QS Insights Magazine
Issue 17 May 2024
Mending fences
Contents
An element of bravery
How is the sector working to turn the tide against an increasingly hostile narrative?
Funding frustrations
We unpack the challenges of research funding to discover discipline is far from the only factor.
Rust belt & unis
Once bustling industrial towns, universities are helping cities and regions transform into knowledge and service economies.
Generation Alpha's world
Gen Alpha is only a few years away form university. Is higher ed ready?
Mending fences
Anti-DEI legislation is being passed. How can universities maintain their commitment to uplifting everyone?
On the move
China is rapidly changing from a source country to a destination country for international students. Experts discussed mobility at the 2024 QS China Summit.
QS ImpACT's Community Transformation winner
Meet Hafizu Hamidu's, who aims to assist in the electoral processes in Nigeria.
Maintaining social sustainability on campus
As higher ed faces renewed challenges, how can it continue to support social sustainability?
Rethinking sustainability education in universities
Sustainability has remained largely conceptual, rather than practical, on campus, but there are ways to bring it into and outside of the classroom.
The playing field – US college admissions
Do recent changes to the way some universities take into consideration standardised test scores make sense?
When the paint dries
Questions around the value of higher education and accusations of indoctrination are not new, nor are political concerns around international education. What now that the past decade of work looks to come undone?
Back in October 2022, in the predecessor to this magazine, the Higher Ed Report, I used my introduction to compare universities’ initiatives around sustainability to the upkeep of bridges. At the time, we were launching QS’ first ever Sustainability Rankings, and my observations were simple: managing sustainability, like maintaining a bridge, does not always require going back to the very beginning and repainting it from end to end. Instead, where areas need attention and improvement, they need to be focused on.
In the 18 or so months since I wrote that, while I still stand by my reasoning, I think it’s now important to revise. Recently, headlines on higher education have rested in one of three dominant areas: attacks and criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion; the role of international students at university, in the community and in the workforce; and, artificial intelligence. There three areas, on the surface, don’t seem particularly related, but underneath, they share a commonality: what should our universities be and what should they do?
This question isn’t particularly new, nor are some of its parts. International education needs only to look back no more than a decade to recognise similar policies around restrictions to the flow of students. Looking at it from a social sustainability lens, though, if sustainability doesn’t require starting from scratch every cycle, and current pressures need more than spot fixes, how do we proceed?
Our cover story, “Mending fences”, explores the pushback against DEI and what universities can do about it. I highly recommend taking the time to read through our long-form article “An element of bravery” as well. A little longer than usual, the story goes into great detail on how HEIs can respond to trivial criticisms.
In the magazine, we often talk about the three pillars that make up a university: research, teaching and community. “Rust belt and university” highlights a number of ways in which higher education is transforming not only people’s lives, but entire cities and regions.
In that introduction in 2022, I made an off-hand remark based on my own experiences growing up in a river city: sometimes the problem isn’t the bridge, something the problem is that there are too few. A more fitting analogy, then, might be to consider not only the maintenance of what we currently have, but its ability to meet the capacity demands of the future. Repaint and repair as needed, but always make sure it helps serve the greatest number of people.
Anton John Crace
Anton is Editor in Chief of QS Insights Magazine. He also curates the Higher Ed Summits, EDS and Reimagine Education conference at QS Quacquarelli Symonds. He has been writing on the international higher ed sector for over a decade. His recognitions include the Universities Australia Higher Education Journalist of the Year at the National Press Club of Australia, and the International Education Association of Australia award for Excellence in Professional Commentary.
Contributors
Editor-in-chief Anton John Crace
Deputy Editor Afifah Darke
Content Manager Khushboo Singh
Contributing writers Claudia Civinini Julia Gilmore Rohan Mehra Seb Murray Niamh Ollerton
Guest writers Gordon Scott Craig Vezina, Tod Gimbel and Devon Bradley
Events Technology Manager Loh Lu Han
Marketing and PR Serena Ricci Mak Leeson
Cover Adobe Stock, with additional edits
Sales contact sales@qs.com
The QS Insights Magazine is a monthly, online and print publication that highlights trends within the international education sector.
The online edition is emailed to our network of academics and university leaders worldwide. A limited number of selected copies of the print edition are also sent to university leaders around the world and distributed at QS events.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of QS Quacquarelli Symonds.