Features

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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 

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 

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

Georgia State’s transformation of student outcomes has been praised by Barack Obama and Bill Gates. Jack Grove talks to its president, M. Brian Blake, about the trailblazing institution’s incredible journey and his own remarkable rise through US academia

Alliances with university colleagues can be inspiring and life-affirming but may also be grounded in little more than ambition or survival instinct. Six writers reflect on the joys and challenges of having friends in academia

Farah Karim-Cooper – one of the UK’s few ethnic minority Shakespeare professors – reflects on being an outsider in a discipline not known for its non-white faces and ponders how diversity can be improved

The UK’s trailblazing marriage of academic study and practical training is billed as a win-win for students and employers. But are universities and companies pulling their weight? Are students getting what they want? And what does it all mean for the future of traditional study, asks Tom Williams 

As AI makes giant strides, threatening to digitise a whole host of graduate careers, the need to ensure that human employees can regularly upskill and retrain is more urgent than ever. An early pioneer of mass lifelong learning, does Singapore point the way forwards? Pola Lem reports from the Lion City

When Purdue biologist David Sanders ran for election to Indiana’s senate last autumn, he assumed a commitment to evidence and personal engagement would give him traction. But while his pitch was well received on doorsteps, the system’s dark arts fended him away from the legislature’s threshold

The UK’s ‘rock star historian’ Peter Frankopan talks to Matthew Reisz about his ambitious follow-up to his Silk Roads chronicle and the perils of being seen as a modern-day sage

The AI chatbot may soon kill the undergraduate essay, but its transformation of research could be equally seismic. Jack Grove examines how ChatGPT is already disrupting scholarly practices and where the technology may eventually take researchers – for good or ill

Those focused on dissecting pop culture face hostility from politicians, the media and fellow academics, but their work remains vital, ‘Kylie scholar’ Liz Giuffre tells Rosa Ellis

Post-industrial regions the world over are pinning their hopes on universities to reboot them as prosperous innovation economies. But questions remain about the depth and breadth of the high-tech dividend. John Morgan travels to Pennsylvania to examine the acclaimed example of Pittsburgh

Spiking inflation and an accommodation squeeze are eroding students’ already meagre means. As a major review of higher education begins, John Ross examines reforms that would allow students to keep the wolf from the door and still have time to devour their reading lists

Vocational institutions are winning the right to award PhDs, while professional doctorates are also expanding. But how compatible are academic and vocational focuses in research degree provision – and how easily can status disparities be overcome, asks Ben Upton

Debates rage about the appropriateness of objects displayed in many anthropological exhibitions amid accusations they perpetuate poisonous imperialist narratives. However, Adam Kuper believes institutions should be wary of capitulating to activist demands, he tells Matthew Reisz

When her broadcasting career took off in her mid-fifties, Mary Beard became one of Britain’s best-known and most-discussed academics. Jack Grove speaks to the retiring Cambridge classicist about her eventful career, including her run-ins with sexist TV critics, Twitter trolls and Boris Johnson

Florida’s Trumpian governor has repeatedly attacked the freedom and expertise of the state’s university sector. With the Yale and Harvard graduate widely tipped as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, should universities nationwide be preparing for more of the same, asks Paul Basken

With hostility from the Home Office over international student numbers, membership of Horizon Europe slipping away and heavy demands placed on institutions by regulators, UK university staff will be wondering how 2023 will play out. Patrick McGhee and Emma Rees read the runes

While training courses and complaints bodies have been implemented across the subcontinent, their effectiveness in addressing harassment is widely questioned. Could more be done – or will female students and academics have to wait for a patriarchal generation to retire, asks Pola Lem

The University of Rural England’s wildly popular moggie mascot, Mr Tibbles, has disappeared and suspicion falls on the vice-chancellor. As the frenzy mounts, can our lovelorn hero save his reputation, his job, his relationship and perhaps even his mortal flesh in time for Christmas? John Gilbey tells the tale

Elon Musk’s ‘de facto town square’ is a place where misinformation abounds and where academia is often attacked by culture warriors. But is fighting back effective? Or can it make things worse if academics don’t keep calm and stick to the facts? Tom Williams reports 

Failure to expel crackpot social scientists from Russia’s academy has allowed dangerous dogma to dominate public discourse, says Andreas Umland

