Patrick Jack
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Data journalist @timeshighered - formerly @radar_aiuk/@pa and @MENnewsdesk. 🍀
www.timeshighereducation.com/author/patrick-jack
Articles by Patrick Jack
Canada to Stick With ‘Flawed’ International Student Caps
Canada is unlikely to reconsider lifting its cap on international student numbers despite a critical report that found the policy was badly designed and led to unintended consequences. The auditor general of Canada has identified significant issues with the limits the country introduced on study permit applications in January 2024, criticizing the design, monitoring and oversight of the restrictions with “critical weaknesses” in its integrity control.
The Mathematician Lifting the Lid on Trump’s “Attacks”
During the dark days of the COVID pandemic, as a handful of scientists became vital to the public for analysis of latest trends, Christina Pagel stood out for her cool-headed analysis of what was happening. Unlike many other scientists who made their name at that time, Pagel did not initially train in public health, instead earning a Ph.D. in space physics before later becoming a professor of operational research at University College London with a focus on health care.
Enhanced Monitoring “Politicizing” College Donations From Qatar
Colleges have taken more money from Qatar than any other country, according to a new White House funding portal, but scholars say the exercise shows the dangers of “politicizing” foreign donations. Under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, institutions have been forced to disclose foreign-source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more. Launched in January, the Department of Education’s new foreign funding reporting portal shows that $62.4 billion has been disclosed.
U.S. Universities Count the Cost After One Year of Trump
Harvard officials wrote in financial statements that fiscal year 2025 “tested Harvard in ways few could have anticipated.” Zhu Ziyu/VCG/Getty Images Uncertainty has been the single most damaging aspect of the second Trump administration, professors have said, with university finances taking a hit despite the impact of many of the president’s cuts not yet coming to fruition. A year on since the U.S. president’s inauguration on Jan.
Is Canada Still Among the Big 4 Overseas Student Recruiters?
A dramatic decline in international student numbers in Canada shows how internationalization globally is “evolving,” with the concept of the “big four” recruitment destinations seen as increasingly outdated. The country is on track to issue about 80,000 new study permits this year, way below the cap of 437,000 its federal government set for 2025.
Courses Studying Trump Proliferate, Risking President’s Ire
Donald Trump’s second term in office continues to confound onlookers. Yet a growing number of universities around the world are offering courses for students to try to make sense of the mercurial president. The University of Pennsylvania has launched Climate and Environment Journalism: Truth-Telling in the Trump Era through its English department and American Conservatism From Taft to Trump for political science students.
Europeans Fear Trump-Style Attacks on Higher Ed Will Spread
The attacks on universities by the Trump administration have proven that higher education has “enemies” among authoritarian populist leaders and left other sectors wondering when they will be next, European leaders warn. Michael Ignatieff, who was rector of the Central European University between 2016 and 2021, when the institution was expelled from Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, said the Hungarian prime minister had provided enormous inspiration to politicians around the world.
U.K. Weighs Streamlining Visa Process for Researchers
The U.K. government has been urged to remove barriers in the visa process for researchers in order to capitalize on new U.S. restrictions imposed by Donald Trump. The U.S. president last weekend announced a $100,000 fee for applicants to the H-1B visa program, making a vital visa route used by skilled foreign workers in the U.S. inaccessible to many. The U.K. is reportedly considering removing fees for its global talent visa in response.
Reforming university finance reports 'could help explain cuts'
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Biotech to “Shift to U.K. and China” After U.S. mRNA Cuts
The U.K. and China will be the biggest beneficiaries of the U.S. health secretary’s “own goal” of pulling funding for mRNA vaccines, according to experts. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a controversial member of Donald Trump’s cabinet who claims he wants to “make America healthy again,” is scrapping $500 million in funding for the technology—which was used to combat COVID-19.
“Happiness Effect” of Higher Ed “Fades in Richer Places”
In recent decades, the extra money that graduates earn has been touted as a good reason to attend university. But that has recently come under scrutiny with evidence suggesting the graduate premium has fallen. And now two separate papers have found that another supposed benefit of higher education—increased lifetime happiness—is also not quite as straightforward as thought.
