University

• University at Buffalo women's basketball announced the signing of Holy Cross transfer Asia Wilson, a Rochester, NY native with three remaining years of eligibility. • Wilson appeared in 27 games for Holy Cross in 2025-26, helping the Crusaders achieve 23 wins, a Patriot League Championship, and an NCAA Tournament berth. • The addition of Wilson strengthens Buffalo's roster as the program looks to build on recent success and compete at a higher level.

Merged insistutions, whose name has not yet been formally decided, will be second largest mainstream university in UKKing’s College London has signed an agreement to merge with Cranfield University, creating a new UK “super-university” that would rival many of its international competitors in size and research output.The merger would result in KCL taking on another 5,000 mainly postgraduate students and become the second largest mainstream university in the UK, with about 47,000 students, overtaking the University of Manchester and behind only University College London. Continue reading...

Institution says it could run out of money by 2031 and wants to cut more than 600 academic and support postsThousands of staff at the University of Nottingham have been told to prepare for redundancy as part of swingeing financial cuts that academics say will harm the institution’s future.The university’s administration sent letters to 2,700 staff on Tuesday, notifying them their role was at risk of redundancy after its leadership said it could run out of money by 2031. Continue reading...

Anil Kochhar hopes textile graduates of North Carolina State can leave with ‘greater freedom to pursue goals’Anil Kochhar, a North Carolina State University donor, gave graduates of the school’s Wilson College of Textiles a lot more than just words of wisdom when he delivered their keynote commencement address recently.The Indian American entrepreneur also announced that he would pay off any student loans taken out by the college’s graduating pupils during their senior year. Continue reading...

More than 100 figures sign open letter criticising closure, just months after MA was launchedMore than 100 academics, writers and activists from around the world have signed an open letter condemning plans to close an MA in Black studies and global justice at Birmingham City University (BCU), just months after it was first launched.The move follows the controversial closure of BCU’s undergraduate course in Black studies in 2024, and has prompted warnings that Black studies are being erased from UK higher education. Continue reading...

Federal lawsuit against OpenAI says alleged gunman had extensive conversations with chatbot over monthsThe family of one of two people killed in an April 2025 shooting at Florida State University (FSU) has filed a federal lawsuit against the ChatGPT creator, OpenAI, alleging that the suspected gunman carried out the attack “with input and information provided to him during conversations with ChatGPT over a period of months, and specifically in the days leading up to the shooting”.The lawsuit, first reported by NBC News, was filed on Sunday in Florida’s northern federal district court by Vandana Joshi, the widow of Tiru Chabba. Chabba was killed alongside the university dining director, Robert Morales, in the mass shooting on 17 April 2025 that also wounded five others. Continue reading...

Senior academics describe the Judge business school’s proposal to provide services and training as ‘horrifying’Cambridge University’s business school is seeking to provide “leadership development” and “innovation management” to Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry despite concerns over its government’s record on human rights and climate change, the Guardian has learned.Cambridge’s leadership has approved a proposal by the university’s Judge business school to form a “memorandum of understanding” with the ministry for services and training, after an initial introduction by the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Continue reading...

• Researchers at The Rockefeller University uncovered new clues to why hepatitis B virus infects humans but not other species, published April 22, 2026. • The study identifies key viral and host factors restricting cross-species transmission, as reported in Science News. • These insights could enable novel animal models for testing therapies, addressing a major gap in hepatitis B research.

• On May 5, 2026, U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan presented a $1.03 million check to Virginia State University in Ettrick, Virginia, to establish the VSU Center for Generative AI & Industrial Cybersecurity. • The center will serve as a hub for research, education, and workforce development at the intersection of AI and cyberdefense, emphasizing hands-on student training and faculty-led solutions for secure AI infrastructure. • This funding underscores growing U.S. investment in HBCUs for critical tech fields, aiming to build domestic talent amid rising demand for AI security experts.

Former foreign minister steps down early as finance minister Katy Gallagher says embattled institution must continue ‘rebuilding trust and confidence’The former foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has tendered her resignation from the position of chancellor at Australian National University (ANU).The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said in a statement on Friday morning that the embattled institution would need to continue “rebuilding trust and confidence”. Continue reading...

