Features

How can institutions hire and hold top scholars when homes in their cities are out of reach to academics?

Neil Reid is fulfilling a childhood dream and working in a cloud forest in Honduras, where the natural wonders and the need to defend them can push the region’s dangers out of mind

As technology changes rapidly, how can the academy respond to the challenge of educating for an unwritten future? John Gilbey went to Silicon Valley to find out

Times Higher Education World University Rankings data reveal the top 200 most outward-looking institutions

Gordon Brown’s former right-hand man talks to John Morgan about his return to Harvard, Labour’s higher education ‘failure’ and a political comeback

Does the UK’s Prevent strategy go too far in its demands on institutions? A group of experts share their perspectives

Joanna Williams discusses student censors, the elevation of subjective experience over ‘facts’ and the need to challenge ideas

Science suffered restrictions and reductions in funding under the previous government. Will the Trudeau administration put it back on track? Ellie Bothwell investigates

US institution reveals its 41st annual list of words that should be banned due to misuse, overuse and general uselessness 

Nicholas Rowe reimagines Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in a modern university, with Professor Scrooge in charge of a target-driven department

From robots to the most popular course, academics share their predictions

The most popular higher education articles of the year, based on website traffic

Mike Marinetto thinks such a shift viable, while literary scholar Lennard Davis recounts his struggles to stick to the facts

As undergraduates join lecturers in rethinking reading lists and course content, Chris Havergal examines their role in pedagogical decisions

List ranks institutions by search engine results and Wikipedia appearances

The PubPeer organisers and two other scholars debate the merits and pitfalls of anonymity in peer review

Simon Blackburn, Mariana Alessandri and John Kaag on why reports of Socrates’ impending demise are greatly exaggerated

The furore about trigger warnings and no-platform campaigns reveals not a timid generation but rather one unafraid to tackle reality head-on, argues Tom Cutterham

Three scholars share the pleasures and perils of sticking your head above the parapet

Anarchist academic reflects on what her recent brush with the law says about threats to academic freedom

Is the biomedical research facility dubbed ‘Sir Paul’s cathedral’ built on sound foundations?

A shocking film about the extent of sexual assault at US colleges has just toured UK universities. It is high time we took this problem seriously in Britain, says Nicole Westmarland, while US academic Jennifer Doyle warns that a paranoid overreaction poisons campus culture

John Elmes talks to Paul Jackson about the politics scholar’s central role during negotiations between the Nepalese government and Maoist rebels

The Global Employability University Survey reveals where to study to get a job

Martin Levy says Allen Krebs’ misadventures in the 1960s offer a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of setting up their own campus

Matthew Reisz on the scientific benefits of leaving corpses out to rot

More BME staff have been entering the UK academy but they remain under-represented at the top. What is being done about it?

How valid are fears that financial conflicts of interest are damaging confidence in academic research?

Donald Brown shares the experiences that prompted him to talk about ‘institutional racism’ at Oxford

Nicholas Till on how his love for the Czech composer led to his bringing back more than LPs from Soviet-dominated Prague

Are the continent’s for-profits exploiting students or have they helped to widen access?, asks Chris Havergal

As universities and academics strive to aid migrants and understand their plight, scholars offer personal experiences of the upheaval

Are corporations profiting from philanthropy? Do mega-donors acquire too much influence? Linsey McGoey on ‘saint’ Bill Gates and the downsides of giving away $16 billion

Academics offer advice on how to turn glumness into enthusiasm

From accent intolerance to ‘bamboo ceilings’, Jack Grove examines the challenges of working in a university overseas

Five contributors recall friendships and encounters with preeminent scientists, writers and philosophers

Steve Olivier offers tips for a smoother transition

Matthew Reisz on the amusing items academics pin to their doors

Joe Moran on the little-known benefits of being a shrinking violet

A long break sounds luxurious but what is the reality? Scholars share what they did with their ‘free’ time

Are you an idealist or a pragmatist? In his latest book, Self and Soul, Edmundson aims to provide fresh insights into how we might choose to live our lives

Does Woody Allen’s Irrational Man succeed in bringing big ideas to the big screen? Benjamin Poore gives his verdict

In a special report from the territory, David Matthews hears concerns that scholars are paying the price for ‘politically incorrect’ talk

Dale Salwak explains why he focuses on the people carrying out the translation process and their effects on the text we read

Paul Jump examines the many reasons for irreproducibility in science and efforts to tackle it

Graduate teaching assistants are campaigning to improve temporary workers’ low pay and poor treatment. How is the battle going?

Kevin Haggerty and Aaron Doyle offer tips on making postgraduate study even tougher (which students could also use to avoid pitfalls if they prefer)

Lincoln Allison argues that it is becoming harder for academics to share controversial ideas

Ellie Bothwell introduces our four ‘innovation indicators’ and reveals the strongest performers as we visualise a new ranking based on university-industry collaboration

Postgraduate loans are around the corner; will they drive fees up?

Three academics examine buildings, art and statues that arguably have no place on a campus in 2015

Six academics share their experiences before delivering a verdict on the system

Universities were once urged to ape the governance models of the Square Mile, but big business could learn from some collegiate practices, suggests Malcolm Gillies

Are such treasures art for art’s sake, v-cs’ follies or vital assets that further institutional missions?

The big game-changer ahead may not be plans to ‘root out bad teaching’ via a TEF, but a shift to light-touch quality assessment

Nick Hillman examines the endurance of the boarding school model of higher education

As a vague policy commitment moves towards reality, Jack Grove assesses the potential ways and means

After Tory victory in the general election, an EU exit could become reality. We hear from both sides of the debate

Academic Victoria Fontan has borne witness to Iraq’s unfolding tragedy. She discusses encounters with Islamic State and US troops and her fears for the country’s future

Amid concerns about the growing use – and abuse – of quantitative measures in universities, a major new review examines the role of metrics in the assessment of research, from the REF to performance management