Features

The National Student Survey puts pressure on lecturers to provide 'enhanced' experiences. But, argues Frank Furedi, the results do not measure educational quality and the process infantilises students and corrodes academic integrity

'Internationalisation' is the trend du jour for universities, but they would do well to consider its earlier manifestation during the British Empire's long 19th century. As Tamson Pietsch explains, history has much to tell us about the possibilities - and pitfalls - of the phenomenon today

David Willetts wants more of them, but how much is really known about the UK's private providers? John Morgan uncovers a melange of institutions in a diverse and diversifying sector unbound by caps and largely operating outside QAA oversight

Some v-cs took fright when Les Ebdon stated his readiness to use the 'nuclear option' to enforce access agreements as head of Offa. What does that say about the state of the sector? asks Martin McQuillan

Stefan Collini is, and he thinks you should be, too. He explains to Matthew Reisz why universities must not pander to students, business or the government and instead defend their own distinctive virtues

With novel credentials being developed and employers seeing the value of low-cost study based on open courseware, Jon Marcus asks if the bricks-and-mortar elite will end up on the wrong side of history

Physicist Athene Donald's pleasure in people-watching may owe something to a childhood spent observing birds of all kinds as they soared over city heaths and icy coastal mudflats

The first months at university are critical for a happy student experience. Indeed, so crucial are they that they are arguably a key focus of QAA reviews. Sarah Cunnane reports

Close ties with Nobel laureates, global entrepreneurs and distinguished academics can boost an institution's international profile, as well as providing fresh insights, experience - and a hint of glamour. Philip G. Altbach and Jamil Salmi report

Baffled by the ease with which titles promising to turn world history on its head have won huge audiences despite defying logic and lacking proof, Daniel Melia laboured to divine the hidden secrets that allow anyone to identify truly 'bad books'

Oxford has stolen a march on the rest of the sector by exposing its graduate destinations to detailed scrutiny - exploding a few myths in the process. Simon Baker investigates

The diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks articulate the importance of the academy in the ‘great game’ of international politics. David Matthews investigates

What makes us human? In major new books, an economist, a philosopher, an evolutionary biologist and two psychologists offer compelling - and very different - answers. Matthew Reisz writes

A university does not need a charter or even walls - open minds are enough, argue groups whose challenges to convention have been invigorated by recent protest movements. Jack Grove reports

With the best of intentions and the worst of outcomes, anonymous marking discredits lecturers and serves students badly. George MacDonald Ross believes greater trust will lead to fairness for all

Jeremy Black extols the physical - and psychological - benefits of a country stroll

Advisers, administrators, trusted vice-chancellorial aides and henchmen: Mark Leach considers the rise of the 'policy wonks' and the mixed reception afforded a new force in the higher education hierarchy

As high-profile art schools are absorbed by larger institutions, Peter Hill asks if their uniquely fertile environments suffer for being overseen by those whose priorities inevitably lie elsewhere

US universities are offering alumni new levels of professional and intellectual support in an effort to build lifelong relationships that pay long-term benefits. Jon Marcus reports

That people should be moved out of a former nuclear test site seemed a no-brainer. But spending time with those affected led two researchers to revise their views. David Mould reports

Downton Abbey's true star, argues A.W. Purdue, is the house itself: the ultimate British status symbol

The University of Wales was brought down by validation, its money-making machine. David Matthews asks how that happened, how others might be stopped from putting cash before quality and whether the QAA should be able to impose stricter controls

Superhero comics gave Stephen Mumford the reading bug at an early age and a passion for the form he retains to this day. Even in the blockbuster era, he says, panels can't be beat...

Government plans for the Higher Education Funding Council for England are ringing alarm bells across the sector. Can it really become a consumer protection body and fund universities without conflicts of interest? And would Hefce's expanding remit further erode institutional autonomy? Simon Baker surveys an uncertain future

The egalitarian bent of Dutch society has been reflected in its higher education sector - until now. Jack Grove discovers that government and global forces are spurring some institutions to try to become 'tall poppies'

You're in for a big surprise. From Gothic castles and follies to an airport (and something not too fragrant), university sites across the land are home to some extraordinary places, discovers Matthew Reisz

The internet has revolutionised humanities research. But has the development of ever-more sophisticated online resources freed up scholars to explore new ideas, or made them slaves to the digital machine? Matthew Reisz reports

MIT's Media Lab, long renowned for a 'Wild West' research culture that invents the future, has lost some of its cutting edge. Can a new director restore it to its creative zenith? asks Zoë Corbyn

University chancellors are a mixed bag of rock stars and actors, politicians and entrepreneurs, but are they mere glad-handing figureheads or can they make a genuine difference to the institution over which they preside? Sarah Cunnane finds out

Why has the idea of publicly funded higher education crumbled so quickly in England? James Vernon explores the origins of an academic culture that has internalised market rationalities and traces the concept of education as a personal investment back to the playing fields of Eton

Think you can tell which students are destined to be heroes or zeroes? Think again: as Geoffrey K. Pullum shows, his career and that of an old school chum demonstrate that potential can be difficult to spot

