John Ross
John Ross is the Asia-Pacific editor at Times Higher Education, covering higher education policy, governance, research and internationalisation across the region. His reporting concentrates on how funding systems, immigration rules and regulatory reforms reshape universities and their students, with sustained attention to developments in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. He brings more than two decades of specialist higher education and science journalism experience, and has been recognised multiple times by the National Press Club’s Higher Education Journalist of the Year award. Across daily news and in-depth features, he consistently focuses on the mechanics of policy and institutional decision-making rather than treating universities as a generic public-service beat.
International students, visas and migration policy
Ross reports extensively on the intersection of international education and migration politics, following how visa settings and risk ratings affect overseas student flows and university finances.
Recent coverage has examined downgraded immigration risk ratings at multiple Australian universities and the way that penalties linked to visa refusals create structural disadvantages for certain institutions. He has also reported predictions of sharp declines in overseas student recruitment and the further cuts observers say are needed to meet government net migration targets.
In news pieces on proposals for “net negative migration” and related student visa restrictions, he traces how populist platforms translate into concrete limits on international enrolments.
His work regularly tracks changes to specific visa categories and conditions, including stories on bans affecting dependants of most students and temporary graduates, and how such measures erode perceived competitive advantages in international education.
Features and analyses on Western governments “turning their backs” on international students set sector anxieties within longer-term shifts in public sentiment and policy. He also follows the downstream effects of study-to-work pathways, publishing pieces on foreign graduates’ career outcomes, residency rates and the employability assumptions that influence course and policy design. Across these stories, he leans on modelling, official statistics and voices from lobby groups and central banks to show how migration settings and international education markets are tightly coupled.
Funding systems, governance and severance
Ross devotes significant attention to higher education funding frameworks and the legislative processes that support them. He tracks the progress of major university funding bills through parliament, highlighting moments when timing and procedure – such as legislation “beaten by the bell” – shape sector outcomes as much as policy content. His reporting on Australian universities’ finances being “on thin ice” sets institutional budget pressures against nearly a decade of funding instability, making clear how political churn undermines long-term planning.
In coverage of the Atec commission proposals and related debates over “turgid and bureaucratic” oversight, he focuses on how new bodies and regulatory layers alter governance rather than simply noting their creation.
Governance and severance practices are another recurring strand, where Ross examines how leadership transitions and payout structures reflect institutional priorities. The merger university story in which a vice-chancellor receives a A$1.1 million golden handshake sits alongside features asking whether non-disclosure agreements are quietly compromising universities’ mission by enforcing secrecy around severance deals.
He reports on ministerial interventions in matters such as institutional naming and brand, showing how political pressure touches council decisions and identity questions. Pieces on redundancies and trust in business schools, and on R&D tax incentive settings that offer “only scant relief,” extend this focus into how internal restructuring and national innovation policy interact.
Across this work, his distinguishing trait is close attention to policy detail and how specific clauses, commissions and agreements translate into lived consequences for institutions.
Asia-Pacific higher education policy and strategy
Ross’s beat ranges across the Asia-Pacific, and he uses cross-country reporting to show how different systems pursue growth and reform.
In coverage of Indonesia’s universities and their role in delivering ambitious economic growth targets, he weighs internationalisation, funding reform and commercial partnerships as competing strategic levers. Stories on branch campuses in India focus on pricing and sustainability, warning that misaligned fee structures will undermine cross-border ventures.
He follows New Zealand’s reviews of science and university systems, framing them as part of a broader pattern of governments launching, scrapping and relaunching evaluation regimes.
His regional reporting also extends to proposals for travel bans that would cover study and research, where he explores how broad sanctions could punish millions for the actions of their governments and reshape mobility for students and academics. Articles on language colleges “struggling for survival” and demand from Chinese students declining examine the pipeline that feeds universities, connecting short-course providers, visa integrity checks and long-term enrolment trends. Beyond policy and markets, Ross contributes pieces on major rankings and ratings, including methodology for the World University Rankings 2027 and guidance on Sustainability Impact Ratings data submissions, situating institutions within an international measurement framework.
This combination of policy reporting and system-level analysis underpins a regional perspective that remains anchored in institutional consequences.
