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Sheffield Hallam University in the UK had temporarily stopped critical research into forced labour in China because of pressure from Chinese authorities-a move immediately condemned by scholars from around the world, and now litigated by Professor Laura Murphy. Murphy is a globally renowned expert in contemporary slavery, investigating the widespread forced labour in the Uyghur region of Xinjiang, its relation to global supply chains, and the role of the Chinese government in that.

According to internal documents disclosed under freedom of information, the university had acted in response to direct threats from Chinese security services that included the blocking of access to the university's website and email services in China as part of efforts to disrupt student recruitment and intimidate faculty working on sensitive topics.

Murphy said university officials banned her from any further research on forced labor and prohibited her from doing any studies that had anything to do with China. She then hired human rights lawyers, insisting on restoration of her academic freedom. The legal pressure eventually compelled the university to apologize and pledge to protect her research rights.

The controversy laid bare anxieties over the influence that China now wields over global academic freedom, with evidence to suggest the university had compromised research integrity in the face of commercial interests and political pressure. 

Sheffield Hallam University denied commercial motives, citing complex circumstances involving insurance issues, but promised to defend academic freedom in the future. This case indicates a growing number of global challenges to scholarly independence in a geopolitically tense world and is a sign that universities must take immediate, active steps to protect researchers from coercion in the quest for truth and justice.

Girls in the Upper Kohistan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan are continuing to suffer with nearly 60 percent of the primary and middle schools shut due to a shortage of teachers, absenteeism and administrative failures, local media reported on Tuesday.

“I paid a surprise visit to the office of the District Education Officer (women) and found her and most of the staff absent from duty,” Additional Deputy Commissioner Khurram Khan Jadoon told reporters, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported.

He said that the inspection was conducted on directives given by the Deputy Commissioner Tariq Ali Khan, noting that he had informed him, who would send a comprehensive report to the commissioner of Hazara division and then to the chief secretary for legal and administrative action.

Jadoon further said, "The DEO was absent from her office, and the overall situation of her office was disappointing. I have already submitted a comprehensive report highlighting deficiencies in the women education department for necessary remedial measures."

He mentioned that girls' education in Upper Kohistan is alarming as the entire district has only one high school for girls. He said there are 111 government primary and middle schools for girls in the district, of which 48 are functional while rest remain shut or non-operational.

"A total of 354 teaching posts have been sanctioned in Upper Kohistan, while only 106 are filled, and 248 positions are lying vacant, depriving hundreds of girls of their constitutional right to education," said Jadoon. The only two out of sanctioned eight posts of Sub-Divisional Education Officers (SDEOs) and additional SDEOs have been filled so far.

A report earlier this month quoted sources as saying that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had virtually discontinued a programme of giving stipend to girl students studying in government schools as it did not pay the money to them during the past three years.

The stipend programme for girls was implemented by the provincial government, formed in the wake of the 2008 elections and led by the ANP, primarily to retain the enrolled girls, increase their attendance and decrease dropout ratio, Dawn reported.

Sources in elementary and secondary education department said the department required Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 3.8 billion each year to give stipend to 600,000 entitled girl students in the province. However, they said official documents demanding release of money was shuttling between finance and education departments for the past three years. They said that PKR 200 each was given to the girls from sixth class to 10th class under this program. However, the PTI government in the province stopped paying the stipend to girl students since 2022-23

In today's fast-moving life, people are not just getting treatment for diseases but also in search of keeping their whole life healthy and balanced. In this respect, Patanjali Ayurveda College has given Ayurvedic education a new height. According to Patanjali, the college is not only a treasure trove of ancient Indian knowledge but is also leading holistic education in integrating such learning with modern science. This institution was established in 2006 and is affiliated with Uttarakhand Ayurved University, recognized by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine. Education herein is not confined to being bookish but becomes a part of life itself.

Patanjali says, "The specialty of this Ayurveda College is its holistic approach. Degree courses are available here from BAMS to MD/MS. But the foundation of education rests on four stages-adhyati, which means learning the subject; bodh, understanding the meaning; Aacharan, self-practice; and Pracharan, teaching others. Not only do students study theory, but practical trainings are also provided in the Patanjali Ayurveda Hospital, which runs the world's biggest OPD. This hospital gives students a chance to work with real patients, which helps them apply Ayurvedic principles in daily life.

College campus sprawls across the holy valleys of Haridwar.

