Global Higher Education Intelligence Briefing

The collected articles trace the policy shifts and legal challenges shaping global higher education. Regulatory and judicial pressure is prominent in the United States, where an education coalition has filed suit to block the Department of Homeland Security from ending "duration of status" for international students, and the Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment against Iran's Mabna Institute, adding eight defendants to the nine charged in 2018 over intrusions into 144 US universities. Recruitment patterns point toward destinations offering stability, with Taiwan reaching a record 140,420 international students and New Zealand's reputation strengthening as visa uncertainty and affordability deter students elsewhere, even as the UK's declining international numbers feed institutional deficits. Research collaboration shows parallel strain from national funding decisions, evident in the UK's withdrawal from Cern's LHCb upgrade and Germany's expert commission warning of technological lag. The collection also covers equity and duty-of-care concerns, including UNESCO's report that 2.4 million Afghan girls remain barred from education and the death of former Cambridge professor Jason Arday following his resignation amid a contested plagiarism inquiry.