Publishing giant Elsevier is taking on Wikipedia with the launch of a new service that provides encyclopedia-style entries on key scientific topics.

New Zealand and Canada have been singled out as the countries that best prepare students for the future, in a major study that assesses the “effectiveness” of education systems.

A Stanford University professor has been named the winner of a new $4 million (£3 million) education prize in recognition of her research on the malleability of intelligence.

Taiwan hopes that attracting students from further afield, particularly mainland China, will help to address its higher education crisis.

Half the editorial board of the journal Third World Quarterly have resigned after an outcry over an article arguing in favour of colonialism, with the author then “requesting the withdrawal” of the essay.

University rankings must take fuller account of institutions’ engagement with communities, industry and public policy, sector leaders have urged.

Scholars and students around the world face a “continuing global crisis of attacks” driven by an “anti-democratic fear of universities” as bastions of free thought, according to an international network that promotes academic freedom.

Italian police have placed seven university lecturers under house arrest as part of a major probe into the alleged rigging of exams.

Many Nobel prizewinners believe that bias against women explains why so few female researchers have won science’s top award....

With all their wealth, prestige and history, America’s top universities still lead a sector struggling to expand success for lower-income and ethnic minority students, or to provide their graduates with career-ready skills.