News Talks by Times Higher Education

The far reaching reforms proposed by Australia’s Strategic Examination of Research and Development (Serd) have been widely welcomed by the country’s higher education sector – but how many will the government choose to adopt?
On this week’s podcast, Miranda Prynne quizzes THE’s Asia Pacific editor John Ross about Serd’s key recommendations and the likelihood of such transformative – and expensive - changes to the funding and management of Australian research being enacted.
Hear John explain the thinking behind this review and the problems it sets out to solve, as well as the areas of greatest concern for academics and policymakers and the general sentiment across Australian higher education today.

As proposals for the future Horizon Europe are scrutinised by the European Parliament, we discuss likely changes to the seven-year funding programme and whether it can support a coalition of like-minded powers amidst the current geopolitical upheaval.
The next version of Horizon Europe, due to launch in 2028, is likely to show much greater alignment with EU economic and defence priorities, backed by the budget almost doubling to €175bn a year.
The initial proposal put forward by the European Commission opens Horizon up to dual purpose and defence focused research and places more weight on research designed to drive EU competitiveness in key industries such as green energy and digital technologies.
This week Miranda Prynne is joined by THE features editor Paul Jump to discuss how the planned changes could affect European research and the impact on Horizon’s flourishing global network of non-EU members such as the UK, Canada and Japan whose contributions currently make up around a third of Horizon’s total budget.
Listen to Paul’s take on whether the new Horizon Europe will provide a platform for a stronger international network of like-minded middle powers, giving them more clout on the world stage, or if a closer focus on Europe’s needs will create tensions with non-EU members.

The number of international students enrolled on masters by research (MRes) courses more than doubled in the year after the government introduced a ban on dependent visas for other courses, new figures revealed this week.
Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) data obtained by Times Higher Education show that there were 6,085 non-UK-domiciled students enrolled on MRes courses in the 2024-25 academic year – up from 2,485 in 2023-24. 
This leaves the institutions behind such rises open to accusations of playing the system and using MRes courses as a way to circumvent the government’s visa rules.
On this episode of News Talks, Miranda Prynne speaks to Times Higher Education deputy news editor Helen Packer, who has been covering the story, to find out what lies behind the rising MRes numbers, what the institutions driving the growth have said and the reaction from politicians and other sector leaders.

We discuss why the University of Sussex has mounted a legal challenge against a £585,000 fine imposed by the Office for Students (OfS) for failing to uphold freedom of speech.
The case, being heard in the high court in London this week, brings to the fore questions over academic freedom, institutional autonomy, trans rights and EDI policies and the role of the OfS.
On this episode of News talks, Times Higher Education editor Chris Havergal talks to Miranda Prynne about the background to the case, the key points upon which Sussex is disputing the OfS findings and the broader implications for universities and the way they are regulated.