In-depth

With Public Accounts Committee hearing to come, concerns over subcontracted courses will only become louder

As Harvard University seeks a new leader following the short-lived presidency of Claudine Gay, the institution’s long-time president Derek Bok reflects on the need for elite US universities to react to the political maelstrom by abandoning questionable practices and improving the quality of their education

International student recruitment comes under scrutiny for raising immigration figures, but it is also valued for fostering allies among future global leaders. Yet if it really does so, why are the West’s largest source countries, China and India, becoming less Western-friendly? Patrick Jack reports

As countries that are home to around half of the world’s population go to the polls, Times Higher Education journalists consider what role higher education will play in the campaigns, and how it might be reshaped by the results

While UK universities are starting to address the challenges faced by new mothers, combining parenthood and academia remains a difficult task. Five writers give their experience of what institutions are getting right and wrong in supporting academic mums

As the domestic youth population plummets, Korean institutions are looking to international students to make up shortfalls. But can such a strategy compensate – and can it be enacted in time? Pola Lem reports from Korea

While overseas students still flock to the UK for PhDs, concerns are growing over weakening domestic demand, a decline in UKRI-funded starters and whether universities can afford to train the next generation of researchers

From satirical novels to US sitcoms and cop shows, academics have proved to be rich source material across many genres. Four writers argue the case for who can claim to be fiction’s greatest scholar

Long-frozen, loan-funded tuition fees are neither covering course costs nor, arguably, fairly recognising the benefits of higher education to society and employers. But is there an alternative that is politically and economically viable in a likely UK general election year? John Morgan reports

Winning entrants focused their efforts where the need was greatest and embraced innovation to maximise impact

In John Gilbey’s seasonal tale, the sharks are circling the vice-chancellor of the University of Rural England. But the fishing village to which he flees is not as innocent as he depicted it in his doctoral thesis. And its power-brokers are every bit as terrifying as those on the Regional Economic Regeneration Committee

Pressure on academics to be internationally mobile is greater than ever, but the excitement of the new is often offset by strains on personal life. As the festive family reunion season gets into full swing, we hear from those who have returned to their native countries – and some who perhaps never will

Times Higher Education journalists name the academics and administrators at the heart of the sector’s biggest debates over the past 12 months

With academics feeling the strain from higher workloads, the days when scholars had time to write novels or run businesses seem increasingly distant. Lincoln Allison suggests that universities have far more to gain than to lose by allowing their academics to broaden their experience and earn extra income

Recent increases to already sky-high visa and health service costs have prompted worries that talented overseas-born academics will turn their backs on the UK, undermining the country’s lofty scientific ambitions. As a new home secretary takes office, Jack Grove hears from some of those affected

With UK sector in increasing dire financial straits, universities are turning to experienced hands to steady the ship, but is short-termism really what institutions need?

Students love it but faculty typically hate it. Both are asking for help with it. But how close are institutions to devising AI policies that protect both academic integrity and student employability? New York University Abu Dhabi vice-chancellor Mariët Westermann offers her reflections

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López-Obrador has expanded university access but is accused of ideological attacks on institutions, overly zealous corruption clampdowns and a misguided power grab over research policy. Ahead of next year’s election, Tom Williams assesses the mood in Mexico City

With one dispute won but another floundering, some believe lack of strikes could actually benefit UK’s main academic union in latest talks with employers, but others are preparing to try to unseat the general secretary in an election that promises to be a ‘referendum on last five years’

Recruitment of domestic school-leavers is stagnant amid concerns over rising graduate debt levels and weak employment outcomes. With ministers keen to turbocharge enrolment to upskill the nation, John Ross examines how higher education institutions can win back a disaffected generation

Studying high art is still important, but popular culture can give humanities undergraduates better pointers on how to convert their refined understandings into practical action, rather than passivity and pessimism, activist scholar Caroline Levine tells Matthew Reisz 

Rishi Sunak’s recent attack on higher education expansion as ‘one of great mistakes of the last 30 years’ leaves questions on economics and politics

Bizarre riffs about The Karate Kid or the Wu-Tang Clan may irritate his students, but ‘strategic vexing’ can promote the more adventurous educational mindset that undergraduates require in the age of ChatGPT, says Jose Marichal 

The special administrative region’s status as an international crossroads has been severely shaken by the National Security Law and stringent Covid lockdowns. But sector leaders remain buoyant about boosting ‘non-local’ recruitment – and not just from China. Pola Lem reports

THE analysis finds that high share of global institutions fail to recognise staff for cross-disciplinary working, as experts warn research environment is ‘still not up to the task’

From dedicating time for brainstorming to taking inspiration from their dog, five writers explain how they are changing their approach to academia and life as another academic year begins in the northern hemisphere

Amid concerns about value for money and the supposed liberal bias of certain humanities and social science subjects, conservative politicians are increasingly intervening in curricular decisions. Do such subjects still have a place at public universities – and who should get to decide, asks Paul Basken

Platform offers scholars a way of building a profile and livelihood away from universities, but what makes a successful Substacker, and is there really room for everyone?

