Blog

Universities must do more to counter Euro-white supremacy in their own operations if they are going to effectively support decolonisation of disciplines, argues Heather McLean

A number of competing priorities are on the table as European lawmakers decide on the next phase of the continent’s research funding programme, but finding the right balance among them is crucial, says Jan Palmowski

University leaders have said that they expect to work more closely with industry in the future, but universities need to make clear how those links will benefit graduates, says Ronel Lehmann 

Online learning platforms can provide the future workforce with necessary upskilling that will complement traditional higher education degrees, argues Stephen Somerville 

New assessment criteria for the research excellence framework aim to ensure that the synergy and balance in interdisciplinary research is recognised, says Athene Donald

Ucas is attempting to get a clearer perspective of equality in higher education admissions by taking into account students’ sex, ethnic group, environment and free school meal eligibility, says David Best

Domestic league tables in the UK don’t capture the quality and accessible higher education Birkbeck provides to non-traditional students, says David Latchman 

On World Mental Health Day, Matthew Flinders calls for more open discussions about mental health struggles and their modern-day provocations 

It’s likely that someone on your campus has suffered the loss of a pregnancy so creating spaces where they feel cared for is essential, says Petra Boynton

The professional and cultural barriers faced by women in teaching-focused roles at universities are three-dimensional, says one law teacher

In light of Iran’s participation at the UN General Assembly, Sophie Gregory reflects on the hardships of Bahá’í youth expelled from the country’s universities

The REF’s guidelines for open access are very limited, but the expectations are clear and universities should show that they are upholding the principle, says Anna Grey

Universities should rethink how they use student evaluations of teaching because of their bias towards male instructors, argue Anne Boring, Kellie Ottoboni and Philip B. Stark

Universities should ask themselves if they are perpetuating the monoculture of text-based resources and writing-based activities that put dyslexic students at a disadvantage, says Alistair McNaught

Universities will be key to ensuring that China’s Belt and Road Initiative succeeds with maximum benefit and minimal disruption, argues Rocky Tuan

Australia’s Monash University takes a multifaceted approach to preparing its graduates for an increasingly globalised and digital economy, says Margaret Gardner

Universities face a number of tough challenges, but they can rise to any test if they stick to their principles and continue their course, says Bernd Huber

Claims that the UK’s counterterrorism strategy targets Muslims and harms free speech are ‘nonsense’, says Prevent coordinator Chris Sybenga

Universities serve society in innumerable and inimitable ways. But we still must earn our place in people’s hearts and minds, says Stephen Toope

Seeing the NES as a solution to Labour’s biggest electoral problem could bring relevance to a vague concept, writes John Morgan from Liverpool

In addressing divisive free speech ‘events’ and shrinking budgets, Berkeley’s Carol Christ worked with the campus community to create a new, unifying narrative

Unleashing the power of place by weaving itself firmly into the fabric of its local area made Toronto a better, more attractive institution, says Meric Gertler

Young people are rightly impatient for change, so Cape Town is using their input to reshape the curriculum and more, says Mamokgethi Phakeng

Do away with the expectation that young people will seek out universities to inform their world view and meet them on common ground, argues Ed Byrne

It’s easy to miss or undervalue the academic accomplishments of universities when they are rated on their reputations alone, argue Pam Benoit and Suzanne Austin

Michigan State is applying the scientific knowledge it’s developed over 150 years to its own campus to improve student success, says June Pierce Youatt 

Giving personalised, frequent feedback to students at scale is no longer the privilege of small, highly resourced universities, says Timothy Renick 

Feelings of isolation and the need to self-censor are familiar to the tens of thousands of Muslim students affected by the counterterrorism programme Prevent, says Akiqul Hoque

Senior leaders must lead the charge in changing higher education’s structural disadvantages for black and minority ethnic staff and students, say Kalwant Bhopal and Sally Hunt