Foreign Student Fees “Powerful Lever” for Autocratic Nations
Relying on international student tuition fees has provided authoritarian countries such as China with a “powerful lever” to use against U.S. universities, an academic has warned. With the U.S. having long depended on overseas students, the Trump administration is making the issue worse, according to Sarah McLaughlin, a senior scholar on global expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Have bridging loans moved beyond fixing chain breaks?
Industry experts explain why finance option can, with the right broker, be moulded into almost any scenario By 15 Aug 2025 The pain of a collapsing housing chain is all too familiar to many, and it is a scenario that is becoming increasingly common.
X’s Altmetric Hegemony Ceding to Bluesky
The end of the “hegemony” of X as the most used social media platform by researchers has been strongly shaped by political and geographic factors, as well as Elon Musk’s intervention into U.S. politics, according to a new study. Since Musk rebranded Twitter to X, many within higher education—including some universities themselves—have decided to leave the platform, particularly since the billionaire threw his support behind Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. election.
Universities Meet Just a Fraction of Demand for AI Training
Interest in artificial intelligence training is soaring, but only a fraction of the demand is being met by higher education, according to a new report. Nearly 57 million people in the U.S. are interested in learning AI-based skills—with about 8.7 million currently learning, the higher education marketing and research firm Validated Insights estimates.
On Scene at the Turning Points USA Student Action Summit
It is already 93 degrees, but temperatures are rising further outside the Tampa Convention Center—especially for the young man dressed in a dinosaur costume. Also sporting a Tom Brady Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey, he is loudly debating immigration with another young man in a smart suit on the pavement. Across the street, a handful of protesters face off against a growing number of right-wing influencers with cameras.
Gaza Encampments “Made University Leaders Lose Their Minds”
The war in Gaza and the adverse reaction of U.S. colleges to the pro-Palestinian movement have completely changed students’ relationship to higher education, according to the maker of a new film about last year’s protests. A new documentary, The Encampments, follows the movement from Columbia University, where the first tents were erected in April 2024, as protests spread to hundreds of campuses worldwide, including the University of Tokyo and Copenhagen University.
U.S. Universities Eye Branch Campuses as Way to “Survive Trump”
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Establishing branch campuses abroad—often used as a crisis mitigation strategy—could become more important for U.S. universities facing increasing threats at home, but scholars are divided on their likelihood of success.
Efforts to Halt Student Deportations Risk Trump Retaliation
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Universities are quietly trying to find ways to protect their students from the threat of deportation, without risking being targeted by the Trump administration for funding cuts, scholars say.
Trade War Squeezes Science Out of Canadian Election Campaign
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Mark Carney’s whirlwind start as Canadian prime minister has seen his party surge in the polls against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threats but has provided little time to flesh out the newcomer’s policies on higher education and science. When Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in January, the Liberal Party was trailing the Conservatives by more than 20 percentage points and was only narrowly ahead of the New Democratic Party.
Record Number of U.S. Students Apply for U.K. Undergraduate Degrees
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. A record number of U.S. students have applied to study for undergraduate degrees in the U.K. next year, figures reveal. Experts had previously suggested that U.K. institutions might benefit from international students being put off by Donald Trump’s new administration. Times Higher Education And analysis suggests campuses are already seeing an influx of applicants from the U.S. itself.
Voodoo doll study explores why scientists get harassed
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. What can voodoo dolls tell us about the public’s distrust of, and aggression toward, scientists? A new paper has attempted to find out. Despite a growing fear that global attitudes have hardened toward scientific research, including instances of violence, “virtually nothing is known” about those likely to attack scientists, according to the study, published in Scientific Reports.
Visa clampdowns put brakes on international student mobility
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Clampdowns on international student visas across some of the biggest higher education markets are having a clear impact on recruitment, according to a new report.
Biomedical scientists struggle to replicate their own findings
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Large numbers of biomedical scientists have tried and failed to replicate their own studies, with many not publishing their findings, a survey suggests. Authors of the study warn that researchers’ failure to approach their own work rigorously creates “major issues in bias” and hampers innovation in science.