Students and faculty have also protested against surveillance cameras on campus and handling of racist posts by a studentAtlanta’s Emory University is facing a lawsuit from three tenured professors over its handling of 2024 protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza, capping off a tumultuous end to the spring semester.In recent months faculty and students have also demanded the removal of Flock surveillance cameras on campus, and Black law school students and others protested the school’s response to a student’s social media posts and emails that were filled with the N-word. Continue reading...

Ministers take action after survey showing almost half of students had gone without food for financial reasonsFrench universities have begun offering €1 meals to all students regardless of income in a measure designed to address financial hardship.Student unions have been pushing to extend the €1 rate – down from the usual €3.30 – for a three-course meal to all students, which was previously only available to those with low incomes or receiving financial aid. Continue reading...

• An international team including University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers measured the force of particle jets blasted from a black hole in the Cygnus system. • This first-of-its-kind measurement confirms a prediction made by UW-Madison astronomers a decade ago. • The findings validate long-standing theories on black hole jet mechanics, advancing astrophysics understanding.

Claudio Neves Valente, who killed himself after deadly attack, began planning for violence in 2022, authorities sayThe gunman behind a deadly shooting at Brown University in December appeared to have been aggrieved by personal failures and sought retribution against those he deemed responsible, federal authorities said on Wednesday.More than four months after Claudio Manuel Neves Valente opened fire on the Ivy League campus, killing two students and injuring nine others, officials with the FBI’s Boston division announced they had concluded a significant portion of their investigation into the shooter. Continue reading...

England’s higher education regulator must rebuild trust with troubled sector after series of blunders under previous leadershipIn its brief and unhappy life, England’s Office for Students has been offered a series of challenges it has largely failed to meet. This week the latest and most embarrassing of those was unveiled when the high court decisively rejected the higher education watchdog’s attempts to fine the University of Sussex more than £500,000 for regulatory failings relating to Kathleen Stock’s time as an academic at Sussex.Stock quit Sussex in 2021, saying she felt ostracised and targeted for her views on gender identity and transgender rights. Here was the highest profile test case that the OfS had seen: a subject of enormous controversy and sensitivity, involving key issues of academic freedom and freedom of speech. But as we now know from Mrs Justice Lieven’s ruling, in its rush to intervene, the OfS managed to tie together its own shoelaces. Continue reading...

Ruling is blow to Office for Students after it issued fine for handling of protests over professor’s trans rights viewsSussex University has overturned a £585,000 fine by England’s higher education watchdog after the high court rejected claims the university had breached free speech regulations involving its former professor Kathleen Stock.The ruling is a damaging blow to the credibility and management of the Office for Students, after the court rejected the regulator’s lengthy investigation into Sussex’s handling of the protests aimed at Stock over her views on transgender rights and her subsequent resignation in 2021. Continue reading...

Hisham Abugharbieh was arrested after standoff with police and charged with killing Zamil Limon and Nahida BristyThe man who was detained after two Bangladeshi doctoral students went missing from the University of South Florida (USF) has been booked with two counts of murder.Hisham Abugharbieh faces two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, the Hillsborough county sheriff’s office announced on Saturday. Continue reading...

Hisham Abugharbeih, 26, taken into custody after remains of Zamil Limon found, as search for Nahida Bristy continuesThe body of one of two Bangladeshi doctoral students missing from the University of South Florida (USF) was found on a bridge over Tampa Bay, and his roommate has been taken into custody, law enforcement authorities said Friday.Zamil Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland Bridge on Friday morning, but Nahida Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough county sheriff’s office chief deputy Joseph Maurer said. Continue reading...

Authors including Evelyn Araluen and Melissa Lucashenko say they won’t work with publisher after it dumps Jazz Money’s book illustrated by Matt Chun, who called Bondi victims ‘affluent beneficiaries of imperialism’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn Australian publishing house has cancelled the publication of a children’s book by an award-winning Indigenous poet over comments the book’s illustrator made about the victims of the Bondi beach terror attack, whom he called “affluent beneficiaries of imperialism”.University of Queensland said on Wednesday its publishing house would not proceed with the publication of Bila, A River Cycle, written by Jazz Money and illustrated by Matt Chun, and was considering “recycling options” for already printed copies. Continue reading...