Academia is often depicted as a calling, but for those who heed it, the joy of doing something they love is often crushed by heavy teaching and admin loads and an unceasing pressure to make a ‘success’ of their research. Here, six scholars reflect on how they make music out of the daily grind

As higher education minister in the Blair government, Alan Johnson steered plans for top-up fees of £3,000 through Parliament. As he returns to the sector in a new role, the former postman talks to John Morgan about why fee-funded university expansion remains the best hope for creating a fairer UK

As arguments for cost sharing in England advance, questions linger over what September changes mean for government-graduate balance

Nobel-winning scientists are now using large language models, but experts say their impact on research is only just starting

Barack Obama’s favourite political thinker Yascha Mounk has made his career attacking right-wing populism. His latest target – identity politics fostered on US campuses – will surprise many of his acolytes, he tells Matthew Reisz

A decade of English university policy has sought to improve standards by increasing competition. However, new institutions remain small and peripheral. Tom Williams asks whether the prestige gap and bureaucratic excess will always limit the scope for innovation, in England and elsewhere

Outgoing Sheffield Hallam v-c also urges politicians to stop expecting that all universities should ‘look like a medieval theme park’

University managers’ doomed pursuit of unattainable ideals turns staff into martyrs who see work as sacrifice and suffering. It explains much about why so many feel stressed, harassed and miserable, says Joe Moran

The 2028 exercise’s measurement of the quality of research environments will account for a quarter of overall marks. But what exactly does quality look like? Can it really be measured? And are there political risks in diluting the REF’s focus on outputs? Jack Grove reports

Canberra may have chosen the right time to revisit university funding, as institutional accounts suggest a widening divide between the haves and have-nots

From Coldplay to Queen, the world’s biggest bands often meet as students – yet universities are seldom mentioned in song. Jeremy Clay ponders why and unearths some lost exemplars – including a long-lost Dutch psychedelic paean to the University of Leicester

Their value previously unquestioned, Nordic universities have tended to enjoy happy relations with governments despite close state control over them. But a surge of support for populist parties in the region suggests that the consensus may be shifting. Ben Upton reports

£1.7 billion venture with developer aims to sidestep pitfalls of university innovation districts and create jobs in deprived Greater Manchester towns

As several UK universities outlaw sex between academics and students, two writers offer differing views on the Office for Students’ proposed ban

Admission to an Indian Institute of Technology is the prize every Indian school-leaver dreams of. But does the scramble for places prepare students well for higher study? Are the institutes’ curricula fit for purpose? And what will internationalisation mean for their future? Pola Lem reports

Once-in-a-generation review aims to massify a massified system, just as students question the cost-benefit equation

Canada’s Liberal government swept to power eight years ago promising to undo the damage inflicted by the previous Harper regime. However, after a big early funding spike for basic research, there is a growing sense of drift – and mounting concern about the future. Paul Basken reports

As students in many countries receive their final degree marks amid perennial concerns about grade inflation, three scholars reflect on their experiences of being pressured to mark more leniently, while one considers how to enhance the fairness of marking outcomes

With institutions reluctant to match soaring prices, per-student income is eroded further

Covid-era terror of a decimation in international income has proved unfounded, but investment yields continue to fluctuate wildly. Ahead of the publication of Australia’s landmark new Universities Accord, John Ross investigates what the financial data really says about the state of the sector

Studying flocks of starlings helped Giorgio Parisi crack some of physics’ deepest mysteries. The Nobelist talks to Matthew Reisz about his unconventional methods, missed eureka moments and being Italy’s most in-demand scientist

Suspicion at all levels of France’s hybrid research system means resources and national influence are closely guarded. Fresh proposals to raise quality and stem brain drain face an uphill struggle as players try to hold hard-won positions

If you want to get promoted in UK academia you will probably need to apply for an Advance HE fellowship. But there is widespread scepticism that this extended ‘box-ticking exercise’ improves pedagogy, says Amanda Goodall, while Martin Rich considers how the programme might be made fit for purpose

Helping students learn is core to universities’ missions, but the buzz phrase ‘student success’ has come to designate something more. Exactly what, though, remains contested, and its pursuit has exposed age-old tensions between academics and administrators. Sara Custer reports 

Biden ends months-long Republican showdown by accepting budgetary freeze that will tighten institutions’ budgets and likely hurt students with the greatest need

When she was BBC Newsnight’s top booker, Sam McAlister persuaded Prince Andrew to give his infamous interview about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. She tells Jack Grove how academics can avoid shooting themselves in the foot and what TV producers want from expert guests

When Rhodes and fees both fell and Africa’s top university appointed its third black leader, hopes were raised that South African higher education was moving into a new era of equality. But several years on, funding pressures and governance failures still abound. Patrick Jack reports from Cape Town 

Controversial move to stop students bringing family members puts UK behind its rivals in international recruitment, but spiralling migration could lead to even more measures further down the line

As his new book on pandemics is published, the UK’s best-known historian tells Matthew Reisz that identity politics is inhibiting history, nationalism only intensifies during global crises, and a refusal to communicate history to the public amounts to mere ‘connoisseurship of the dead’

The ‘teenage’ regulator has a toxic relationship with universities owing to its uncompromising approach and its alleged unwillingness to listen – except to Conservative ministers. But should vice-chancellors agitating against the OfS be careful what they wish for? John Morgan reports 

Powerful new technologies are transforming the way universities operate, even before the impact of ChatGPT is truly felt

Accommodation shortages and spiralling rents are damaging the student experience and limiting universities’ expansion ambitions. But amid political turbulence, rising borrowing costs and a shrinking private rental market, how can universities ensure that housing supply meets demand without mortgaging their futures, asks Patrick Jack