Opinion

Much has changed since Tony Blair declared his priorities to be ‘education, education, education’. Could better communications help restore relations?

Parents have been misled by UK universities about the support available to students, and Parliament must intervene, says Lee Fryatt

Aligning Kurdistan’s higher education system with European norms has given hope to Iraq’s students, but international help is still needed, say Aram Mohamad Qadir and Amanj Saeed

Historically black colleges offer a useful blueprint on how academic administrators can support progressive change, says John Silvanus Wilson Jr

With just 50 sub-Saharan journals listed in Scopus, it’s time to consider how citation indexes are holding back scholarly publishing in Africa, argue David Mills and Natasha Robinson

Having discussed the gender critical philosopher’s work with students, it’s hard to accept her gloomy assessment of silenced people, says Tony Lang

Strong financial health at sector level conceals wide institutional variation. If growth is choked off, whole universities could fail, says James Brackley

Universities are places where ideas are proposed and improved. It shouldn’t be so hard to discuss an issue with far-reaching implications, say 20 academics

Science may be the best tool humanity has to improve our social conditions – but we must steer it in the right direction, writes Carolina Torrealba

While other nations are reaching saturation point, the US has the scope to derive greater benefit from international education, says Allan Goodman

International students spend billions in the UK and the vast majority return home. So why do anti-immigration measures target them, asks Ben Moore

Reaching out to a trusted community reminded Karen Spierling why she values academia enough to defend it in the public arena

Tackling racism within institutions is a crucial first step, says Nick Braisby, three years on from a murder that shook the world 

The banning of scientific messages about risks in pregnancy is yet another damaging imposition on academia, says Roohola Ramezani

Universities face criticism for getting into financial difficulties – but deliberate policy decisions are leaving the squeezed middle high and dry

The idea that humans’ inventiveness will always keep them one step ahead of computers may not turn out to be true, says David Sanders

The powerful are willing to sacrifice the well-being of those who challenge them. Why are they allowed to get away with it, asks Mark Geoghegan

Senior management may be responding to national requirements, but fundamental, sustainable change needs more work, says Pat O’Connor

Many university graduates choose to remain unemployed rather than take a job they do not consider commensurate with their degrees, says Pushkar

Even journals that have removed paywalls retain their bias towards certain types of author – and their prejudice against others, says Katie Stripe

Reinforcing public support for student immigration is vital amid increasingly hostile rhetoric from politicians, says Wendy Alexander

Increased contributions to the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme will require cuts to student support services, warns Graham Baldwin

Even temporary immigrants can easily be blamed for social ills, but we need political solutions, not crackdowns, says Keith Burnett 

A misinformed rush to churn out employable graduates combined with a zero-sum budgeting approach is denuding other departments, says Harvey Graff

A new registration condition, complaints scheme and system of penalties all require careful thought, says Jamie Roberts

If academics are serious about tackling global warming, they can’t wait for the cavalry to show up – they are the cavalry, says Tony Chan

Decline is not inevitable: there is plenty that university leaders can do to shore up students’ interest in these crucial subjects, says Kathryn Shailer

Self-employment teaches valuable skills and offers more flexibility to fit work around academic and domestic demands, says Robert Phillips

Abundant myths and historical stereotypes are sustaining the harmful notion that girls just don’t like mathematical subjects, says Athene Donald

Experts must push back against politicians who feel free to supplant or distort their views for ideological gain, says Arthur Caplan

Disparities of wealth are becoming ever more extreme, yet researchers continue to focus their attention on the poor, laments Michael Marinetto

Good people who fail to put themselves forward are in no position to carp about their ‘overlords’, says Bruce Macfarlane

Short time horizons and a focus on cost-efficiency are limiting production of truly groundbreaking research, say Moqi Groen-Xu and Peter Coveney

It is vital for librarians to work proactively with tech firms to address the limitations and biases of the likes of ChatGPT, says Leo S. Lo

Raising the visibility of scientific breakthroughs with high-profile awards builds public trust and inspires the innovators of the future, says Richard Friend

Offering payment has risks, but it could expand the pool of willing reviewers beyond those on permanent academic salaries, says Duncan Money 

Even academics, never mind practitioners, will rarely read beyond an underwhelming and uninformative summary, says Maia Chankseliani

The recent protests by Iranian women appear to have sparked a conservative backlash against schools and universities, says Roohola Ramezani

The technology threatens to impoverish research and destroy humans’ ability to understand the social world, says Dirk Lindebaum

Other countries could learn a lot from the various initiatives adopted in India since 2013, says Adrija Dey

Just as deans and provosts start to realise their visions, they are often gone, leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces, says Elizabeth Lehfeldt

The inadequacies of student accommodation used to be a bit of a joke. Today, with both the system and students under strain, it’s no laughing matter

Immediate review of outputs by a REF reviewer could be more efficient, transparent, informative and, above all, fair, says Martin Lang

The recent leap forward in AI capabilities has us all gripped. But digital transformation is slow and steady as well as fast and scary

The barrage of personal abuse faced by women in leadership positions risks our gains on gender equality, says Dawn Freshwater 

Challenger institutions offer innovation and dynamism, but ignorance and monopolistic behaviour is holding them back, says Edward Venning 

Doing admin is a poor use of your time as an expert. Make sure you invoice for it at your highest rate, says Andy Farnell

The sense of being part of a learning community is important – and you don’t get that from ‘captured’ lectures, says Michael Merrifield

Oversupply of poorly trained workers in some fields contrasts with undersupply in others. Universities and students need better information, says Pushkar

Even when speech is legally protected, the harm that it can cause must be addressed, say Neijma Celestine-Donnor and Lara Schwartz

Medicaid spending commitments are driving cuts in appropriations for public universities, say F. King Alexander and Stephen Katsinas

Bibliographic databases’ default ‘sort by relevance’ listings perpetuate bias towards white, Western men, says Katy Jordan

There are few professional roles that would not benefit from a broad and complex humanities foundation, says Harvey Graff

Kenneth Griffin’s $300 million donation to Harvard is unusual in not being tied to pet ideological causes, says Naomi Oreskes  

Ancient India and China were the first civilisations to educate young people to become whole individuals, says Kyaw Moe Tun

Publishers, libraries and funders must do what they can to ensure that no one is priced out of open-access publishing, says Mandy Hill

We can’t discourage scientific opportunism without providing information about which publishers to avoid, says Natalia Letki

University funding systems are complex and misfiring. A sustainable future requires root-and-branch review, with politics removed from the equation

Projects that pose no risk to participants are being distorted or prevented by regulations designed for medical interventions, says Martyn Hammersley

Will those charged with telling students that their student union card is not an approved form of ID for voting be branded fascists, wonders George Bass