Donald Trump

While populists are known for their simplistic narratives, academics are assumed to embrace complexity. Yet a startling number of books claim to have found the key to understanding the movement’s rise in a single idea or study. In the week that Viktor Orbán’s fall has fuelled suggestions that history’s tide has turned again, Matthew Reisz leafs through various forthcoming tomes 

Progress towards equality hampered by crackdowns on academic freedom by populist regimes, finds new study

Congress likely to once more block plans to cut billions from agency budgets, but experts fear they will have long-term impact anyway

Academics demand that prestigious gathering is held elsewhere because of attacks on Iran and immigration crackdown

Escalating conflict in the Middle East has seen institutions increasingly drawn into the fighting, with material and psychological damage leaving long tail

New leader of top business school believes it has been ‘underselling’ itself and needs to show its worth in world buffeted by Trump, AI and continued questioning of MBAs

Early data from Germany, France and elsewhere show rising interest from international researchers but experts warn that a lack of career progression could hamper efforts

Drop in institutional autonomy of 50 per cent since 2015 means country is now only rated as ‘moderate’ by experts

American universities expected to experience steeper declines in enrolments during second year of Trump presidency

France’s 75 public universities are all running a deficit this year, as researchers warn budget cuts put science at risk 

New leader of the University of Washington warns job has become ‘more challenging than it has ever been’

Lee Bollinger, who led under-fire institution for two decades, says universities need protections as the unofficial ‘fifth branch’ of the US constitutional system

Scientist behind Trump Action Tracker uses skills in data collection to look for patterns in president’s seemingly scattergun approach

Academics counting cost of Donald Trump’s threats to take over the territory say ‘the damage is done’ and impact on research will linger for years 

Under pressure from students to speak out but wary of angering the White House, institutions are trying to find ways to help while avoiding ‘pageantry’

Modest ‘Trump surge’ will not last, says leader, with regulation, demographics and parental preferences all posing issues for institutions hoping to recruit

Yes, the political climate is extremely difficult, but all the evidence on applications, enrolments and completions suggests that Americans still value what universities have to offer, says Eileen Strempel

Argentina’s emboldened president Javier Milei declared in Davos that ‘the rebirth of the ideas of liberty’ in the Americas was spreading globally. With Chilean voters taking a similarly hard-right turn and Brazilians threatening to do likewise, how bad might it get for universities? Helen Packer reports

Queen’s University Belfast to drop name of US senator George Mitchell from its peace centre, and remove bust from campus

President reportedly rethinking offer to universities as he ‘seeks distractions’ from tensions at home and abroad

New president of Canada’s largest university hails renewed sense of purpose as nation takes leading role on world stage

Director of Institute of Development Studies discusses stepping into the role after 25 years, impact of USAID cuts and benefits of Sussex collaboration

Some of president’s most audacious cuts have been scaled back or suspended but a year of turmoil is beginning to show in institutions’ bottom lines

We surveyed US scholars last year; the fact that we cannot identify ourselves as authors of the study speaks volumes, say two academics 

‘Trump effect’ drives surge in US HE workers looking to move abroad, with China, Australia and Ireland also big beneficiaries

Institutions looking to conclude long-running searches for new presidents likely to favour candidates who can stay out of the limelight, experts predict

Higher education leaders pessimistic about future under Trump administration as recent campus shootings darken the outlook

Two of the first beneficiaries of £54 million Global Talent Fund discuss how US funding uncertainties – as well as desire for home comforts – influenced their decision to move

Washington University in St Louis chancellor warns that universities need to be more self-critical when engaging with politicians

‘Remains to be seen’ whether initial influx of interest in Europe will consolidate into a trend in years ahead, experts say

Academics running modules on US leader must grapple with fast-changing dynamics and the fear of provoking the world’s most powerful man

President has criticised student debt for being too high but his attempts at reform have focused on removing benefits for people doing jobs he disagrees with

Slow departure of researchers for the East has increased as environment in US becomes more hostile

Better support systems needed for scholars facing political threats, according to historian labelled ‘domestic terrorist professor’

Successful research projects in scheme designed to foster collaboration involve 21 US-based grantees, up from 12 in 2024

US climate scientist wins Maddox Prize after highlighting attempts to downplay findings about human-caused warming

Former Canadian opposition leader Michael Ignatieff says no sector secure after what has happened in the US

President unlikely to back down after deadline passes with no takers for controversial deal that many believe would surrender institutional autonomy

Civil liberties champion Nadine Strossen says US universities must unite to fight president’s ‘blatantly illegal’ plan to destroy institutional autonomy

Bosnian-born president of University of Connecticut says her unusual academic career shows how US promotes outsiders like no other country

Other recent departures from Trump’s America include expert on anti-fascism who fled to Spain after receiving death threats

Curtailing competition, reducing waste and drawing more on industry and philanthropic sources seen as ways to fill gaps left by NIH retreat

Promise of preferential treatment in return for fee freeze and student cap latest salvo in president’s ‘ideological’ battle to reshape HE

White House cuts $350 million in grants for minority-serving institutions only to announce $500 million in funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

New six-figure fee for visa long relied on by Indian nationals changes conversation about study destinations, say experts

Researchers replicate impact of Trump’s cuts on previous decades, identifying steep drop in medical innovations

‘Massive influx’ of cases following killing of right-wing activist represents new stage in campus free speech battle, say critics

Forcing doctoral students to extend their visas after four years could lead them to look elsewhere, experts warn

Decline in perceptions of both the UK and US as welcoming destinations, but UK remains most attractive 

Berkeley academic claims higher education is being used as a weapon to bolster geopolitical rivalries, rather than a force for cooperation

Shooting of high-profile political campaigner on campus could be used as a tool for further attacks on US institutions, say experts

Trump security crackdown risks undermining US collaboration, with China now said to be more concerned with protecting its own research than prying into others

Trump administration’s efforts to restrict voter registration campaigns another sign of top-down interference in campuses, critics say

Trump transparency drive strips complex decisions of their context, scholars warn, amid fears directive will hit minority student numbers

Six US institutions adopt online module that promises to assess civil discourse of potential students but scholars sceptical it will improve campus debate

Donald Trump’s assaults on US science and universities in many ways mirror those previously enacted in Brazil by Jair Bolsonaro. Two years on from the latter’s election defeat, Patrick Jack assesses what the current state of Brazilian science says about how US institutions might fare post-Trump

Network of political appointees at universities and grant agencies will be difficult to dismantle, scholars warn

Some universities shut down initiatives entirely while others try to continue them in different guise but president unlikely to be appeased on hot-button issue, say scholars

Even favourable result for under-fire institution unlikely to quell president’s attacks, experts warn, as Columbia reaches own deal with administration

The government’s £54 million scheme will bring top researchers’ thinking to life, often spinning out into innovative new businesses, says Patrick Vallance