Features

As public funding shrinks, fundraising becomes crucial for universities. Adrian Beney examines how UK institutions are approaching the challenge and what they can learn from US methods

What is the source of this money? Will we offend anyone if we accept it? Have any laws been broken? Hannah Fearn surveys the ethical minefield of fundraising

The man who financed Facebook is offering 20 two-year $100,000 fellowships to teenagers with big ideas - as long as they leave university. Jon Marcus reports

After four decades of listening to, reading about and reflecting on classical music, Roger Brown points the way to fine-tuning true appreciation

A soaring enrolment rate and a driving ambition to compete globally characterise higher education in South Korea. But how is this all-consuming desire affecting society? asks John Morgan

Mill, Smith and Friedman: look away now. Coalition plans to marketise the academy are a corruption of laissez-faire ideology. Martin Cohen lambasts a liberal approach to 'liberalism'

Some think that traditional peer review, the guardian of sound science, is not up to the task of assessing large-scale multidisciplinary research. Paul Jump puts the question to the experts

For the US academy, sport - particularly American football - isn't a matter of life and death: it's much more important than that. David Gewanter discusses the big-money, big-reputation stakes of the 'cult of escapism' - a mano-a-mano University Challenge

Incisive debate on contemporary issues is curtailed by the glacial pace of academic publishing, argues Tim Luckhurst. Adopting new journalistic models would inject vitality into academics' work

The Freedom of Information Act enables public access to scientists' research data, but can scientific knowledge really be extracted in this way? Scientists should engage with the public, but need to find a less confrontational and more meaningful method of doing so, advise Adam Corner and Alice Bell

This should be the age of reason but we are failing to foster the intellectual skills that could liberate student minds. Linda Elder argues that we should embed critical thinking at the heart of the curriculum and outlines steps to emancipate the minds of a new generation

In May 1968 the old order was upturned by marginalised contract lecturers. Today, the proliferation of online courses offers slow-track academics a similar opportunity to seize the scholarly high ground, argues Paula Humfrey

In the academy, the real argument over science and religion is not about God but rather about how social and natural scientists understand people. Martin A. Mills says we must bridge that gap to comprehend humanity

Some academics think the authors of historical fiction peddle myths, exploit their labour and wallow in sentimentality. But could dialogue between the two play a role in promoting public understanding of the past? asks Matthew Reisz

Narrowly vocational higher education stripped of the insights offered by the arts and humanities, particularly literature, does students in all disciplines a lasting disservice, says Roger Lister

Is globalisation becoming a reality in the academy’s top ranks? It’s early days, but there are signs that the barriers are falling as universities look abroad to find the best captains. John Morgan reports

Robin Dunbar has to confess he never learned to play an instrument. But that doesn't stop him believing that music should be at the heart of education

The government wants a return to the past, with more input into the exam process by universities. Rebecca Attwood probes whether the move is welcomed or seen as more ministerial meddling

Delays to a report on the future of Irish higher education have fuelled unease over its proposals. Having seen a draft of the recommendations, Hannah Fearn gets the academy's verdict

The impact agenda came roaring to unruly life for a self-confessed shy bookworm when his work on Plato's 'musical code' drew the attention of the international media. Jay Kennedy tells the tale

Kerala's distinctive higher education system is undergoing reform with some success, but there are problems it shares with the rest of India that will take much effort to overcome, say Philip G. Altbach and Eldho Mathews

The Browne report heralds long-overdue competition and diversity in English higher education but, says Vernon Bogdanor, it also sets a big challenge for the government because its vision will not be realised without more spending on universities

Did necessity or ideology drive thinking behind Browne and the CSR, and will unleashing student/consumer demand improve or imperil the sector? Simon Baker investigates

Modern languages should be a passport to life, so why are so few students queuing up to learn them? In a special report on Britain's linguistic skills gap, Matthew Reisz discovers that, globally speaking, we are missing out

Michael Worton, who has chronicled the beleaguered state of modern languages, argues that in an age of global citizenship it must be revitalised

Glyn Hambrook catalogues the benefits and joys of mastering a foreign tongue, a skill that opens the door to a network of international contacts

Martha Nussbaum fears our critical culture, inculcated by a liberal arts education, is under attack, with democracy itself coming under threat. Matthew Reisz thinks her case is overstated

Social media allow users to share information about themselves and their interests. Sarah Cunnane examines their role in the academy

Most Facebook users have not, as is often charged, lost their sense of appropriate behaviour; rather, the site has relaxed some social rules, argues Kathleen Richardson

