Opinion

Victor Ponta quit as prime minister amid scandals including a renounced doctorate. Should he be allowed to run for president, asks Ararat Osipian

At the very least, they should hold out until the administration works out how to enforce its crackdowns on DEI and research, says Johann Neem

Departments should refocus on brokering linguistic services to meet the needs of staff and students in a polyglot world, says Tomasz Kamusella

One year on from publication of the Universities Accord, Justin Bokor says the funding needed to support equity student success is simply not there

The recent arrest of accreditation council members only underlines that competence of regulation is as much of an issue as its degree, says Pushkar

More transparent and democratic decision-making within UK universities could have helped institutions avoid the financial mistakes that are now resulting in mass redundancies, argue Nicholas Grant and Nadine Zubair

Talent pipeline for the UK’s £100 billion creative arts industries is under threat as universities shutter loss-making arts degrees, says Ravensbourne vice-chancellor Andy Cook

Subscribing to nearly everything published by journals is no longer feasible in these financially straitened times but librarians can provide creative workarounds to ensure journal access, says Liam Bullingham

Delayed introduction of England’s campus free speech act will help scholars confront bias confirmation propagated by social media bubbles, argue Carla Ferstman and Faten Ghosn

Most courses are already performance- or employment-focused. The demise of another scholarly programme will skew the balance further, says Ian Pace 

No one has yet cracked high-touch, low-cost business learning, but efforts are under way, says Julian Birkinshaw

Limiting industrial action to defensive branch battles on redundancy is not enough. We need to politically challenge the HE funding model, says Rhiannon Lockley

These are undoubtedly turbulent times, but the figures suggest that the sector is in relatively good health, say Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel

The new commission’s competitiveness compass is shockingly deficient in its approach to research, says Jan Palmowski

There is something about handwriting that enhances the creative flow essential for academic study and scholarly activity, says Rich Smith

I don’t begrudge granting help to students who need it, but we must also have guard rails to deny it to those who don’t, says Nikolay Kukushkin

Editors’ failures to stick to advertised time frames and formatting requirements cost authors extra effort and stress, says Rob Sowby

The global examination of culture is not possible without languages at degree level, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley

Individuals and groups must be convinced to strive for common educational purpose in an atmosphere of mutual respect, says Neil Rudenstine 

The work of lobbying policymakers to make HE a higher priority is undermined by the endless pantomime of UCU’s internal politics, says Dyfrig Jones

All we are seeing is a necessary course correction to counter the infiltration of bad actors, say Leslie McIntosh, René Aquarius and Dorothy Bishop

Universities under political pressure to row back on support for minorities need a rallying point, say Manuel Barcia and Effie Kesidou

Educational interventions are like making a soufflé that may or may not rise, say Billy Wong and Lydia Fletcher

But domestic universities must also raise their game if the country is to become a major destination for international students, says Pushkar

The number of staff in roles serving the whole of UKRI is not evidence of centralisation, top-down control or added bureaucracy, says Ottoline Leyser

Students will now believe they can shut down debate of issues they find uncomfortable, rather than engaging critically, says a queer scholar

South Korea is among the US’ top three contributors of international students. Falling purchasing power threatens that position, says Kyuseok Kim

The complexities of the 21st century and Japan’s demographic decline demand more interdisciplinarity and internationalisation, says Teruo Fujii

The executive cadre clearly didn’t see the crises around revenue, leadership and public standing coming, say Hamish Coates and Leo Goedegebuure

To maintain the graduate premium, universities must anticipate skills needs, guide good course choices and be open to everyone, says Shitij Kapur

The new administration will marginalise or even prohibit the kind of inclusive, challenging, non-traditional syllabus I taught, fears Glyn Robbins

Why harm high-quality provision at established universities because of a small number of providers with questionable motives, asks Mark Clark

Policy institutes’ lack of strategic variation risks overheating the competition for airtime with national policymakers, says Diana Beech