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EUROPEAN dairy experts say that the European Union (EU) climate law’s target to cut carbon emissions at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, compared to “between 50% and 55%” in the original proposal (1) and just 32.5% by 2030 in the 2018 law (2), will be a challenge, but one they can meet.…

A south-east Asian regional power grid is moving closer in the latest stage of a phased 10-year plan to bring energy security, accessibility, affordability and sustainability,

New, upgraded, extended, stronger, and more flexible electricity transmission and distribution grids are key to this ongoing programme, helping the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to meet the power demands of population and economic growth, rising urbanisation and affluence.…

Fraud involving Covid-19 aid schemes in the UK could involve thefts totalling billions of pounds sterling (GBP), according to white collar crime and investigations specialist, Iskander Fernandez, partner at law firm BLM. His comments came as BLM published research (1) showing from the start of the pandemic to end of Q1 2021 Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) carried out over 12,000 interventions – to recover funds lost to fraud or error – involving the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out Scheme (EOHO).…

Corruption increased in 2020 across the 27 European Union (EU) countries according to 32% of participants in Transparency International’s latest survey of over 40,000 people, the ‘Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) – European Union 2021’ (1). As regards other respondents, 44% saw no change and only 16% a fall, year-on-year.…

A FORMER correspondent for International News Services has published a memoir about the four years she lived in Myanmar.

Our Home in Myanmar is written by Australian journalist, Jessica Mudditt, who moved to Yangon with her Bangladeshi husband in 2012 to join The Myanmar Times. She also worked at the country’s state-run newspaper during the historic elections of 2015, and was a consultant for the United Nations and the British Embassy.…

A FAILURE to engage education actors, frequent leadership changes and a general lack of commitment is derailing implementation of a much-vaunted Education Sector Strategic Plan 2018-2020 (ESSP), Somali higher education experts are warning.

Last October (2018), Somalia’s ministry of education culture and higher education released the plan as a policy blueprint, outlining what ails the sector and what needs to be done to turn it around within three years.…

Cape Verdean public universities are competing to raise their country’s profile as an international HE centre – launching new modern facilities, degree courses taught entirely in English and multiple international agreements.
Being a tourism-dependent archipelago highly affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, the Cape Verde GDP dropped 14.8% last year – the worst economic performance in its history.…

Nearly a year on from a spottily-respected UN-brokered ceasefire between Libya’s warring factions, the country’s universities are hoping a planned new national government will deliver sufficient stability to overhaul their higher education system. Their goal is raising standards in both teaching and research.…

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has been honoured as a ‘Champion of Higher Education in Africa’ by the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).

This consortium of 129 African universities within 38 countries said it decided to honour President Chakwera for his government’s efforts in promoting inclusive higher education in Malawi and in other African countries.…

Nigeria’s National University Commission (NUC) has moved ahead with a major expansion of Nigeria’s private higher education sector, granting provisional licenses to 20 new private universities. The approval brings the number of private universities in Nigeria to 99, increasing the country’s overall university tally to 197.…