The country’s low number of PhDs and unattractive academic career pathways has left it struggling to replace retiring academics and is holding back its research performance

Some university heads are saying the country should follow the French model of consolidation after the only university to have featured in the research-focused ranking drops out

Despite government efforts to lure the science diaspora back home, many researchers are not convinced Romania can improve its scientific culture and move past the reputational damage done by a series of high-level plagiarism cases

The EU’s concerns about economic security are legitimate, but protective measures must be proportionate and precise to ensure they respond to the actual risks. There should not be blanket bans on international research cooperation  

Moves to ensure the EU’s economic independence and technology sovereignty are catching universities in the cross hairs. Institutions must strike a balance between protecting sensitive technologies and maintaining open science and autonomy

Half of postdocs say they don’t have access to social security, a situation made even worse because many don’t have permanent contracts either. Now campaigners are putting pressure on the EU to lean on member states to improve working conditions for Europe’s young scientists

The government withheld funding for a research institute after objecting to the views of one of its scholars. Researchers say this is an attempt ‘to intimidate scholars whose research might result in refutations of opinions held by some politicians’

The EU and African Union will adopt a joint innovation roadmap later this month. A group of around 2,000 universities are calling for it to come with funding attached

As a body representing more than 50 of Europe’s leading science and technology universities, CESAER wants to see EU institutions and local and national governments provide better support to scientists in commercialising their research

Universities want to reshape research assessment, giving less prominence to metrics such as citations and journal papers published and putting more focus on quality. But will the international rankings add their considerable heft and follow suit?