News Talks by Times Higher Education
Times Higher Education's editorial team discusses the biggest stories in global higher education, going behind the headlines. The fortnightly podcast provides analysis of university policy, research, funding, and student success. Listeners get expert insight into the latest developments shaping universities worldwide.
Episodes
News Talks podcast: What's behind the spike in UK student visa refusals?
We discuss the latest surge in student visa refusals and the potential implications for the UK’s position as a leading destination for international students.
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The international student recruitment market in the UK is facing heightened levels of uncertainty. Universities are caught between a rock and a hard place: navigating more stringent regulations from the Home Office and still grappling
News Talks: How is a growing focus on ‘employability’ reshaping UK degrees?
With a new degree co-designed by Aardman Animations and the Royal College of Art announced this week, we examine the growing role of business in moulding degrees as universities face ever greater pressure to boost graduate employability
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Universities are working ever more closely with business and industry to shape degrees in the UK, in order to meet skills needs and boost graduate employabil
News Talks podcast: Will Indonesian HE take the world by storm?
We discuss internationalisation efforts at Indonesian universities and whether the archipelago's institutions will achieve global recognition on a par with its east Asian neighbours.
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Over the last twenty years, Asia has cemented its universities among the top in Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, from the historic University of Tokyo to what Forbes has called China’s “power fa
News Talks podcast: What the new science minister means for UK research
We discuss how Chris McDonald is progressing in his role as minister for science, and whether his appointment signals a major change in direction for research activities in UK universities.
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Chris McDonald took up the role as minister for science in July, entering a newly created Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. The department positions science much more explicitly besi
News Talks podcast: Asia's rise in international student recruitment
For years, the US, Canada, the UK and Australia have dominated the international student recruitment market, but changing social attitudes and government policy restrictions have seen their numbers fall drastically in recent years.
Meanwhile, China, South Korea and Hong Kong and other countries across Asia have all been taking major steps to up their international recruitment, as low birth rates l
News Talks podcast: Could spiralling GenAI use derail universities' net zero efforts?
We discuss the environmental implications of mass GenAI adoption across higher education and why universities are failing to account for it’s use in their quest to reduce carbon emissions
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GenAI use is now “near universal” among undergraduate students, studies show, with universities increasingly embedding these digital tools across their curricula and assessments.
But what could this mean fo
News Talks podcast: How an exam leak led to the toppling of a government minister in India
We discuss why a leaked exam paper sparked mass protest in India, culminating in the resignation of a government minister and the promise of reform
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The mass youth protests across India that ran through June and July have forced the resignation of former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan as well as extracting a series of conciliatory promises from prime minister Narendra Modi.
But the spa
News Talks podcast: What impact will binning DSIT have on UK R&D?
With Andy Burnham’s new government announcing plans to scrap the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, we discuss what this could mean for UK research
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One of the first moves of Andy Burnham’s new Labour administration has been to announce the closure of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) in favour of research sitting within the business department.
On thi
News Talks podcast: What could Andy Burnham as prime minister mean for UK higher education?
We discuss what the next three years may hold for UK universities under an Andy Burnham premiership.
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With Andy Burnham expected to take over as prime minister this month, this week’s podcast explores what this may mean for the UK’s beleaguered higher education sector.
Times Higher Education editor-in-chief Chris Havergal sits down with Miranda Prynne to examine what is known about the former
News Talks podcast: How is global higher education responding to the SDGs?
What do the 2026 Sustainability Impact Ratings tell us about the countries and regions whose universities are prioritising work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals
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As the 2026 Sustainability Impact Ratings are unveiled, we discuss what the latest results reveal about institutional and regional efforts on UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Times Higher Education rankings editor Naomi
News Talks podcast: Is China’s Greater Bay Area the next global higher education hub?
We discuss the ambitions of Shenzhen and other cities in China’s Greater Bay Area to develop higher education systems that match their global economic and industrial clout.
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Shenzhen and other cities in China’s Greater Bay Area are leveraging the higher education prowess of neighbouring Hong Kong to develop their own world-leading universities.
A series of branch campuses have been set up by pr
News Talks: Are university mergers the future for UK higher education?
We discuss whether mergers are a sensible way forward for UK universities beset by financial challenges.
The announcement that King’s College London and Cranfield University are planning to join by August 2027, raises questions about whether university mergers offer a sensible way forward for the UK’s beleaguered higher education sector.
So this week, on News Talks, Times Higher Education editor-i
News Talks: The human cost of UK university job cuts laid bare
We discuss the fall out from tens of thousands of layoffs across UK higher education after a Times Higher Education survey exposed the anger, fear and stress that pervade the sector.
In this week’s podcast, the author of the UK redundancy survey, THE features editor Paul Jump talks Miranda Prynne through the results which paint a picture of a demoralised, exhausted and fragmented sector and the hu
News Talks: What next for OfS after Sussex free speech ruling
As the University of Sussex celebrates legal victory against the Office for Students, we discuss what the ruling means for the future of the regulator.
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The Office for Students (OfS) has been defeated in the High Court with its £585,000 fine, imposed on the University of Sussex for failing to protect free speech, overturned.
In this episode of News Talks, find out what this landmark ruling cou
News Talks: Can Magyar free Hungary’s universities of Orbán’s populist influence?
After Péter Magyar’s landslide election victory, we discuss why restoring independence and academic freedom to Hungarian higher education may not be an easy task.
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Right wing populist leader Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule in Hungary has come to an end after his rival Peter Magyar won a two thirds majority in the general election.
Centre-right leader Magyar has promised to rebuild relations with E
News Talks: What is driving UK universities' branch campus rush to India
As UK universities queue up to open new branch campuses in India, we discuss what has sparked this renewed enthusiasm for a form of transnational education (TNE) which was, until recently, considered moribund - and why many remain cynical about the chances of success
Several UK, and Australian, institutions have launched, or are on the cusp of launching, new branch campuses in India, encouraged by
News Talks: Will a landmark review into Australian R&D deliver the transformation that higher education hopes for
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 -
News Talks: Will Horizon FP10 support 'bigger, better, stronger' global collaboration?
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
News Talks: Is MRes recruitment exploiting UK international student visa rules?
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 aca
News Talks: University of Sussex v the Office for Students – what could it mean for UK higher education?
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, T
