Opinion

With the first cohort of £9K students settling in, there is still no clear idea about how cost is affecting numbers and teaching

First-rate vocational training is more essential than ever, says Sally Feldman

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The focus on world-leading work could turn a generation of unsubmitted researchers into second-class citizens

Saving energy is an all-consuming affair for Christopher Bigsby

A visit by the Queen to Stirling four decades ago this week resulted in a fiasco that humiliated an administration, Richard Evans recalls

Geraldine Van Bueren urges the British Academy to extend the discussion about the pros and cons of a UK Bill of Rights

The British Antarctic Survey serves two masters and may need independent funding to meet its mission, suggests Klaus Dodds

Overreaction to the London Met case has exacerbated institutional racial harassment, Scott Poynting and Ann Singleton argue

Scrapping the UK census would damage social science and weaken the evidence base for state funding decisions, warns Andrew Miller

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Alan Ryan on the dystopian and utopian aspects of MOOCs

Educational fundraising is a young profession that needs to be better defined to attract candidates, says Shirley Pearce

University food is not what it used to be, laments John Gilbey, but perhaps it is not too late to make it glorious once again

Clegg voiced doubts about scrapping tuition fees before the election but failed to sway party activists, says Philip Cowley

As the party's conference looms, Mary Evans asserts that keeping its earlier pledges on education would help to combat societal divisions

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Budget forecasts suggest that higher education is still at risk from a government needing to find further savings

Freedom and Liberty are not the same, finds Felipe Fernández-Armesto

If universities aren't spared the local council levy on new development, their communities will suffer, warns John Cater

As party conference season begins, Adam Corner asks what it means for a discipline if its practitioners are overwhelmingly left wing

Joining Greek colleagues in Athens in a forlorn protest against cuts to the academy prompts Dennis Smith to wonder who may be next

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With student admissions down 54,000 on last year, even elite institutions are facing severe financial hardship

Susan Bassnett says that many play fast and loose with foreign students

Research data published online must be accessible to allow scrutiny by other academics if we are to prevent fraud, says Geoffrey Boulton

The journal review system's lack of transparency worries Stephen Mumford

Aspiring journalists must learn to ask probing questions of digital data as well as people, recommends Louise Byrne

New College of the Humanities' pedagogic model has only a passing resemblance to the ancient universities' teaching, argues Julia Horn

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Removing the cap on student numbers does not imply a collapse in standards, argues Steven Schwartz - just look at Australia

Sally Feldman on the pros and cons of a consultative management style

In education as in nature, feedback should lead to change, says David Boud - and courses must be reshaped to allow it

The UKBA's revocation of London Met's licence to accept non-EU students is detrimental to our global reputation, says Eric Thomas

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Fear of losing students to the for-profit sector is driving some institutions to try beating private providers at their own game

Fellow humans, pay attention: algorithms are reshaping research from the inside out and we have barely noticed, warns David Beer

To work best, the market in outreach work needs a balance of competition and cooperation, says Graeme Atherton

Academics worldwide face economic and political attacks that restrict their freedom to challenge convention, says Jo Glanville

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Christopher Bigsby on plagiarism in the cut-and-paste era

With Adrian Smith leaving BIS, former Whitehall insider David Bell considers the qualities his replacement will need

Surprise gave way to empathy when Terran Lane gave up a tenured post, full of anger and sorrow at the erosion of an institution he loved

Christmas can come early if universities tap the wisdom of the emeriti, argues Angela Thody (with help from Charles Dickens)

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Alan Ryan on the benefits of emigration for the UK’s huddled student masses

Universities see the value in having more say in A-level design, but questions remain about the organisation and scope of reform, says David Bell

Lars Fischer on why losing round one in the REF impact fight means it's time to get off the ropes and hit back

Unpaid research posts represent the latest step in the 'proletarianisation' of the academy, argues Ross Perlin

Ken Pounds ponders whether the Mars Science Laboratory's success will revive public interest in going boldly where no one has gone before

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