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Universities dismayed by plans to cut research funding Universities Finland (UniFi) has warned that science and research will bear the brunt of the €35 million (US$43 million) in spending cuts to be made in the higher education and research sector as part of a €370 million (US$450 million) belt-tightening campaign announced by the government. UniFi said a press statement: “Finnish universities are appalled and extremely disappointed about the ministry’s plans.” The government decided in its framework session that no spending cuts in the sector would be targeted at education or stude...

Why have Israeli scientists won so many ERC grants? On 22 April a delegation from the European Union visited Israel to celebrate 25 years of research and innovation (R&I) collaboration. The event, attended by European ambassadors, Israeli government officials and R&I stakeholders, marked a quarter century of growing R&I ties that started when Israel became associated to the Fourth EU Framework Programme for Research in 1996. “Since then, about 5,000 research contracts [have been] signed as a part of Israeli participation and more than 6,000 participants and about 1,000 SMEs [small and mediu...

What is the role of universities in global upskilling? Wide-scale investment in upskilling has the potential to boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by US$6.5 trillion by 2030 and lead to the creation of 5.3 million net new jobs globally by 2030, according to a new report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on 21 January. Upskilling for Shared Prosperity, prepared in collaboration with PwC, is a call to action. It makes the economic case for providing employees with learning and development opportunities to expand their horizons while minimising skills gaps and makes sweeping ge...

New EU law needed to protect universities from big tech Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam, Professor Karen Maex, has called on European Commissioners to propose a ‘Digital University Act’ to secure universities’ status as independent education and research institutions and vital building blocks for the organisation of knowledge and to defend them against pressures from big tech companies. In her Dies Natalis (annual) speech, “Protect independent and public knowledge”, delivered on 8 January, she called on European Commissioners Mariya Gabriel and Margrethe Vestager n...