World news

US president Barack Obama has said that taxpayers “cannot continue to subsidise higher and higher and higher costs of higher education” in his annual State of the Union Address, and published proposals that would require colleges to meet performance thresholds to qualify for federal funding.

13 February

All eyes are on Brazil’s academy and its rising research output, generous funding and willingness to team up internationally in a bid to become a major player. Elizabeth Gibney reports from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

13 December

Spring is dawning in the Gulf and the UK academy’s links with the region’s repressive, anachronistic autocracies look increasingly questionable, says Christopher Davidson

6 December