Opinion

The pandemic underlined the value of international university alliances for sharing problems – and solutions, says David Eastwood

With the future of globalisation in question, are long-debated divisions over institutional autonomy and academic freedom inching closer to reality?

Standard mentoring is not enough if we want a resilient, compassionate and happy research workforce, says Mark Reed

The default mode of human problem-solving is to add complexity. But we must try harder to resist, say Leidy Klotz and Robert Sutton

Universities’ oligarchic control of degree provision and metrics’ misguided focus are shortchanging both students and academics, says Murdoch Gabbay

Mental illness has been depicted as the primary occupational health hazard of UK student life since the 1950s, says Sarah Crook

University educators must not be blind to other life goals – like building a savings account, says Brent Lucia 

As war descends on Europe again, how many of the idealistic young scholars defending their country against invasion will live full lives, muses Keith Burnett

For the new technical qualification to be a success, every university must encourage applicants from these courses, says David Gallagher

Boycotting Russia will hinder research, punish the innocent and damage the prospects of a peaceful future, says Binoy Kampmark

The latest cataclysm is a reminder that certainties about the world, and even about international research collaboration, aren’t certain after all

Teaching students to hack is necessary to show them how to defend against it – but we need to do more to instil ethics, says Andy Farnell  

Guards are adept at taking escalating student consumerism in their stride. Coffee may also be served, says George Bass 

Inducing shame and humiliation is not a blood sport. It is the very life blood of the academic profession, says Michael Marinetto

Trials suggest that far from being mutually exclusive, both can play an important role, says Kim Eggleton

Any attempt to address regional inequalities must recognise the role of post-92 universities as anchor institutions, says Ian Campbell

A few electronic mailing lists still thrive in the academy, reminding us that peer communication need not be all about ‘building the brand’, says Kate Eichhorn

The 10-year Idex process to reconfigure French universities and make them more internationally visible has reached its conclusion, writes John Ludden

Students need help to make better course choices and lifelong learners need a flexible application system, says Graeme Atherton

The attempt to improve the country’s universities was stuttering even before the war broke out, says Ararat Osipian

Transparency, institutional accountability and continual change are all essential, says Georgina Randsley de Moura

Vice-chancellors and presidents must deliver fully inclusive environments from which female leaders will emerge, says Lucy Meredith

Mathematicians have no excuse. We, of all disciplines, have the expertise to gather and analyse the data, say the heads of four mathematics societies

Inclusive language, clear expectations and a genuine spirit of collaboration will make academia a more humane sector to work in, says Harvey Graff

Local authorities should work in close collaboration with academic institutions to make international students feel welcome, says James Pitman

A large new survey gives the lie to the idea that liberal arts colleges are more responsive to students’ needs than universities are, notes Samuel Abrams

The furore over the John Comaroff letter means discussions that could boost understanding of sexual harassment won’t occur, says Jonathan Zimmerman 

After a four-year wait, views vary on whether the government’s Augar response can usher in a truce on university funding in England

The Augar response highlights ministers’ hopes that rising costs will make certain courses economically unviable, says Alexis Brown

Frozen fee levels must rise eventually, but universities need to deliver efficiency gains through hybrid learning, says David Willetts

The unrelenting social pressure to take on all domestic duties leaves women little time for professional advancement, says Sabrin Ramadhan

Universities have a duty to protect students from the power imbalance inherent in a personal relationship with a staff member, says Cara Aitchison

As the Christ Church saga underlines, college trustees must ask probing questions if they are to fulfil their responsibilities, says Gill Evans 

Flexibility, speed and resources are needed to ensure that refugee scholars and students can continue their work, says Jan Palmowski 

Unless pay and conditions improve at UK universities, quality and diversity will enter a downward spiral, says Maria Sobolewska

Long before students became potential vectors of infection, academics were inclined to shun their presence, recalls Laurie Taylor

Canadian universities must also provide the resources to support students through their studies with more scholarships and bursaries, says Opiyo Oloya

An unsustainable strategic choice has been made to worsen the university offer for future students and graduates, says Chris Husbands

Flawed assumptions about how universities and statisticians would react to the trebling of fees are behind today’s retrogressive steps, says Aaron Porter

The academy should be a safe haven for ignorance – provided it is accompanied by a willingness to be respectfully challenged, says Nic Smith

Senior university staff must take responsibility for improving organisational approaches to and understandings of harassment, says Liz Jackson

Offering the opportunity to iteratively paraphrase copied content to lower similarity scores is nothing to do with education, says Július Kravjar

Working-class school-leavers’ fear of debts larger than their parents’ annual incomes is still a big issue, say Geoffrey Alderman and Zoe Morrison 

The Covid experience has strengthened common values and accelerated unification in European higher education, says Ferruccio Resta

The Martyn Percy saga underlines the need for the academic body to be led by one of their own, says Brian Martin

A joint EU-AU document places universities in the vanguard of increased intercontinental collaboration, says Jan Palmowski

Higher education systems that are free to evolve have improved and adapted as times change, but more are seeing ministers determined to set the course

Scientists should strive for real impact, not to impress a panel of busy peers, with their agendas, biases and blind spots, says Pedro Domingos 

The Bourne films had it right. ‘Look at us. Look at what they make you give,’ says Donald Earl Collins

Every college-university relationship should be viewed as the mutually beneficial arrangement it genuinely is, says Sam Parrett

A scandal over unfair appointments of lecturers to the civil service should spark a broader pushback against nepotism, says Fistra Janrio Tandirerung 

The teaching philosophy at the long-awaited institution is based on interdisciplinary programmes and experiential instruction, says its president Pierre Ouellette

Despite China’s rise, even the country’s government recognises that English usage is irrevocable, say Philip Altbach and Gerard Postiglione

A publisher’s move to correct the undue influence of pro-Israel groups on a history textbook shows the value of engagement, says John Chalcraft

Higher education reform and public reinvestment are needed to realise the imagined goal of the university, argues Roopika Risam

Establishing a peer review accreditation scheme would also help incentivise higher standards, says Arfan Ghani

Senior academics who flatter juniors and promulgate a high-minded vision of higher education are all in recruitment mode, says Harvey Graff

The UK government’s White Paper is a good start but needs to do more to link local learning with local needs, says Marius Ostrowski 

Time is running out to strike a deal that will cement the continent’s scientific strength, says Jan Palmowski

Publishers need to examine their biases and universities their support mechanisms, say Avi Staiman, Marnie Jo Petray and Gaillynn Clements