• Researchers at the University of Washington created an artificial photosynthesis prototype converting sunlight directly into storable chemical fuels with 13% efficiency, surpassing previous laboratory records of 8-10%. • The system uses engineered nanostructures and novel catalysts to split water and fix carbon dioxide, producing methanol as a liquid fuel suitable for existing energy infrastructure, detailed in Nature Energy on April 21. • The breakthrough could enable large-scale production of carbon-neutral synthetic fuels without competing for agricultural land, addressing both climate and energy security challenges.

Head of newly formed institution questions whether naming is ‘reflective of our current reality’ amid criticism of ‘shameful’ fossil fuel company promotionGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe newly formed Adelaide University is considering removing gas company Santos’s name from one of its buildings.On Saturday, students and conservationists rallied outside the Santos Petroleum Engineering building, calling on the university to dump the name because of the company’s new gas projects. Continue reading...

Rümeysa Öztürk, who faced deportation over pro-Palestinian op-ed, travels back to Turkey to begin careerSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxRümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University student who was targeted by the Trump administration last year in response to co-writing a pro-Palestinian op-ed, completed her doctorate in the US and traveled back to her native Turkey this week.Öztürk was detained last year by immigration agents in Massachusetts, with video of the Tufts University student’s arrest going viral. She was one of many international students targeted by the Trump administration for pro-Palestinian speech and activism during widespread protests, which were especially active on US college campuses, against Israel’s war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 deadly attack on southern Israel. Continue reading...

• Elijah Dottery, diagnosed with sickle cell anemia as a baby, became the first U-M patient to receive the newly FDA-approved stem cell therapy. • The treatment uses patient's own stem cells edited via CRISPR to produce functional hemoglobin, administered at Michigan Medicine. • This breakthrough matters for over 100,000 U.S. sickle cell patients, offering potential cure where prior therapies only managed symptoms.

Exclusive: Move comes after Guardian Australia revealed Gemma Seymour was facing potential suspension over video criticising RMIT’s ties to weapons companiesRMIT University has dropped a misconduct case against a student who accused the institution of being “complicit in genocide” in Gaza, because of its defence and aerospace research centre’s ties to weapons companies.Guardian Australia this week revealed the student, Gemma Seymour, faced potential suspension over a social media video calling for the university’s Sir Lawrence Wackett Defence and Aerospace Centre to be shut down. Continue reading...

• Arizona State University's Extreme Environments Lab tests semiconductor technologies under harsh conditions mimicking those in low Earth orbit, where temperatures swing from minus 85°F to over 250°F and radiation exposure exceeds 100 times natural Earth levels annually. • The lab supports the Southwest Advanced Prototyping (SWAP) Hub, serving government and industry partners designing technologies for demanding applications including space stations, missile defense systems, and geothermal energy equipment. • This research capability extends to supporting radiation therapy, nuclear energy systems, and advanced scientific tools such as quantum computers, addressing critical reliability challenges for space-based microchips that cannot be serviced for a decade or more.

Lawyers for Robert Morales’s family said chatbot ‘may have advised the shooter’ on how to carry out shootingThe family of a man who was killed at Florida State University last year plans to sue ChatGPT and its parent organization, OpenAI, for allegedly telling the accused gunman how to carry out the mass shooting.Lawyers for the family of Robert Morales wrote in a statement they had learned the shooter was in “constant communication with ChatGPT” ahead of the shooting, and that the chatbot “may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes”. Continue reading...

Trump ordered data collection after raising concern about race being used as factor in college admissionsA federal judge on Friday halted efforts by the Trump administration to collect data that proves higher education institutions aren’t considering race in admissions.The ruling from the US district court judge F Dennis Saylor IV in Boston granting the preliminary injunction follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general. It will only apply to public universities in plaintiffs’ states. Continue reading...

Aria Fani of University of Washington’s Middle East Center is latest critic of Israel to lose position at US universitySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA University of Washington professor was removed as head of the school’s Middle East Center after reportedly using newsletters from the center to criticize the US and Israel’s war on Iran and describe Zionism as “cancerous”.His case is one of at least three incidents in the past month in which higher education faculty members have faced suspension or dismissal after voicing opposition to US-Israeli actions in the Middle East. Continue reading...