Good morning and welcome to the 11^th edition of The Fifteen. This week we try to avoid the chaos in the United States to visit spots to look at a wide range of stories from Tashkent to Tokyo, Singapore to South Africa, Cairo to Canberra and a whole bunch of points in between.

1. This is the week where the Times Higher is releasing its Reputation rankings and so it is also predictably the time when certain developing nations start releasing plans to elevate some of their universities to “World Class” status. This week, it is Uzbekistan’s turn President Orders Increase In Uzbek Universities In Global Rankings. (Kursiv Media) and Vietnam. Vietnam aims to have 5 HEIs among world’s top 500 universities by 2030. (Kaziform)
2. Japan is introducing a pro-natalist tuition scheme. Three or more children in a family? You now get free university education: Japan’s government plans expanded university tuition aid for families. The Japan Times)
3. Egyptian higher education tends to be viewed as sclerotic and state-dominated. But there is a new plan afoot to give universities more autonomy – financial autonomy, at least. Financially independent public universities. (ahramonline)
4. From Kenya, a very odd story about the extent to which student drug use on campuses is being facilitated by university staff. How staff supply university students with deadly drugs. (The Standard)
5. Sticking with the general theme of campus crime, here’s a humdinger of a story about a bribery scandal involving international students at a major UK university. The Casablanca Deal: Secret contracts and unexplained payments at the University of Greater Manchester. (Manchester Mill)
6. South Africa is mulling a general forgiveness of student loan debt. Universities say such a move might bankrupt them. ‘Cancellation of student debt will bankrupt universities’ (SowetanLive)
7. There’s an election coming up in Australia and the position of universities is pretty bleak. Australian universities face election with nobody in their corner. (Times Higher Education)
8. Remember how Bangladeshi students overthrew their government last summer? Now they are trying to form their own political party. Students to launch political party by next February. (The Daily Star)
9. Meanwhile in Indonesia, students are protesting to pressure the country’s new leader to roll back a number of policy positions, including a new mining law that would give mining concessions to universities. ‘Most deadly 100 days’: Indonesia’s Prabowo faces major student protests against costly policies. (South China Morning Post)
10. This is a fascinating little piece about universities operating in rebel-held parts of Myanmar. Rebel student life in Myanmar: Bombs, snakes and hungry cows. (TheStar)
11. A Nepalese student allegedly died by suicide at a university in Odesha, India. The university’s response? Tell the university’s other 1,000 Nepalese students to get off campus KIIT student death row: Nepalese students fear returning to campus. (The Hindu). It’s now officially in international incident territory as Nepal’s Prime Minister has gotten involved Nepal PM intervenes after student death at Indian university. (Times Higher Education)
12. A generalized global unwillingness to pay for public higher education means that private universities are suddenly popping up in places that have long been ideologically opposed to them. Two examples this week: Greece Which are the 11 foreign universities applying to open branches in Greece. (ProtoThema) and the State of Kerala in India: In bill to establish private universities, an ideological shift by Kerala’s ruling LDF. (ThePrint)
13. Here’s an interesting study in Nature on how to improve South Asian universities’ contribution to innovation and economic growth. The role of government funding might seem obvious, but it turns out that better systems of patent rights have an oversized impact as well. Unleashing the potential: a quest to understand and examine the factors enriching research and innovation productivities of South Asian universities. (Nature)
14. Ok, we lied. We do have a US story. Only instead of being Trump-related, it’s about the changing and shrinking market for Online Program Management (OPM) Fewer Colleges Sharing Profits With OPMs. (Inside Higher Education)
15. National University of Singapore is starting a residential college devoted to Artificial and Human Intelligence. NUS sets up fifth residential college in University Town. (Singapore Business Review)

It’s nearly time! The next edition of The Fifteen will be released during AI-CADEMY: Canada Summit for Post-Secondary Education, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop showcasing stories on AI in the sector. See you next week!