
Laura Pollock, The National, 1/18
Gaza’s last standing university was destroyed by the Israeli army on Wednesday as military continued to strike targets in areas of the besieged territory where it has told civilians to seek refuge. Read more.

SENEGAL: In Senegal, online teaching at the University of Dakar, closed since June, does not satisfy students [FRENCH]
Le Monde, 1/18
Known for being a place of protest, Cheikh-Anta-Diop University closed its doors seven months ago, after the riots following the conviction of opponent Ousmane Sonko. Read more.

UKRAINE: Uprooted Ukrainian scientists may never return from their new research homes
Richard Stone, Science, 1/17
As war drags on, officials ponder how to coax academics back to regions the country hopes to recapture. Read more.

PHILIPPINES/SINGAPORE: Unwelcome Critics: Public Intellectuals in a Polarised World [Webinar Recording]
Academia.SG, 1/17
Academics are often disparaged for confining themselves to their “ivory tower”. But, those who venture into the public square may not be welcomed with open arms. On the contrary, academics trying to play the role of public intellectuals face a range of state and non-state penalties including, in some countries, threats to their lives and livelihoods. In this webinar, two emerging scholars from the Philippines and Singapore share their experiences. Watch here.

MALI: HE institutions struggle as Islamists tighten security noose
Chiaka Doumbia, University World News, 1/16
An ongoing insurgency of armed Islamist groups is affecting educational and research activities in the northern regions of Mali, particularly Timbuktu and Gao. Since August 2022, the two large cities have been under a blockade imposed by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM – le Groupe de Soutien à l’Islam et aux Musulmans), affiliated with al-Qaeda. Read more.

CANADA: Canada’s new research security rules target institutions in China, Iran, Russia
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press, 1/16
The federal government will not bankroll sensitive scientific research tied to dozens of schools, institutes and labs in China, Iran and Russia under new restrictions announced Tuesday. Read more.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE: Higher education ‘under attack’ in Gaza and Israel
Helen Packer, The PIE News, 1/15
Governments and armed groups must refrain from attacking higher education communities in Israel and Palestine, Scholars at Risk has urged, as the conflict in Gaza continues to take its toll on students and academics.
Read more.  Read the call.

CHINA: Ten years since arrest, SAR calls for release of Professor Tohti
Scholars at Risk, 1/15
Professor Ilham Tohti was arrested ten years ago today for promoting dialogue and reconciliation between Uyghurs and Han Chinese. Scholars at Risk demands his immediate release. Read more. Take action.

Students Advocated for Nine Unjustly Imprisoned Scholars and Students in the 2022-23 Year
SAR published its second Student Advocacy Seminar end-of-year report detailing the research and advocacy work of over 500 students at 21 universities in 8 different countries during the 2022-23 academic year. Participants raised awareness about nine Scholars in Prison Project cases from China to Central Europe to the Middle East.
Learn more. Read the report.

HONG KONG: Why is it so tough to be a Hong Kong university president? The politics of the city will trap them, analysts warn
Cannix Yau, South China Morning Post, 1/13
Rocky Tuan from Chinese University this week joined a list of university heads or other top management who ended their contracts early. Analysts and academics say it’s ‘inevitable’ for university chiefs to become embroiled in politics in Hong Kong and point to lack of trust between authorities and institutions. Read more.

SINGAPORE: Singapore university events ‘must be in national interest’
Emily Dixon, Times Higher Education, 1/13
Events at Singaporean universities should “respect…wider social norms and act in line with national interests”, its government has said.
Read more.

NICARAGUA: Goodbye to the classroom: Teachers prefer to resign rather than politically indoctrinate university students [SPANISH]
Confidencial, 1/12
Over 1,200 professors have been fired from government-seized universities, and teachers prefer to look for another job or emigrate, instead of indoctrinating university students. Read more.

RUSSIA/AUSTRIA: Russia Blacklisted a Prominent University. Its Russian Students and Staff Now Risk Arrest.
Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/11
Russian citizens studying and working at Central European University say the Russian government’s blacklisting of the liberal-arts institution puts them in a precarious position, exposing them to penalties or even prosecution if they return to their home country. Read more.