More U.K. university history departments cutting jobs, courses
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Cuts to history departments, particularly in post-92 universities—institutions that were given university status in the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act—risk making the subject the “preserve of elite institutions” in the U.K., warns a report. There is a “growing divergence” between the subject’s popularity and the job security of historians in U.K. institutions, according to the Royal Historical Society (RHS).
Reforms ‘could drive massive expansion of university spin-out activity’
The number of companies spun out of leading UK universities could increase as much as fivefold under a more favourable policy regime, according to the University of Oxford vice-chancellor. Investment in British university spin-offs is tipped to hit £2.3 billion this year, and Irene Tracey told the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit that the sector had been performing “remarkably well given the financial constraints we have been under”.
Burnout of administrative staff risks destabilizing colleges
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Seven in 10 professional staff members feel unable to step away from work during holidays, according to new research that warns that burnout risks “destabilizing” the work of colleges and universities.
Canada further reduces international student cap
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Canadian universities have warned that the further lowering of the cap on international students for next year will damage the country’s reputation worldwide. After lowering the cap for 2024, the Canadian government announced a further reduction of new international study permits, which will now include master’s and doctoral students.
Scholars blast NYU Abu Dhabi “crackdown” on Palestinian support
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. The apparent silencing of pro-Palestinian activism at New York University Abu Dhabi has “shattered the perception” that the institution can provide real academic freedom within its United Arab Emirates campus, according to critics. The Times Higher Education logo, with a red T, purple H and blue E.
Student protests help Gaza, says Palestinian Authority education minister
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. The minister of education in the Palestinian Authority has thanked the global student movement for its efforts to “bring justice” to those in Gaza and the West Bank. Pro-Palestinian encampments, which began at U.S. institutions but have since spread around the world, have called for universities to do more to help those affected by Israel’s military reprisals against Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.
Republicans' political interference in universities is unconservative
The protests raging on college campuses across the US, and the responses by university and public officials, raise questions about the parameters of “ordered liberty”. This concept, coined by Supreme Court justice Benjamin Nathan Cardozo nearly a century ago, refers to the reality that even constitutionally protected freedoms must be bounded by law if social life is to be possible.
shifting fortunes of prison education
When Paul left school at 15 with no qualifications, he had no big plan apart from earning some money to contribute to his family. Though he had always been interested in art, education had never really appealed to him. It was a 17-year prison sentence that would lead to him becoming the first person in his family to attend university—and to a successful career working in the arts and social justice. “Even though I’m well into my middle age, I never thought I would end up where I am today.
U.K. universities targeted by cyberattack for supporting Israel
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. A group of hackers has taken responsibility for a cyberattack that disrupted internet connectivity at the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester, reportedly citing the “U.K.’s continued support for Israel.” Systems were affected at the University of Cambridge and the University of Manchester, with internet access impacted and email systems delayed.
Tougher UK visa requirements will hit postdocs, ERC head warns
The UK government’s plans to raise the salary required to obtain a skilled worker visa by almost 50 per cent will diminish the country’s appeal to international postdoctoral researchers, the president of the European Research Council has said.
Narcissistic presidents linked to low university performance
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Self-important university leaders have long been the scourge of faculty, and a British study supports that view—finding evidence that “narcissistic” vice chancellors, who are equivalent to American university presidents, really do make an institution worse.
Can Hong Kong remain a global higher education hub?
It is a seasonably hot, humid Hong Kong afternoon in late June. Inside the multistorey conference space at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), over the clatter of utensils, some 150 university leaders and roughly double that number of administrators, education consultants and assorted staff are making quick work of lunch.
Hundreds sign letter against cutting book chapter on sexual misconduct
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. More than 1,500 people have signed an open letter calling for the reinstatement of a chapter of a book on sexual misconduct in universities after the chapter was withdrawn by its British publisher following legal threats.
