Blog

Higher education is no panacea, but critical thinking is the best antidote to inequality, say Chris Cunningham and Colin Samson

Stilted and unengaging Zoom lectures must not be allowed to become the new normal, says Nuria López

Artists are not empty dissemination vessels and must be respected and fairly paid for the expertise they bring, says Aoife Monks

Appointing Sir Steve Smith to spearhead the UK’s strategy could see Australia lose ground, warns Tim Dunne

This week’s deal will tip the balance back towards fundamental research – and it might not have been done at all, says Jan Palmowski 

Widening eligibility for the new round of the initiative would accelerate the balanced development of global higher education in China, says Li Qingquan

Two years ago, universities claimed to be selling the student experience. So where are our lockdown refunds, asks Maria Magdalena Gajewska

Rather than simply endorsing complaints from the most vocal students and staff, we must react rigorously to curricular exclusions of all kinds, says Steven Greer

An oft-overlooked component of the research process is that simple little thing called leadership, says Matthew Flinders

Simplistic performance measures hold research back, says Jim McCluskey, as Melbourne becomes the first Australian university to sign up to Dora

A string of anti-immigration moves has already made the US significantly less attractive to international students, says Rajika Bhandari

Filling campuses with lucrative overseas students does little to internationalise domestic students’ experience, says Peter Brady

The ability for PhD students to research previous students’ experience with particular examiners could reduce bad practice 

Never assume, never dominate the conversation and always have a Plan B are three of the lessons learned by Milena Head and Michael Hartmann

Legal challenges may succeed, but US universities must plan how to maintain physical classes come what may to avoid mass deportations, says Brian Wong

If universities don’t commit to underwriting a riskier investment strategy, pension contributions will have to rise sharply, says Bill Galvin

Understanding students’ individual needs and concerns during this pandemic will go a long way to helping them progress academically, says Cathy Sandeen

There are simple ways that the publishing process can be made easier for academics with educational needs, says one early career researcher 

Anthony Seldon reflects on his time leading the University of Buckingham as he prepares to step down 

Now is the time for universities to interrogate the inequities of traditional classroom settings to ensure they aren’t repeated online, says Jessica Rowland Williams 

Self-congratulatory messages about online teaching may belie failures to meet learning outcomes, warns Nabil Ghantous

Declarations of solidarity lay bare the feudalistic mentality of even the most radical leftist scholars, who speak for the beleaguered masses from the cover of their academic nobility, says Scott Thomas Gibson

Volatility has become part of university managers’ new normal, but the effort won’t quickly become wasted, says David LeFevre

Cross-border knowledge sharing is core to higher education and must be preserved, say 33 university leaders in a joint statement on global academic mobility 

There’s no evidence that lower fees will lead to more enrolments, and employability for ‘work relevant’ degrees is low, says Gavin Moodie

The challenges of the future won’t respect disciplinary boundaries, so why would we teach and research within them? asks Tan Eng Chye

The government and universities are not doing enough to protect their students from the effects of the lockdown, says Futao Huang

Challenging students to collaborate on course content will help them learn better and develop essential skills, say Cathy Davidson and Christina Katopodis

They have an obligation to engage in diversity education because it is the flip side of the intercultural work in which they are experts, say Harvey Charles and Darla Deardoff 

Stephen Thomson outlines his evidence of ‘letterhead bias’ in legal academic publishing and suggests ways to dismantle it

Moving paper tests online increases access and security problems. Rather, online exams should be ‘digital first’, says Burr Settles 

Rishi Trikha says his experiences of racism and homophobia in a conservatoire show that creative fields have to be part of anti-racism conversations, too

Fee caps should be dependent on what universities can actually provide in a pandemic, says prospective fresher Nélson Fernandes Serrão

Extra funds for science are welcome, but tipping the balance towards challenge-led research must not become the new normal, warns Jan Palmowski

Engaging students in institutional planning and enhancing their work placement opportunities could cushion the impact of the virus, says Craig Jeffrey 

The urge to be proved right and the mantra of publish or perish amount to a toxic scholarly brew. Reflection is the best policy, says Simone Eringfeld 

The UK’s international education strategy must be more ambitious if the country is to remain globally competitive, writes Jo Johnson

Women and racial minorities are more likely to introduce valuable scientific novelty. Why are their ideas not taken seriously? Bas Hofstra and Daniel McFarland ask

The volume of Covid-19 publications raises questions of legitimacy and risks public trust in science, argue Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva and Peter Tsigaris

In the post-Covid world we have a chance to increase our use of data to better understand research opportunities and student learning, says Dawn Freshwater

Research from a team at Henley Business School highlights the funding, time and location constraints on academic research during the pandemic 

Matthew Reisz reflects on the researchers who have brought us powerful stories about how gender manifests – from remote Himalayan villages to the nightclubs of the French Riviera

Posts on social media aren’t enough to dismantle institutional and structural racism in the academy, say Marcia A. Wilson and Lurraine Jones

The reboot of universities post-Covid against a backdrop of anti-racist protests makes decolonising the curriculum imperative, says Priya Rajasekar

As we integrate online learning more into on-campus classes, let’s break away from synchronous classroom models, says Dilip Soman

Universities must ensure students are satisfied with Covid-19 contingency plans to offset complaints and requests for refunds, argues Susan Matthews

Exploring the often unsavoury history behind many significant advances can be enlightening and empowering for students, argues Daniel Akinbosede

Professionals must be able to connect with students from different backgrounds, but obsessing about inter-group differences doesn't help, says an anonymous academic

Staff over 50 might well wish to stay out of front-line contact with students until a vaccine is found, say Andrew Oswald and Nattavudh Powdthavee

Chinese students risk being turned into ideological battering rams; universities must maintain safe spaces for all to learn and debate, says Brian Wong

Policymakers, civil society and industry can all benefit from more open science, say Åse Gornitzka and Svein Stølen

Displaced peoples could benefit enormously from the sudden availability of lots of high-quality online courses, say Gül İnanç and Charley Wright

Making findings open source may enable certain companies and countries to corner the vaccine market, warn Virginia Driver and Tom Woodhouse

Global pandemics require global responses – that’s why producing globally competent graduates should be central to universities’ missions, say Harvey Charles and Darla Deardorff

What might a test-optional admissions landscape look like for US higher education? The takeaways from South Korea provide an important lesson, says Stephanie  K. Kim

The new social order will require thought leadership, free enquiry and interdisciplinarity, says Susan Lea

By working together, universities can aid in economic growth, support societal recovery and improve resilience of key institutions, write the heads of U15 and the Russell Group

It’s a decision that must balance all the interests of the academic community and give the same benefits to students that a university education always has, says Alan Ruby

The economic fallout of Covid-19 is an opportunity for public institutions to offer accessible and affordable education again, says Stephen Gavazzi

With this year’s graduates having only a recession to look forward to, universities must change the way they provide career support, says Tristram Hooley