From mindless diversions to gripping, critically acclaimed dramas, what is it about box sets of television series that appeals to academics, asks Roger Luckhurst. Obviously, first-hand investigation is required

That sentiment may be shared by many in the communities in which universities are located. But if the institutions disappeared, how much of a loss would it be to those cities? David Matthews weighs the benefits of having a higher education establishment on the doorstep

Professors should provide intellectual leadership, but some incumbents have other priorities or misunderstand their role. Bruce Macfarlane asserts that universities must find a way to get the best out of the best

'Transnational' education isn't dying, but it is changing. Jon Marcus reports on Western institutions' moves to mitigate the risks of foreign outposts, thanks to a little help from their hosts

Every discipline has quirks invisible to its insiders. Intrepid scholars who venture into a related field will discover a host of idiosyncrasies that shine new light on the oddities of one's own academic clan, says Adrian Furnham

As officialdom's demands for meaningless Transparency and Information multiply, Thomas Docherty asks: has clandestine scholarship become the only way to carry out real research and teaching?

Science affects everyone on the planet, so how and to what extent should the public help set its agenda? Jon Turney looks to the notion of vox populi research for some ideas

Well, they’re not doing badly. But in a world in which capitalism is in crisis, the Left is moribund, activists are slick professionals and rebellion drives sales, Alastair Bonnett envisages a new type of dissident institution

To judge by the gleefully bull-headed ignorance shown by politicians, bloggers and others, scientific evidence and scholarly analysis may soon count for nothing. Jon Marcus considers where this anti-intellectual climate leaves the academy

Ahead of Lord Woolf’s report on the scandal of the LSE’s links with Libya, Christopher Davidson examines the issue of UK university funding by Gulf autocracies in the light of the Arab Spring

Academics from physicists to experts on Scandinavian culture are crafting stand-up comedy routines based on their work. But this is no joke. Matthew Reisz finds that a crowd's laughter is not the only payoff

Independent 'citizen scientists' have always existed, says Darrel Ince, and our networked age of fast computing and open access is helping them to flourish - to the greater good of research

Matthew Reisz talks to the movers and shakers of the past 40 years who made Times Higher Education what it is today

Funding cuts. Fees. Privatisation. Old institutions versus new. Ministerial (re)visions - and withering letters-page retorts. John Morgan journeys through 40 years of our back issues

Despite exhortations to academics to collaborate, jointly authored research still draws some suspicion. Co-authors Janet Beer and Avril Horner are adamant that, with the right chemistry, such efforts can repay huge professional and personal benefits

A year after the Browne Report's publication, Fred Inglis excoriates the application of a bankrupt neoliberal ideology to the academy, and calls for scholars to rise up and free the truth from the market's clutches

Characterised by creativity and attuned to the needs of their age, the first European universities have important lessons for higher education today, says Miri Rubin

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, the academy and the NHS all fall far short of their research potential. John Martin prescribes a radical plan to revive UK life sciences while funding universities in their broadest mission

Circling hilltop castles and seeking out thermals, occasionally shadowed by a sociable buzzard - Paul Nurse attests to the joys of taking to the skies on the slenderest of wings

W.G. Sebald, stifled by the culture of silence in post-war Germany, by ‘people’s ability to forget what they do not want to know’, settled in 1960s England and wrote groundbreaking literary works to great acclaim. Ten years after Sebald’s untimely death, Uwe Schütte, a former student, reflects on his life

Excitement, anxiety, shaking in your boots. Academics experience mixed feelings as term starts, says Jon Marcus

The provocative 'Blue Labour' and 'Red Tory' visions for renewal put forth by two academics have the ears of their respective party leaders - and a good deal in common, says A.W. Purdue

When Jorge Cham adapted his hugely popular PhD cartoon for film, he eschewed animation and hired real Caltech students and academics for his comically true-to-life doctoral tales. Paul Jump reports

While the public fixates on tabloid phone hacking, the real crisis threatening the survival of newspapers goes unnoticed despite its dire consequences for public affairs, says Tim Luckhurst

When an anthropologist and her partner were arrested on the eve of the royal wedding for planning an anti-monarchy mock execution, the incident ended up on YouTube - and the footage revealed concern over who would feed Flopsy, their pet rabbit. Here, Camilla Power explains that our long-eared friends are not just cuddly, they're cat-taming, fox-outwitting, police-baiting natural born rebels, too

A typographical slip gave Lois S. Bibbings an authorial sex change, and while she pondered textual 'gender reassignment', her alter ego made off with her kudos. Still, she can't help liking the roguish Louis

A coalition of the willing is battling legal, logistical and technical obstacles to archive the riches of the mercurial World Wide Web for the benefit of future scholars. Zoë Corbyn reports

They're here, they're square, they occasionally look like Brian Cox: Alice Bell and Adam Corner on the new-found cool of the science-minded, big-brained, increasingly self-confident geeks

Increased tuition fees could dramatically alter the flow of students around the UK, with many choosing not to travel outside their home country. David Matthews considers how the devolved nations might be affected