While maintaining an anti-intellectual position, the far right is misrepresenting social science research to support its own agenda, observes Cynthia Miller-Idriss

A nation-wide survey has found that public opinion is on the side of student mobility and higher education, but new institutions must be built where socio-economic needs are greatest, says Jill Rutter

Conservative anger at initiatives to make campuses more inclusive to minority students is misplaced, say Kevin Singer, Laura Dahl, Matthew J. Mayhew and Alyssa N. Rockenbach

The UK’s new research mega-body has huge power to tackle long-standing inequalities, says its new diversity tsar Jennifer Rubin

The Migration Advisory Committee review showed little interest in understanding international students or how the UK labour market works, says Stanley Ipkiss

The former Bank of England governor’s broadside against academic pension cuts relied on ‘reckless’ and ‘absurd’ assumptions, say John Ralfe and Bernard Casey

John Morgan puzzles over committee’s use of questionable graduate earnings data as basis to reject return of post-study work visas

Nick Hillman explains why the much-anticipated UK review of overseas student policy gets it so wrong

How can contract academics inspire action and hope in their students when they feel hopeless, asks Sarika Bose 

Universities in the US are dealing with an unprecedented number of sexual violence complaints and greater scrutiny of the legal processes that follow, writes Emily Mack 

Many feel that government neglect has taken away a rare source of higher education and culture from the surrounding working-class neighbourhood, writes Stephanie Reist 

Erecting walls around university research labs will only leave us all worse off, writes Andrew Williamson 

Students’ unions are rich sources of information and have the capacity to deliver outcomes on issues such as employment and retention, argues Jim Dickinson 

Matthew Reisz learns about the social and intellectual trends that are influencing a new campus culture

As a senior lecturer in special needs education, David Bara says having first-hand experience of this world makes his lecturing and research invaluable to the field 

Left with an inconclusive residency application, Alexandra Bulat asks when the government will end the double act of praising EU students while leaving their futures in the UK uncertain

Not admitting retrospective medical evidence of mental illness in appeals against poor grades does an injustice to vulnerable students, say Daniel Sokol and Julia Heller

We are digitising the remnants of a (successful) 1897 protest against women entering the University of Cambridge to ensure the stories of pioneering women in higher education aren’t forgotten, says Sian Collins 

Heriot-Watt University is taking a new approach to transnational education by operating as a single institution with locations in Scotland, Malaysia and Dubai, says Richard A. Williams 

Dianne Berry and Kim Hackett unpack new guidance for research excellence framework submissions that attempts to ensure staff who have individual circumstances can still contribute to output

The toppling of a Confederate statue at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could become a global example for restorative justice on campus, if only university leaders could see it that way, writes Alexander Peeples 

Reporter Matthew Reisz considers the legitimate concerns – and the sheer sexism – that often greet research among stigmatised groups

Transnational research is vital to academic pursuits but it shouldn’t be carried out at the cost of vulnerable people in resource-poor countries, says Kate Chatfield 

Universities are intellectual spaces and censorship of opinion is not the right way to solve freedom of speech conflicts, says Dawn Freshwater  

Universities and established researchers have a responsibility to support the well-being of their PhD students, argues Geoffrey Cantor 

Collaborating with our most junior colleagues can be just as rewarding and eye-opening as working with graduate students, argues Jenny Peterson 

If we truly want to widen access to higher education, we must wake up to the fact that a school-leaver isn’t representative of all new university entrants, says Jonathan Wylie 

Stanley Andrisse, a formerly incarcerated person, says removing the criminal history question from the Common Application is a good step but more needs to be done to give people with a criminal record a second chance

To be a truly global university, metrics must go beyond student enrolment figures and international student welcome weeks, reflects Christopher Hill 

If elite institutions admitted 10 per cent of high school classes there’d be improved university access and social mobility for under-represented students, argues David Orentlicher

The response from business schools to attacks on their relevance and academic offering could be useful to universities under siege, says Angus Laing