World University Rankings 2024: China creeps closer to top 10
September 27, 2023 Patrick Jack After years of disruption and havoc caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, 2023 has so far signified a return to normal for much of the global higher education sector. But in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, nothing is ever stagnant – with fluctuations in scores revealing emerging trends, rising powers and potential challenges.
Bank card lets consumers fund research projects
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. The U.K.’s first bank account dedicated to accelerating science and technology hopes to act as a bridge between the country’s powerful financial sector and “underfunded” research projects. Science Card, which is set to launch next month, will allow customers to contribute towards a range of scientific research projects through their daily spending.
Ten ways THE has improved the university rankings landscape
It’s become a cliché to start a discussion of university rankings with the line: “Love them or hate them…” But in today’s climate it is right to acknowledge that plenty of people in higher education now simply love to hate them. University rankings have been under a great deal of scrutiny lately, with some even facing boycotts. But at Times Higher Education we are proud to have secured unprecedented participation in our forthcoming World University Rankings.
Vietnam’s German university struggles to loosen government grip
Not many academics will have heard of Vietnam’s German university, but the growing pains of the 15-year-old institution demonstrate the difficulty of reconciling starkly different academic cultures. Set up with support from the German state of Hesse and Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, the Vietnamese-German University (VGU) near Ho Chi Minh City is modelled on German institutions and offers bachelor’s and master’s for local students.
Shining a light on the mother continent
View the THE Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings 2023 results Africa will never reach its extraordinary potential without thriving universities. The first objective of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 master plan for transforming the continent into a global powerhouse is to “build a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development”.
Britain bans dependents of international students
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. Within days of taking over as Britain’s home secretary in September 2022, Suella Braverman had set her sights on the families of international students.
World Cup raises issues of academic freedom for Qatar
Since its launch in 1997, Education City in Qatar has grown to host eight universities, most of which are branches of prestigious American colleges. But it is the most recent addition to the site that is currently in the global spotlight, with Education City Stadium, a 45,000-seat arena, hosting some of the world’s most famous soccer players for the men’s soccer World Cup.
Wye Valley NHS Trust cares for 32 Covid-19 patients in hospital
Credit by David Jones (PA Archive ) Subscribe to our email and get updates right in your inbox. I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from Abergavenny Chronicle. Read our privacy notice Wye Valley NHS Trust was caring for 32 coronavirus patients in hospital as of Tuesday, figures show. Also in the news NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on September 28 was up from 19 on the same day the previous week.
Electricity theft at record levels amid cost-of-living crisis
People stole electricity on a record number of occasions across England and Wales last year, figures show. Electricity theft – which can be carried out by tampering with a line or bypassing a meter – has the potential to cause serious injury and is punishable by up to five years in prison.
More Nottingham pupils on free school meals than almost anywhere else
More Nottingham pupils are receiving free school meals than almost anywhere else in England, figures show, as campaigners argue the Government should widen the eligibility criteria amidst the cost-of-living crisis. And the Labour party claims that working families nationwide are suffering while the Government is distracted by the Conservative leadership election.
Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust cares for 48 Covid-19 patients in hospital
Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust was caring for 48 coronavirus patients in hospital as of Tuesday, figures show. NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on July 5 was up from 24 on the same day the previous week. There were three beds occupied by Covid-19 patients four weeks ago in Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
More GPs in Derby and Derbyshire despite national workforce crisis warning
The number of GPs in Derby and Derbyshire is rising, figures show, despite warnings that the NHS is facing a crippling shortage of doctors. The Health Foundation warns that serious workforce shortfalls across English GP services pose a significant risk to the quality of health care over the next decade. But NHS England figures show there were the equivalent of 704 full-time GPs in the NHS Derby and Derbyshire CCG area at the end of May.
Charity ‘deeply concerned’ over record number of children admitted to hospital for self-harm
Intentional self-poisoning or self-harm resulted in children being admitted to hospital 400 times per week last year, figures show. Mental health charity YoungMinds said the figures were “deeply concerning” and called on the Government to invest in a network of early support hubs. NHS Digital data shows there were at least 20,520 admissions for self-harm or self-poisoning for children aged nine to 17 at NHS Trusts across England in 2020-21.
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