Welcome to the sixteenth edition of The Fifteen. We track research funding shake-ups in Brussels’ ERC “supergrants” and a defence-focused tweak to Horizon Europe. Meanwhile, higher education resources continue to be stretched thin: half of UK universities are axing courses under financial duress, and US public colleges face a looming crisis driven by proposed cuts to Medicaid. We look at student union leaders’ fight with their predecessors, now turned politicians, and track Labour’s big win in Australia. Finally, a set of sweeping reforms reshape African higher education in Namibia, Nigeria and Kenya. On to the stories. 

1. Brussels has unveiled a €500 million package of seven-year European Research Council “supergrants,” doubling start-up awards to €2 million, in another bid to lure leading scientists from the US. (Times Higher Education)
2. Half of British universities surveyed by Universities UK—almost double last year’s share—report having to cancel programs, and nearly nine in ten warn that deeper closures or consolidations may be unavoidable within three years. (Times Higher Education)
3. Can it be a coincidence that the first US institution to set up shop in India has the initials “IIT”?  Illinois Institute of Technology will become the first US university with a degree-granting Indian branch after winning UGC approval for a Mumbai campus, slated to open in 2026. Meanwhile, a clutch of UK and Australian universities have announced plans for new campuses in India. Imperial University London, however, is pointedly opening only a “hub” rather than a campus. (The PIE, Financial Express)
4. The biggest threat to US college budgets might not be direct funding cuts. House Republicans’ plans to slash Medicaid and SNAP would dump huge new costs on states, gutting their discretionary budgets (of which education is usually the largest category) and likely causing a spike in tuition and a reduction in quality. (The Chronicle)
5. European university groups are sounding the alarm after the European Commission moved to amend Horizon Europe’s rules so the €95 billion programme can steer money into dual-use and outright defence projects via the EIC Accelerator. (University World News)
6. Strange new scam: teachers worry about bots taking spots from real students in online courses. (The Chronicle)
7. Education‑ministry figures reveal that 70.5% of South Korea’s 193 four‑year universities raised 2025 tuition for regular‑quota students—up from just 13.5 % the previous year—lifting the average annual fee to ₩7.1 million ($4,900), with private universities averaging ₩8 million and medical programs exceeding ₩10 million. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
8. In Chile, the decade-old policy of gratuidad is starting to cause problems for universities, which this year posted a collective $70 million (US) deficit; universities blame inadequate government payments to cover “free” students. Meanwhile, student protests have returned, with a new generation of student leaders claiming that the government, which is packed with student politicians from the 2011 generation, “has done nothing more than administer the neoliberal model inherited from the dictatorship.” (biobiochile.cl, La Izquierda Dairo)
9. North Korean students are choosing to study at cheap local universities rather than incur the expense of going to more prestigious central institutions in Pyongyang (Daily NK)
10.  China is justly proud of its huge strengths in STEM scientific production. But not all is rosy.  Some are starting to suspect that the big jump in AI jobs is mostly vapourware. And this story, about a promising STEM PhD student who gave it all up in order to sell snacks, is getting a lot of circulation in Asia this week. (FD Intelligence, China Media Project, VN Express)
11. Australia has just held an election, and the ruling Labor Party has been returned with a larger majority.  That leaves them clear to finally get around to implementing the key elements of its much-vaunted University Accord. But the education-related promise that really won them votes was a pledge to reduce student debt (which is odd because under Australia’s income-contingent student loan system, lower student debt reduces the repayment period but does not affect how much students pay in any given year). (Times Higher Education, Times Higher Education)
12. Lots going on in Saudi Arabia, with universities from Australia and the United States looking to set up shop there. And in a completely bananas development, King Saud University is spending over $1 billion to move some of its administrative buildings, part of a local development scheme linked to the country’s Vision 2030 plan. (The PIE, Technical Review Middle East)
13. Namibia’s new President has announced that public universities and colleges will be tuition-free by next year. But institutions are still somewhat trepidatious because they have yet to be given operational funding details, and there is some confusion about what will happen to private institutions. Hopefully, this will work out better than it did in neighbouring South Africa. (The South African, Windhoek Observer, New Era Live) 
14. Nigeria has given licenses to eleven new universities, including one designed to kickstart the country’s aerospace industry.  The Minister responsible made the announcement while bemoaning the lack of STEM spaces at universities, saying “Nigeria has more than enough social science graduates. What we need now are problem-solvers: graduates with life skills who can drive industries, build infrastructure, and improve lives.”  Meanwhile, 51 universities are under investigation for diverting student loan funds. (MSN, Punch NG, Independent, The Guardian)
15. The financial crisis in Kenyan higher education continues.  The Technical University of Kenya appears to be on the brink of insolvency. MPs have decided that now is a good time to suggest that universities are to some extent the authors of their own misfortune because of mismanagement. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister blithely insists everything is OK and, providing no details whatsoever, that all universities will be debt-free within four years. (Eastleigh Voice, The Kenya Times, The Kenya Times, The Star)

Thanks for reading the sixteenth edition of The Fifteen. We’ll continue to bring you the top global trends and controversies shaping campuses and research around the world—so stay tuned, share your thoughts, and let us know which stories you’d like us to follow next. Until next time, keep your eyes on higher education’s moving targets.