Opinion

Australia must fund its universities in ways that reflect their mission – not just their margins, say Rhodri Davies and Dorrit Jacob

If ‘big deal’ subscriptions become unaffordable, librarians will need to help students and academics conduct effective searches, says Caroline Ball 

More research council funding in the humanities and social sciences should be distributed in the form of micro-grants, says Peter Sutoris

If students don’t make the effort to comprehend, synthesise and relate ideas for themselves, they will miss out on meaningful academic growth, says Zahid Naz

Exeter’s self-funded translation of Ukrainian war poetry ensures it reaches a global audience and contributes to historical justice, says Svitlana Arbuzova

An internationally supported online institution could give hope to the country’s young women, now confined to their homes, says an Afghan scholar

If a paper is published open access, responses that point out its flaws should not be hidden from readers behind a paywall, says Andrew Barnas

Scholars who teach the rest of us to read Locke and Mill ‘against the grain’ decline to do the same in the case of their own heroes, says Eric Heinze

Universities must also be flexible enough to facilitate continuous course adaptation as technology advances, say Caroline and Lee Clewley

Recent cases brought by gender-critical employees show that going beyond the law can easily turn into stepping outside the law, says Akua Reindorf

As UK universities desperately seek savings, open science advocates must press both their moral and selfish cases, say Marcus Munafò and Neil Jacobs

Disputes over the trustworthiness of India’s state-run university rankings raise questions over quality assurance efforts, says Pushkar

Increased Treasury support must be accompanied by a greater risk appetite among institutions and investors, explain the University of Edinburgh scientists who recently sold their medical spin-out for millions of pounds

When technology is deployed to augment individuals’ capacities, they retain the power to shape social and political outcomes, says Stephanie Marshall

Trump’s attacks are not the only problem: falling enrolment and birth rates are forcing colleges to be more things to more people, says Kathleen deLaski 

The Sussex verdict notwithstanding, we need to ask whose participation free speech enables or denies, says Rishi Trikha

Meeting the demand for more advanced forms of TNE requires investment, human capital and technological infrastructure, says Vangelis Tsiligiris

The country tends to shun the extremes and our access policies have generally helped harness talent and to build a cohesive society, says Merlin Crossley

The program has always followed US foreign policy. Leaving people in the lurch is an incomprehensible new frontier, say Marisa Lally and Gerardo Blanco

Any academic who adopts a social constructionist view of gender without studying the alternatives is embarrassingly superficial, says Eric Heinze

In a postcolonial and technologically advanced age, ignoring most of the world’s languages is no longer tenable, says Tomasz Kamusella

The law around free speech is complex, but Sussex just seems to have got it wrong and has paid a hefty price, says James Murray

To boost the scale, quality and affordability of Indian HE, collaborations that leverage local strengths are the best option, says Francois Therin

Conditions in many other countries remain far worse. And denuding US institutions of their best researchers is the last thing they need, says Luc Sels

If our subjects are to stay alive and relevant, we must engage more strongly with the factors that give them a place in society, says Marion Thain

We are transferring staff to the new Adelaide University bit by bit. Soon we will be the only ones left in the legacy institutions, say David Lloyd and Peter Høj

Averages aren’t enough. We need to know when HE expansion causes the marginal premium to disappear. It was probably long ago, says Paul Wiltshire

Ministers and MEPs are right to insist that FP10 should focus on much more than just immediate economic priorities, says Jan Palmowski

Longer-term funding isn’t a panacea but there is plenty of evidence that it can make a difference, say Grace Gottlieb and Matt Davis

The terror financing bill’s broad language may require international efforts to defend academic freedom, says Caroline Ball

The development of a healthy academic environment requires inclusivity, dialogue and mutual respect, says Eldho Mathews

The order does not even claim to alter existing civil rights law, and its stipulations are arguably in contravention of it, says Geraldine Van Bueren

Advanced linguistic and cultural skills remain essential for deep insight into how people see themselves in the world, say five modern languages academics

A scholar’s job is not just to learn – it’s to create. And that requires a completely different skill set from consuming it, says Ilana Horwitz

We are not just training institutions – we are engines of healthcare innovation and prevention-focused public health strategies, says Amanda Broderick

Research assessment has made huge progress but measurement of community remains half-baked, say Mats Persson and Jan Ch. Karlsson

AI is here to stay but universities must teach students to use it responsibly, say Duncan Brumby, Anna Cox, Advait Sarkar and Sandy Gould

Rather than designating England’s universities gold, silver or bronze the TEF should promote deeper understanding of teaching quality, says Steve Briggs 

The UK cannot enter an era of heightened geopolitical instability without high levels of social resilence, say Katharine Wright and Megan Armstrong

Raging against the ‘woke elites’ running US universities won’t help the millions of Americans who lack decent, family-sustaining jobs, says John Austin

Victor Ponta quit as prime minister amid scandals including a renounced doctorate. Should he be allowed to run for president, asks Ararat Osipian

At the very least, they should hold out until the administration works out how to enforce its crackdowns on DEI and research, says Johann Neem

Departments should refocus on brokering linguistic services to meet the needs of staff and students in a polyglot world, says Tomasz Kamusella

One year on from publication of the Universities Accord, Justin Bokor says the funding needed to support equity student success is simply not there

The recent arrest of accreditation council members only underlines that competence of regulation is as much of an issue as its degree, says Pushkar

More transparent and democratic decision-making within UK universities could have helped institutions avoid the financial mistakes that are now resulting in mass redundancies, argue Nicholas Grant and Nadine Zubair

Talent pipeline for the UK’s £100 billion creative arts industries is under threat as universities shutter loss-making arts degrees, says Ravensbourne vice-chancellor Andy Cook

Subscribing to nearly everything published by journals is no longer feasible in these financially straitened times but librarians can provide creative workarounds to ensure journal access, says Liam Bullingham

Delayed introduction of England’s campus free speech act will help scholars confront bias confirmation propagated by social media bubbles, argue Carla Ferstman and Faten Ghosn

Most courses are already performance- or employment-focused. The demise of another scholarly programme will skew the balance further, says Ian Pace 

No one has yet cracked high-touch, low-cost business learning, but efforts are under way, says Julian Birkinshaw

Limiting industrial action to defensive branch battles on redundancy is not enough. We need to politically challenge the HE funding model, says Rhiannon Lockley

These are undoubtedly turbulent times, but the figures suggest that the sector is in relatively good health, say Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel

The new commission’s competitiveness compass is shockingly deficient in its approach to research, says Jan Palmowski

There is something about handwriting that enhances the creative flow essential for academic study and scholarly activity, says Rich Smith

I don’t begrudge granting help to students who need it, but we must also have guard rails to deny it to those who don’t, says Nikolay Kukushkin

Editors’ failures to stick to advertised time frames and formatting requirements cost authors extra effort and stress, says Rob Sowby

The global examination of culture is not possible without languages at degree level, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley

Individuals and groups must be convinced to strive for common educational purpose in an atmosphere of mutual respect, says Neil Rudenstine 

The work of lobbying policymakers to make HE a higher priority is undermined by the endless pantomime of UCU’s internal politics, says Dyfrig Jones