Institutional practice, AI and campus culture
Ross frequently writes about how universities handle teaching, assessment and research in practice, focusing on pressures created by technology and changing student expectations.
Features on artificial intelligence and essay-writing examine whether a “tidal wave of cheating” will sweep away genuine education or whether AI becomes another tool that teaching and assessment systems adapt to accommodate. Coverage of ChatGPT use in assessments, and differing propensities among privileged students to rely on such tools, connects integrity concerns to broader questions of equity. He reports on gender differences in scientific and academic attrition and finds that the most alarming dynamics in researcher exits are not explained primarily by gender, adding nuance to debates over diversity and retention.
Ross also writes about research culture and leadership, profiling scientists turned administrators and exploring how individual lab work contrasts with the teamwork required to “run the show.” Campus culture pieces range from “Flo-Week” party seasons at Otago, with “do no harm” as a guiding principle, to reports outlining racism on Australian campuses and how institutions respond.
Stories on tweaks to university rules that could save students substantial sums and on housing complaints that mar otherwise positive views of overseas students show an interest in everyday student experience alongside policy-level analysis. In management and governance coverage, he extends this lens to AI in universities’ “engine room,” highlighting risks when no one is clearly at the controls.
Together, these strands show a reporter who is as interested in how policies play out in lecture theatres, labs and student streets as in ministerial speeches.
Ross has held senior roles reporting on higher education and science before joining Times Higher Education and has worked across sector-focused publications and public-sector communications. His long engagement with universities and research organisations informs regular panel moderation and contributions to discussions on trends shaping the future of tertiary education.
That combination of award-winning reporting, regional remit and close attention to policy detail makes his work distinct within the education beat.
4 more education journalists.
Bridie Short
Bridie Short reports on how learning environments shape young people’s experiences and their engagement with wider issues. She writes about education for Lynn News, a local news publication with a focus on community stories. Her coverage centres on classrooms and other learning settings, with attention to the people and events that define daily life there. She has written about drama students paying homage to the climate emergency with a performance, framing their creative response as part of their educational experience and blending arts coverage with an education lens. Her education reporting sits within a broader community news agenda, linking school and college stories to general news. Her pieces are grounded in concrete events and activities, showing what students and staff are doing rather than focusing on abstract policy.
Catherine Strohfeldt
Catherine Strohfeldt reports how education policy, money and behaviour collide in Queensland classrooms and childcare services, focusing on what government decisions mean for students, families and teachers day to day. She is an education reporter at Brisbane Times covering schools, universities and early learning alongside related state policy. She often starts with a single school, subject or provider to explain shifts in funding, discipline and workforce conditions, treating suspension statistics, surveys and on-the-ground accounts as complementary evidence. Her work links school fees, capital funding and teacher pay deals to who can access which schools and on what terms. Her beat extends into childcare chains in crisis and university leadership and governance. She also covers Queensland government, planning and environmental issues, showing how housing, health and coastal decisions reshape the communities in her education reporting.
Charles Bliss
Charles Bliss is a features-led reporter at the Eastern Daily Press whose distinct focus is education told through human stories about schools, pupils and the adults who work with them. He writes about what it feels like to be in a classroom or school community, using specific events, characters and concrete activity to show how reading, creativity and wellbeing are encouraged in young people. His education coverage centres children and teachers rather than policy, turning visits, campaigns and workshops into narrative pieces with practical detail. He gives particular weight to wellbeing, mental health and sensory learning, linking health, psychology and horticulture through tangible examples. Alongside education he covers health, environment, behaviour, everyday guidance and local innovation, using plain explanation, step-by-step advice and narrative structure to show how people learn, adapt and look after each other in their communities.
Conor Duffy
Conor Duffy stands out for linking education policy to the daily lives of students, parents and teachers, treating the classroom as part of a wider social system. He is the ABC’s national education and parenting reporter. His beat spans schools, universities and family life. He covers education policy, test scores, rankings, funding, teacher workload, behaviour, school refusal, student wellbeing and parenting stress. He reports on NAPLAN, university rankings, the Job Ready Graduates legislation and the cost of humanities degrees. He also covers privacy and school data. His reporting combines hard data, policy detail and personal stories. He has also done foreign, environment and investigative work for the ABC, including as North America correspondent, and has worked across Lateline, 7.30 and AM.