Rising tensions between the West and China and Russia are being seen as an indication that internationalisation may have passed its peak. But are universities, as pre-eminently international institutions, feeling the tide turn? And how do their leaders feel about the challenge? Rosa Ellis reports

Five years ago, a THE poll painted a bleak picture of work-life balance in the academy. Has the subsequent rise of homeworking eased the pressure? Or are ever-increasing workloads outweighing any benefits of flexibility? Tom Williams reports on our survey of 1,200 university staff

With a Nobel for nudge theory and growing political interest in ‘choice architecture’, the future of behavioural sciences seemed bright. But its experts were often ignored – even dismissed as ‘charlatans’ – when life-or-death calls on Covid were made. Two professors reflect on where the discipline goes next

Nigerian-born Cornell University professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò explains why academia – particularly in Africa – should consider the drawbacks of decolonisation alongside its benefits

Many reacted to Karl Andersson’s autoethnography on cartoon child porn by asking how it could have been allowed to go ahead. But amid doubts about who it harmed and ongoing concerns about research bureaucracy, many are wary of a further ramping-up of ethics procedures. Jack Grove reports

America’s two-year public colleges are often romanticised as engines of social mobility and the epitome of the educative mission. But one academic has found the reality to be very different, with callous management failing students and staff in equal measure

Are research careers meritocratic? Do universities do enough to support researchers? Is impact more important than publications? Is interdisciplinarity the key to new discoveries? Can internationalisation survive the current global tensions? We present the views of more than 400 future sector leaders

The Italian physicist known for making complex science intelligible explains how radical student politics, hallucinogenic drugs and hitch-hiking around America helped him become one of science’s foremost thinkers

As it emerges from its Covid isolation, Australia is rolling back restrictions on foreign students and graduates in the hope of ushering more of them into its depleted workforce. But amid competitive and political pressures, has it found the best balance between work and migration rights, asks John Ross

The toxic dispute over the rights of transgender people and how freely these matters should be discussed remains academia’s most divisive issue. Laura Favaro explains what she learned from speaking to both sides

Backed by state government, an ambitious university-led initiative is aiming to restore the Ruhr Valley’s former industrial glory. John Morgan meets academics behind the experiment in driving regional renewal by building a reputation for world-class science

The humanities do not have uniquely transformational qualities or a monopoly on critical thinking and empathy. With departments under threat outside the UK’s elite institutions, better to insist on the importance of everyone’s being able to interrogate the stories we tell ourselves, writes Joe Moran

The University of Northampton’s outgoing vice-chancellor reflects on how lessons from punk rock led him to survive in academia and deliver one of UK higher education’s most ambitious campus projects. Jack Grove reports

Japan ranks low for gender equality and Japanese women have long complained that the domestic demands on them, combined with universities’ unwillingness to compensate for them, make academic careers very difficult to pursue. But are things starting to change? Pola Lem reports from Tokyo

With university set to become a near-universal expectation for high-school graduates, the separate silos in which K12 and higher education have traditionally operated are increasingly being seen as barriers to equity. But what, realistically, can universities do to bridge the great divide? Paul Basken reports 

With first-year students no longer contributing to classroom discussions as they did pre-pandemic, we need to rekindle their pleasure and agency in their own education, says Sophie Scott-Brown

As precarity affects ever more academics for ever longer, many have come to see a permanent position as the gateway to professional happiness. But does it always work out that way? Or do the responsibilities and trade-offs of seniority outweigh the joys of security and salary? Seven academics have their say

As undergraduate numbers soar and student needs become increasingly complex, questions are being asked about whether a support model that relies on the conscientiousness of individual academics is fit for purpose. Here, three scholars explain why, despite its faults, the pastoral role remains crucial

Even before Covid led to so many job losses among casual and fixed-term academic staff, mass insecurity was increasingly being recognised as a blight on the sector. But is there any realistic prospect of permanent contracts all round? Ben Upton examines the cases of Germany and the Netherlands

Once lauded as engines of social mobility, American universities are increasingly perceived as widening social and economic injustices. Matthew Reisz speaks to two academics whose new book lays bare the extent of the problem and the potential solutions

The UK’s National Union of Students is 100 years old. But as students around the world focus on single-issue campaigns and relations with governments crumble amid mutual disdain, questions abound about what comes next for organisations that ‘you would have to invent if they didn’t already exist’

Friendly reminders about university events, deadlines and policies may seem harmless, but fielding these endless emails exacts a high price, says Frank LoSchiavo