It runs one-month industrial training programs, which provide exposure to the industry. Patanjali says, “The biggest reason is its Gurukul pattern, which combines Vedic tradition with modern IT education. Swami Ramdev’s vision is to create a disease-free world. Students who study here become not only physicians but also social reformers. Alumni are taking on leadership roles in Ayurvedic clinics, research centres and Patanjali’s own centres. Fees are also affordable – around 50,000 to 60,000 rupees annually for BAMS. Admissions are based on NEET, ensuring merit is upheld.” Education that Builds Self-Reliance According to Patanjali, "The education here makes students self-reliant. It is taught that Ayurveda is not just medicine but a way of life. The amalgamation of yoga and Ayurveda keeps the students stress-free and energized. At a time when the world is moving towards holistic health, Patanjali has turned out to be the face of India in this field. In future, it will expand even further on the global stage so that everybody can avail of Ayurveda. If you want to build a career in health, Patanjali is one of the finest options. This is not education, it is transformation of life."

The decline of the U.S. is real and partly long-running. Country notes from OECD PISA 2022 drive the nail into the wood: Socioeconomic status predicts a large share of US variation in math performance-about 15%-in PISA 2022, and the most-advantaged US students continue to perform weaker than similarly advantaged students in top-scoring countries. Other inequities in learning opportunities identified in the report include the lack of access to pre-primary education, growing shortages of teachers, and high shares of students being distracted by digital devices.

According to national trends reported by NAEP, the Nation's Report Card, in recent assessments, performance in reading and math fell for many groups of students. Though the decline started well before Covid, pandemic disruptions accelerated it. What we are seeing is not a shortfall in the "top" kids nor in one single cohort; rather, it is a broad weakening of learning outcomes, one pointing away from fixed cognitive differences and toward systemic issues.

If the gap were primarily innate, added resources wouldn't move the needle, but the evidence is otherwise: Harvard CEPR analyses of federal pandemic relief spending found measurable, short-term learning gains tied to funding. It showed roughly the equivalent of a few days of learning per $1,000 spent, with larger benefits where funds were used for targeted tutoring, summer programs, and teacher support. Responsiveness to funding implies that instructional time, better staffing, and targeted interventions can and do improve outcomes. As Eric A Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann stated in 'The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth', published by The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2015, national economic outcomes correlate with what students learn, not merely how “smart” they are by birth.

 High-performing countries combine strong early childhood participation and coherent curricula with effective teacher training and selection and fewer disparities across schools. Where the US diverges is in fragmented governance, unequal school funding (tied to local property taxes) and inconsistent adoption of instructional best practices — again, policy and systems, not innate ability. What shall we do, then? For example, researchers and education journalists have joined the dots between increased screen use, less time devoted to reading long texts, and lower classroom engagement and weaker comprehension and attention stamina. 

Fund tutors and extended learning via targeted spending, since studies of ESSER federal relief demonstrate targeted programs delivered measurable gains. Likewise, expand proven models at high-need schools. Stabilise and empower the teaching workforce: address shortages with competitive pay, coaching and professional development, and with smarter hiring so students see consistent, high-quality instruction. PISA links teacher shortages to lower performance. Prioritize reading stamina and deep work, reducing shallow digital distraction during class, and advance sustained reading and analytic tasks which have proved to build comprehension and reasoning. Close the opportunity gaps by funding equity: move away from property-tax dependence, target resources to schools serving disadvantaged students, and support wraparound services that remove learning barriers - transportation, health, family supports. As Stanford University's analysis shows, early and persistent gaps require non-school investments too. Stripped of the political rhetoric, the science says American kids are no more inherently inferior than their peers anywhere else but that they end up embedded in a system that generates unequal early opportunities, tolerates uneven-quality schools, struggles to retain highly qualified teachers, and lately has endured massive disruptions in learning. These are problems with solutions; the research points to practical evidence-based levers that produce gains when implemented at scale

This growth is reflected in the over 40 percent increase that student enrollments in Dubai's higher education are expected to see before the year 2030.

That is according to a new whitepaper from the Dubai International Academic City and Dubai Knowledge Park, collectively termed the Education Cluster of TECOM Group PJSC. The report entitled, Future Skills and the Workforce of Tomorrow was developed in association with Times Higher Education.

The announcement follows the British Council's Going Global conference in London, attended by international education leaders, to help shape the future of higher education and alludes to growing opportunities for universities and institutions as Dubai strengthens its position as a global hub for talent and innovation.

"Education has the power to change the face of individual prosperity and our collective economic growth, and we must work together in order to futureproof our sector for the greater good," said Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, Senior Vice President of Dubai International Academic City, Dubai Knowledge Park, and Dubai Science Park, which are part of Tecom Group PJSC.

