Opinion

Amid chill budgetary winds, institutions and students need clarity from the government about access and fees, Paul Marshall argues

This year looks to be one in which divisions in the sector widen, leaving no one representing the needs of the academy as a whole

Felipe Fernández-Armesto on the real punchline of his diplomatic incident

After 18, the government becomes very confused about education, says David Colquhoun

As its progenitors mature, popular culture is rising to the challenges of facing the inevitability of ageing, writes Tara Brabazon

Scotland must stand against tuition fees and preserve universal state-supported access to higher education or risk a return to Dickensian darkness, argues Kate Smith

In cricket, as in other fields, choosing sides matters, writes Richard Bosworth

Each week, Dr Margot Feelbetter poses a dilemma and offers advice for readers to respond to online. This week: Cold comfort in the Gulag

If fees reform puts graduates off postgraduate study, where will academia find its new blood, asks Sir Adam Roberts

Many turn to God in the face of death, but two critics of religion, 230 years apart, have the same calm courage, writes Robert Zaretsky

Felipe Fernández-Armesto's words of advice to unpopular or indecisive presidents and ministers who doubt their own policies

...and other quandaries to mull over. Malcolm Gillies takes the temperature

Each week, Dr Margot Feelbetter poses a dilemma and offers advice for readers to respond to online. This week: PhD - Pathetic, hopeless, Dire

There is little substance to the government's promise to 'beef up' university access agreements, says Graeme Atherton

Pressure to have research accepted by the 'right' journals in order to get on damages scholarship, warns Dennis Tourish

Now the fee rise seems certain, Peter Scott scrutinises the effects of the marketisation of higher education on supply and demand

Tim Birkhead fears for the effect that higher fees will have on teaching

Managers may promote the use of technology in teaching purely with a view to saving money, but students want face-to-face interaction with inspirational teachers they can admire

Peter Hallward describes why he joined the demonstration on 9 December, and gives his personal account of how events unfolded that day

Impact pilot case studies give scant guidance as they bear little relation to most departments' output, argues Peter Barry

Each week, Dr Margot Feelbetter poses a dilemma and offers advice for readers to respond to online. This week: No flag of surrender

William Evans argues that UUK cannot represent a fragmented academy, as competing interests require special-interest groups

By backing coalition plans for higher fees, UUK president Steve Smith has failed students and universities, argues Aaron Porter

Sally Feldman fears the loss of EMAs will leave thousands without a future

Although higher education has not been named a culprit in Ireland’s crisis, Anto Kerins thinks some serious soul-searching is in order

Each week, Dr Margot Feelbetter poses a dilemma and offers advice for readers to respond to online. This week: Should I stay or should I go?

In the face of coalition cuts and reform, v-cs' appeasement strategy isn't working. Time to speak up, says Aeron Davis

James Williams argues that the education secretary's 'look-and-learn' model will create a generation of pedagogues who are faking it

Post-Browne, universities can still come up trumps. How? By recruiting pensioners, explain Alasdair Smith and Iain Smith

UUK's readiness to toe the government line ignores the troubling questions at the heart of the coalition's proposals

The coalition must admit the downsides of its reforms, demands Kevin Fong

Librarians remain an often unseen and unappreciated element of good teaching and research. Tara Brabazon interviews an extraordinary one about the challenges the profession faces at the front line of scholarship in the 21st century

With Browne's vision fading, Alan Ryan bemoans a lack of creative thinking

Each week, Dr Margot Feelbetter poses a dilemma and offers advice for readers to respond to online. This week: Mission creep

MEP and academic Maria da Graça Carvalho outlines the EU's response to demands to streamline research funding bureaucracy

Reactions to Prince William's engagement, A.W. Purdue says, show just how far our social order has shifted

Trying to make the Lib Dems keep their pre-election pledge on tuition should be just one tactic in the NUS' arsenal, recommends Ivor Gaber

Each week, Dr Margot Feelbetter poses a dilemma and offers advice for readers to respond to online. This week: How to destroy another human being

The arts inject ethics and creativity into the MBA curriculum, argues Stefano Harney; their demise would be disastrous

Peter Geoghegan argues that the coalition's policy of drastic cuts is flawed and heralds an upsurge of discontent not seen for decades

The narrow make-up of the Browne panel provides evidence of a profound shift in higher education policymaking, says Gareth Dale

Felipe Fernández-Armesto on a dazzling display of gridiron, greatness and God

Jerome de Groot’s Consuming History offers a forensic examination of modern culture’s sentimental, simplistic repackaging of the past. Tara Brabazon admires its corrective qualities

Ethnic minorities and the poor may be priced out of university. It will be a loss for them, for society and for academia, warns Nabil Ahmed

The Browne Review’s narrow economic approach will leave vital non-STEM subjects at the whim of fad and fashion and ultimately undermine the academy, argues Gerald Pillay

Malcolm Gillies questions the maths behind the new student loan policy

Judy Simons declares that the cultural and societal benefits of the arts are transformative, calculable and must be advertised

Each week, Dr Margot Feelbetter poses a dilemma and offers advice for readers to respond to online. This week: Text offenders

Although post-cuts upheavals loom, says Rick Rylance, we must believe that the humanities' strengths will endure

David Eastwood complains of much misunderstanding in responses to the Browne Review. His advice is to read it before voicing criticism

@Lord_Browne gained a following by poking fun at UK higher education’s upheavals. Now silenced by Twitter, he tells Sarah Cunnane about real universities, the trouble with students and how many Russell Group v-cs it takes to change a light bulb

The Royal Society Prize for Science Books stimulates public interest and is too important to be allowed to disappear, says Maggie Philbin