Large German companies, particularly those in the country’s innovative engineering and manufacturing sectors, have recently been making headlines as acquisition targets for foreign suitors. In 2016 the €4.5bn (US$5.4bn) acquisition of pioneering robot maker KUKA by Chinese appliance manufacturer Midea exemplified growing Chinese interest in German investments.

By Rachel Gross

The higher-education funding crisis was peaking, and the mood was grim. Into the spotlight stepped Gordon Gee, then president of Ohio State University. “The choice, it seems to me, is this: reinvention or extinction,” he told the American Council on Education in 2009. “We must become more agile, more responsive, less insular and less bureaucratic. In so doing, we will save ourselves from slouching into irrelevance.”

These are unnerving times for higher education worldwide.

After a four-decade rise in global demand, universities are grappling
with powerful forces colliding at once: reduced government support,
rising public skepticism about the value of a degree, increased
institutional competition and the emergence of disruptive technology.

The demographic profile of students at US colleges and universities has changed dramatically in recent decades. Once a minority, today “non-traditional” students far outnumber the 18-to-22-year-olds who have historically entered college directly from high school.  

When Northwestern University launched its new Master of Science in Analytics degree in early 2012, university leadership envisaged a small programme—a tight community of 20 students.  Northwestern received more than 200 applications during the programme’s inaugural year. This year, they have increased the size of the programme by 50% to 30 students and have received over 380 applications