Blog version: https://roycross.blog/

1. Here’s one I put aside a while back and lost sight of, a piece in University World News, Huge progress on widening HE access globally since 2000, which looks in some detail at higher education in farther flung places than normal, namely Chile, Fiji, Saudi Arabia and China https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20260327143624348

2. ICAI, the UK’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which survived a half-hearted attempt by the government to abolish it a couple of months ago, has just published an update to its report on The changing global context for development cooperation https://icai.independent.gov.uk/review/the-changing-global-context-for-development-cooperation/report/ Its key findings are:

• Global official development assistance fell by $50 billion (23%) in 2025 and is projected to fall further to levels last seen a decade ago.
• Only 28% of humanitarian need was met in 2025. Of the 300 million people assessed as needing assistance only 88.2 million were covered by the UN Global Appeal and, even then, funding fell short by $3 billion.
• Conflict is at its worst since the Second World War, with one in ten people worldwide now living in close proximity to armed conflict, a seven-fold increase since 2010. Attacks on schools in conflict zones rose by 44% in the past year.
• 117 million people are forcibly displaced, with the total doubling in a decade. This includes around 50 million refugees displaced outside their home country, of which 66% have been away from their home country for more than five years.
• At the pace of current progress, ending gender-based violence and achieving equality for women and girls would take another 100 years. A quarter of countries report a backlash against women’s rights.
• For the first time in 20 years, the world has fewer democracies than autocracies. Just 20% of the global population live in countries rated as fully “free”, down from 46% two decades ago.
• Total climate finance reached $1.9 trillion in 2023, against an estimated need of $6.3 trillion. The most climate-vulnerable fragile states receive only 10% of international climate finance.
• Donors are increasingly using scarce ODA to mobilise private investment with mixed results, as the majority of funds (88%) have flowed to middle-income countries rather than the poorest, where financing gaps remain largest.

3. Language-responsive education is an updated British Council report “on inclusive language policy and practice, which examines how education systems can respond effectively to diverse linguistic contexts” https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/case-studies-insights-and-research/language-responsive-education PDF below as well.

Language is central to learning. Across many contexts worldwide, schools and classrooms bring together learners with diverse linguistic backgrounds and identities. This diversity enriches communities but also requires careful decisions about which languages are used in education, and how. In multilingual contexts – including those shaped by colonial histories or high mobility – these decisions are often complex.

4. A supporting British Council publication (with a download link on the same page), Language policy and practice: A review of the literature on English in education, shows that outcomes depend on teacher proficiency, pedagogical quality, system capacity and alignment with local linguistic and cultural realities. It also highlights the risks of poorly supported transitions to English medium education and the importance of strong English as a subject provision. PDF below.

5. And, finally, the Thursday before last, I posted The Daily Telegraph’s Fifty Greatest Films of All Time, chosen by their (male) film critic, Robbie Collin. Here’s an alternative list, chosen by his female colleagues, The (other) 50 best films of all time – a female perspective https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/ef674cb2e3fb7671 Quite different lists!