#Higher education

News

Georgia’s Higher Education ‘Reform’: The Capstone of an Authoritarian Turn

Georgia’s government has announced a sweeping reform of higher education that pulls more decisions under central control, trims academic diversity, and limits international engagement. This is not an administrative adjustment—it’s a decisive move to bring one of the country’s last relatively plural arenas entirely under political authority. Sandro Tabatadze explains what is at stake.

31.10.2025

Book Reviews

“Lawyerization” of Universities in the USA – Louis H. Guard and Joyce P. Jacobsen on the ‘New Era of Higher Education’

Higher education has never been free from controversies, nor from political pressures. 2024 saw a renewed surge in public interest in how universities operate, as students and staff openly took positions on the Gaza war. Thus, alongside heated discussions about geopolitics, stakeholders and the broader public debated the role of universities and how to respond when they are perceived to fall short. In this context, some questions arise: What are the limits of academic freedom? What does it mean for a university to guarantee a space safe from discrimination? Who is to decide or act (and how?) on these issues? While the book All the Campus Lawyers is not a direct reply to these questions, it explores how regulatory scrutiny of higher education plays out in a democracy, intersecting with broader social and political issues – and hence emerges as a timely contribution to the discussions on the nature and future of higher education.

28.02.2025