For years, Valmagne in the South of France is the place Bernard Ramanantsoa has escaped to for light, freedom and a reminder of Christian morality

Advancing the frontiers of knowledge is at the core of the academy, but the crossing of established disciplinary boundaries is often resisted. How does a band of pioneers stake its claim to novel territory, counter sceptics, win converts and establish itself? Zoë Corbyn looks at the psychology of science's fight for acceptance

Materialism has had its day. To understand the ideas that drive human activity, including economics, we need a new field that combines the arts and sciences, argues Deirdre N. McCloskey

Times are hard and cuts have to be made, so let's start by putting an end to verbosity and all those mind-bogglingly long assignments, research papers and reports, writes Peter Lennox, succinctly

Women produce fewer papers than men over a lifetime and are still scarce in senior positions, especially in science. Dispelling myths of innate difference between the sexes, Amanda Goodall offers advice on how they can raise their research productivity and status in the academy

Proposals to remove the retirement age should be good news for the academic superannuation pot, but Darrel Ince warns that there are downsides as well

Mass higher education has brought social mobility to millions worldwide, but as access expands and academia is stretched to breaking point, standards are in steady decline, writes Philip Altbach

The notion of a 'war' between science and religion is a media-friendly but profoundly inaccurate model for scholars' many-hued and nuanced views of God, faith and doubt. Matthew Reisz reports

Bard movies, ruff sex, soap-opera 'faction' and grumpy old historians: Clive Bloom on our enduring fascination with the Tudors

Sir Terry Pratchett is one of the world's most successful authors. He talks to John Gilbey about auto-didacticism, the tyranny of higher education and whether writers are born, not made

Christoph Bode's love of the Beach Boys has only been deepened by Brian Wilson's late-career deconstruction of his own California dreaming

BPP may have been awarded university college status, but the regulatory system will have to be drastically overhauled if for-profit higher education is to thrive in Britain, says Simon Baker

Hitler and Stalin may have put paid to Thomas More's vision of hope, but Fred Inglis knows he can always rely on The Clangers

Cash counts, sometimes, but does it motivate academics to increase their research-paper output? Adrian Furnham weighs up the pros and cons

Ireland's oldest university unveils an innovative way to unite scholarship and business. Eddie Lennon reports

Terry Neill is a governor of London Business School and co-chair of the external advisory board of the Trinity Long Room Hub. "Within the arts and humanities," he says, "there's an extraordinary body of knowledge about human beings - how they behave, how they learn, what motivates or de-motivates them, their values, and what you can learn from their history - but most of the time only a tiny fraction of it is applied in business, government and society. It is somehow trapped in the halls of academia. There is an extraordinary challenge - and opportunity - to engage and bring that knowledge and insight to the wider world."

The Trinity Long Room Hub will galvanise humanities scholarship. Fiona Salvage reports

A cutting-edge, digitally driven setting for arts and humanities research shows the importance of yesterday to tomorrow, writes Maeve O'Lynn

Olga Wojtas on Trinity College's cultural outreach work in Dublin, globally relevant postgraduate programmes and historic links with South Asia

Diversification, integration and digital innovation are key to sustaining arts and humanities research, say Trinity College scholars. Maeve O'Lynn reports

As graduates struggle to find employment, universities are having to think more creatively about how to prepare them for the workplace, says Rebecca Attwood

Dale Salwak laments the decline of deep reading under the baleful influence of the online age, and rallies to the defence of the love of learning, the sequestered nooks and the sweet serenity of books

John Haldane muses on artist David Tremlett's ability to take on a space and transform it into something living, in a compelling affirmation of the essential domesticity of the creative act

How bad is mainstream science reporting? Can it be improved or has it had its time? Zoë Corbyn investigates the issues and considers whether a paradigm shift is needed

Is economic pragmatism leading to the demise of Australian universities? Horst Albert Glaser reports

Regardless of demoralising funding cuts, Helen Taylor says now is exactly the time for universities to become more involved in local arts festivals

This week's A-level results may lead to the keenest clearing rush yet. But do universities' websites tell prospective students what they need to know, Hannah Fearn asks a panel of sixth-formers.

Who is the online you - hand-coded pages of hobbies and family photos, terse departmental entries or slickly branded media portals? Zoe Corbyn surveys the world of academics' personal websites

Taking a leaf out of the River Cottage cookbook and fermenting it, Chris Jones lauds the foraging lifestyle and encourages his own 'Generation Roadkill' to reconsider their place in the food chain