Australia's Education Minister Jason Clare has reinforced the decision to cap international student enrollments at 270,000 annually for 2025, prioritizing locals who must comprise over 50% of university enrollments. The cap, announced in August 2024, addresses surging international numbers at prestigious universities as University of Sydney recorded 51% international students in 2024, Murdoch University 57%, and RMIT above 50%. The government aims to restore pre-pandemic enrollment levels, curb malpractices at vocational colleges admitting students lacking language skills, and address housing shortages. Indians face reduced seat availability, increased competition, higher visa costs, and tougher requirements. Universities' overseas dependence began a decade ago due to government funding cuts, with international students now generating 30% of revenue.

According to official figures from the Ministry of Education for the 2024-25 academic year, 7,993 schools across India reported zero student enrolment, yet collectively employed 20,817 teachers. The highest concentration of such schools was in West Bengal (3,812 schools employing 17,965 teachers), followed by Telangana (2,245 schools, 1,016 teachers) and Madhya Pradesh (463 schools, 223 teachers). Compared with the previous year’s figure of 12,954 zero-enrolment schools, the number has dropped by about 38 %. Several states and Union Territories, including Haryana, Maharashtra, Goa, Assam, and Delhi, reported no schools with zero enrolment. Officials say that states have been advised to merge under-utilised schools and optimise staff and infrastructure. (PC: AP)

Harvard University briefly issued a shelter-in-place order Friday morning after a man on a bicycle allegedly shot at another person on Sherman Street near Danehy Park in Cambridge. The suspect was seen riding towards Garden Street, which connects North Cambridge to Radcliffe Quad and Harvard Square. Cambridge Police confirmed ballistic evidence was recovered from the scene, though no victims have been reported. The university lifted the shelter-in-place order after the incident, urging students to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to Harvard University Police Department at 617-495-1212. A police manhunt is currently underway for the unidentified cyclist. The spokesman confirmed officers are actively investigating the shots-fired incident. (PC: X)

Multiple North Indian states closed schools on September 2, 2025, due to heavy rainfall and flooding. Punjab extended closures until September 3 following widespread flooding and landslides. Gurugram's DDMA suspended physical classes after 100mm rainfall in four hours, encouraging online learning and work-from-home arrangements. Uttar Pradesh districts including Kasganj, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Bareilly, Moradabad, Pilibhit, and Aligarh declared holidays. Chandigarh, Jammu division, and Uttarakhand's Chamoli district also shut schools. Himachal Pradesh closed schools in Kangra, Mandi, Sirmaur, and Kullu districts due to landslide risks. Despite IMD's orange alert for Delhi NCR and continuous rainfall since September 1, the capital maintained regular school operations while authorities monitor conditions for potential closure announcements. (PC: X)

PP Divakaran (PPD), a physicist turned pre-eminent historian of Indian mathematics, passed away recently in Kochi. A polymath and clarifier of complex ideas, he authored The Mathematics of India: Concepts, Methods, Connection, spotlighting ancient Indian mathematicians on the global stage. PPD argued that Aryabhata expressed a rational, even “godless secularist” mindset—eschewing traditional invocations—and may have hinted at Earth’s rotation through verses in the Āryabhatiya. He also provided evidence that the Kerala Nila school developed trigonometric series for sine, cosine, and their inverses long before Western mathematicians. (PC: X)

India delivered a stellar performance at the 18th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA 2025), hosted in Mumbai from August 11–21. Competing against nearly 300 students from 63 countries, the Indian team clinched four gold medals and one silver, marking one of its best showings. Among the standout winners were Banibrata Majee and Akshat Srivastava from Narayana Educational Institutions. The team was mentored by IISER Mohali faculty, Professor Jasjeet Singh Bagla and Dr. Harvinder Kaur Jassal. Organized by HBCSE-TIFR, the event fostered global collaboration, with India’s success highlighting its growing strength in astronomy and astrophysics education.

Hannah Cairo, a 17-year-old homeschooled prodigy from the Bahamas, has stunned the global mathematics community by refuting the 40-year-old Mizohata-Takeuchi conjecture. The conjecture, rooted in harmonic analysis, had resisted proof for decades. Cairo constructed a counterexample that disproved it entirely, earning praise from top mathematicians. Self-taught through online resources and math circles, she mastered advanced topics by age 14 and joined graduate-level courses at UC Berkeley. Her breakthrough came during a Fourier restriction theory class. Despite lacking a high school diploma or undergraduate degree, Cairo has been accepted directly into a PhD program at the University of Maryland. Experts hail her achievement as one of the most remarkable mathematical feats by a teenager. (PC: Quanta Magazine & India Today)

Union Minister Jitendra Singh, responding to ongoing protests by SSC candidates over technical glitches and cancellations during the Selection Post Phase‑13 examination, has assured that affected students will be permitted to retake the exam at no additional cost. He emphasized that the SSC will not be cancelled, and promised full refunds of the ₹100 challenge fee for invalidated attempts . The SSC Chairman also acknowledged "teething issues" with the exam vendor and affirmed that corrective measures are being implemented to ensure smoother administration going forward. (PC: NDTV)  

Vidyasagar University in West Bengal has sparked controversy after a history exam question referred to Indian freedom fighters as "terrorists." The question asked students to "name three district magistrates of Midnapore killed by terrorists," drawing widespread outrage from students, political leaders, and historians. The row centers around revered revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose being mischaracterized. Vice-Chancellor Dipak Kumar Kar apologized, attributing the error to a translation issue, where the term "militant nationalist" lost its quotation marks during the Bengali translation process. The university has removed two professors from exam duties and initiated an internal probe, vowing stronger vetting mechanisms to avoid future lapses and uphold the integrity of historical narratives. (PC: College Dunia & EduAdvice)

Wembley Stadium in London hosted the final graduation ceremony of Global Banking School (GBS) UK for 2025 on July 9, where nearly 2,000 students graduated across disciplines including Business, Healthcare, Construction, and Digital Technologies. This follows a ceremony the previous week in Birmingham, where 1,500 students from Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds received their degrees. GBS UK CEO James Kennedy praised the graduates, saying, “We work to widen participation, address skills shortages, and enable social mobility—today, we see this first-hand.” He emphasized the importance of GBS UK’s mature-age graduates, who bring valuable lived experience to the UK workforce. James Murray MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, addressed the students during the ceremony. “It’s inspiring to see graduates ready to shape their communities and careers,” he said. The event coincided with the release of the 2025 National Student Survey (NSS), where GBS UK reported a 90% satisfaction rate in the ‘Teaching on my Course’ category—3% higher than the sector average. GBS UK also exceeded national averages in Organisation, Management, and Academic Support categories.