How outbound student mobility is changing in Australia

Within a couple of years, the Australian Government has transformed outbound student mobility with its ambitious New Colombo Plan, supplemented by a range of scholarships and loans. With an investment of over $100 million over 5 years, the New Colombo Plan itself has influenced the way universities approach overseas study experience.

Is government the problem in China’s innovation?

China’s agenda is to become an innovation-led nation by 2020 and a world leader in science and technology by 2050. China spends more on R&D than any other economy, besides the USA. It has increased R&D spending from US$23 billion in 2012 to about $284 billion in 2014. It stills trails most developed countries as a percentage of total economic output. Analysts suggest the gap will close as China continues to rapidly increase spending.

Nanomedicine: India’s next small thing

Nanotechnology is one of the key technologies of the 21st century. Its multidisciplinary involving areas such as applied physics, material science, molecular biology and engineering. It has the potential to transform every economic sector from medicine, energy, electronics to food science and cosmetics. Scientists are already collaborating to create new medical devices and more resistant…

Russia’s higher education: Tipping point?

In this week’s Smart Societies blog we look at Russia’s higher education challenge. Our article focuses on Russia’s renewed efforts to internationalise its higher education sector. But a paper published in the Studies in Higher Education by Maria Yudkevich from the National Research University Higher School of Economics identifies inherent challenges to Russian ambition. Russia’s…