"Future Skills and the Workforce of Tomorrow, developed in partnership with THE, underlines a way ahead for education institutes on how to take advantage of the opportunities to grow student intake and build robust pathways from higher education into work. The higher education sector here will continue to grow, powered by the Dubai Economic Agenda 'D33' and Education 33 Strategy 'E33', while our Education Cluster remains committed to offering an integrated educational ecosystem and further developing relations with decision-makers and academics with a view to sealing the position of the city as one of the world's premier centers of higher education." It is estimated that more than 42,000 students will be enrolled in higher education institutions in Dubai for the 2024-25 academic year, a figure likely to rise sharply by over 40% by 2029-30. This new growth reflects the rising popularity of the city among international students, the report says, with the number of its higher education providers increasing by 37 percent in just two years. Recent arrivals have included the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, IIMA, which officially opened its maiden overseas campus at Dubai International Academic City in September 2025. Today, more students want to go to Dubai because of the career-oriented nature of its programs and strong industry links. Indeed, one report found that 73 percent chose Dubai because of jobs available and wanting to stay and work in the city when graduating. Employers share that confidence too: 88 percent of those polled said graduates from Dubai's universities have the skills needed in the workplace and further add to the reputation the city has as a bridge between education and employment. Dubai: The Emerging Global Education Hub Over the last twenty years, Dubai has risen as a favored destination for international education, buoyed by infrastructure that is world-class, matched by a progressive attitude and approach from the government. Currently, the city hosts 41 private providers of higher education, encompassing 37 international branch campuses that represent 12 different countries. Some of the world's most prestigious universities, including the University of Manchester, the University of Birmingham, and the University of Strathclyde Business School, operate within the Tecom Group's Education Cluster. Dubai's Economic Agenda D33 and Education 33 Strategy E33 support the government's vision to make sure that a pool of future-ready talent is created while continuing to position the city as a global learning and innovation destination. A diverse business ecosystem in Dubai-particularly represented by its 10 specialized business districts under the Tecom Group-provides students with hands-on experiences while connecting to industries that shape the future of the economy.

The 22-year-old founders of Mercor have become the world's youngest self-made billionaires, replacing Mark Zuckerberg, who debuted on the list at age 23 in 2008. Mercor, an AI recruiting startup, was founded by three high school friends: Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha.

In fact, in a recent funding round, the San Francisco-based startup raised $350 million, valuing the company at $10 billion, according to a recent Forbes report. That turns the company's CEO Brendan Foody, CTO Adarsh Hiremath and board chairman Surya Midha into the world's youngest self-made billionaires.

The founders of Mercor have joined the ranks of the world's youngest self-made billionaires, putting them among a select group of young tech entrepreneurs whose personal fortunes recently crossed the billion-dollar mark. They follow Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, 27, who became a billionaire just 20 days earlier after a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the NYSE. Before him, Scale AI's Alexandr Wang, 28, held the title for about 18 months. His cofounder Lucy Guo became the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire at age 30, taking that spot from Taylor Swift.

Indian-American friends turn billionaires

Interestingly, two of the three co-founders of Mercor are Indian-Americans. Surya Midha and Adarsh Hiremath attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, an all-boys secondary school in San Jose, California where they were on the debate team together. The two then became the first-ever duos in history to win all three national policy debate tournaments in one year.

Surya Midha is a second-generation immigrant. On his website, he reveals that his parents moved from New Delhi to the United States — “My parents immigrated to the US from New Delhi, India. I was born in Mountain View and raised in San Jose, California,” Midha said.

Indian-origin Hiremath also attended Bellarmine College Preparatory. He then studied computer science at Harvard University. He spent two years at Harvard before dropping out to work on Mercor.

“The thing that's crazy for me is, if I weren't working on Mercor, I would have just graduated college a couple months ago,” Hiremath told Forbes. “My life did such a 180 in such a short period of time.”

When Hiremath was at Harvard, Midha was a student majoring in Foreign Studies at Georgetown University. Brendan Foody was also at Georgetown, where he was studying economics.

Both Foody and Midha dropped out of Georgetown around the same time that Hiremath left Harvard to focus on Mercor. All three founders are Thiel Fellows. “During my sophomore year, I co-founded Mercor in my dorm room. Convinced that labor aggregation was the greatest opportunity of the 21st century, I dropped out of Harvard, moved to San Francisco, and was awarded the Thiel Fellowship,” he writes on LinkedIn.