IRAN: Q&A: Encieh Erfani brings attention to fellow displaced scholars
Rachel Brazil, Physics Today, 1/10
The Iranian cosmologist has struggled to find a professional and physical place to call home after she publicly supported the country’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement. Read more.

CANADA/CHINA: Court upholds decision to deny visa to student from China
Nathan Greenfield, University World News, 1/8
The Federal Court of Canada (FCC) has upheld the 2022 decision of a visa officer to deny a Chinese national a visa that would have allowed him to enroll in a PhD science programme at the University of Waterloo (UW), one of Canada’s premier science and technology universities. Read more.

UNITED STATES: House Investigations of Harvard, Others Mark a ‘Watershed Moment’
Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Education, 1/11
Deep-diving probes into antisemitism, plagiarism and university leaders signal a dangerous new era in congressional oversight, experts and scholars say. Some see echoes of McCarthyism. Read more.

HONG KONG: Vice-chancellor, targeted by pro-Beijing factions, to quit
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 1/10
In a move that has unsettled, but not entirely surprised, the academic community of Hong Kong, Rocky Tuan, vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), announced his resignation this week after months of targeted criticism by pro-Beijing newspapers and legislators in Hong Kong.
Read more.

BRAZIL: In Brazil, one in two female researchers has faced sexual harassment
Meghie Rodrigues, Nature, 1/9
The report — Profile of the Early and Mid-Career Brazilian Scientist, published last September — finds that 47% of women have dealt with sexual harassment in Brazilian academia, compared with one in 10 men. Read more.

MYANMAR: University student population has plunged 90% since coup
RFA Burmese, 1/8
Myanmar’s university student population has plummeted by more than 90% since the military’s takeover nearly three years ago, according to statistics published by the junta’s department of education.
Read more.

RUSSIA: Russian universities promote re-election of Putin
Olesia Krivtsova, The Barents Observer, 1/8
Russian universities have joined Vladimir Putin’s election campaign. At the end of December, similar messages appeared on the websites of educational institutions, as well as on their pages on VK, Russia’s largest social media platform. Read more.

ISRAEL: War Brings Tensions, and Assault Rifles, Into an Israeli College
Adam Sella, New York Times, 1/7
At the University of Haifa, more than 40 percent of students are Arab, some with family in Gaza, and many others have now been called up as soldiers. Read more.

UNITED STATES: Are Professors Really Fleeing Universities in Red States?
Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, 1/3
Some academics have publicly announced resignations, but evidence of a mass faculty exodus from states like Florida is thin, at least so far. Media hyped a brain drain regardless. Read more.

EUROPE: Politics and protests puts Europe’s academic freedom policies under the spotlight
Fintan Burke, Science|Business, 1/4
Wars on Europe’s doorstep, tech espionage and illiberal governments are spurring the EU and national governments to rethink who should take the lead on academic freedom. Read more.

UNITED KINGDOM: OfS’ delayed Stock investigation ‘shows free speech difficulties’
Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 1/3
The Office for Students’ investigation into events surrounding the resignation of Kathleen Stock at the University of Sussex has entered its third year, hinting at the difficulties the English regulator will face when trying to adjudicate over free speech issues, according to legal experts. Read more.

UNITED STATES: How a Proxy Fight Over Campus Politics Brought Down Harvard’s President
Nicholas Confessore, New York Times, 1/2
The resignation of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, on Tuesday followed a lengthening catalog of plagiarism allegations that appeared to steadily sap her support among the university’s faculty, students and alumni. But for many of Dr. Gay’s critics, her departure was also a proxy victory in the escalating ideological battle over American higher education. Read more.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan women and girls flock online to evade Taliban curbs on female education
Andrew Jack and Benjamin Parkin, Financial Times, 1/2
Tens of thousands of Afghan women and girls have been able to join online study programmes despite the Taliban government’s ban on female education, according to internet-based course providers. Read more.