Opinion

Students and employers are increasingly dictating the courses that universities offer, as witnessed by the rise of business-related and TV-inspired subjects such as forensic science. But how far should demand drive the curriculum? Harriet Swain reports

Cardinal O'Brien's intemperate broadside against embryology research buries an opportunity for discussion in invective

Tim Birkhead on the trumpet-blowing and florid fiction of the academic CV

Has-beens, wannabes and lechers wrestle with PowerPoint, bad English and alcohol in a deadly dull German townlet: yes, it’s academic conference season again

University rankings must include all relevant institutions and the information users are seeking, argues Joy Carter

In expanding its empire, human resources damages intellectual standards and peddles nonsense, argues David Colquhoun

Free information freely available is the rallying cry of Erik Ringmar, who wants others to join in putting restricted documents on the web

Beware digi-evangelists and search engines, says Tara Brabazon. It is still real-life librarians, past and present, who remain the true custodians of human knowledge

Despite their imperfections and controversy, league tables still add more to our understanding of the sector than they subtract

Up in the Andes is a university worth emulating, says Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Job fulfilment and job comfort are different and impossible to reflect fully in quality-of-life indices, argues Linda Evans

Violence against females is rooted in our brutal past, but such acts are neither biologically nor culturally immutable, says David Roberts

David Watson argues that for research funding to be distributed equitably, the best way forward is through deeper collaboration

Tara Brabazon is alarmed by people’s growing removal from analogue life, where people are engaged with their mobile screens rather than with each other

Politicians must end their coyness about tuition charges and face facts - they may be unpopular but they are necessary

Outsiders can never grasp the eccentricities of academe, says Sally Feldman

It’s not so much the dropouts who vex Gloria Monday, more the drop-ins who have no business on campus

Why, wonders Kevin Fong, do we so quickly forget our illustrious forebears?

Government proposals to redefine and promote innovation mark a major step forward, argues James Wilsdon

Commentators have not scrutinised Gordon Brown's role in the battle to topple Saddam. How curious, says Tim Dunne

UK research has been boosted by recent Government investment but academics must still strive to make an impact, says Philip Esler

How Tara Brabazon has learned to appreciate Bob Dylan - the man, his music and what he stands for

Do women miss out on promotion because of prejudice or because they are less committed?

Wikipedia reveals not the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ but the rule of the mob, argues Tara Brabazon

Understanding demographic trends is key to the survival of universities over the next two decades, says Sir Muir Russell

We'll turn up for lectures if you treat us with respect, give us feedback and remember our names, writes a mature first-year student

In an e-savvy world, an anachronistic gentlemen's agreement should not be limiting science reporting, write Claire Bithell and Simon Levey

There is no single recipe for successful cross-disciplinary centres. Lunch, however, seems to be an essential ingredient

Alan Ryan suggests Mr Denham revisit an example of quality and opportunity

The Great Leader is all smiles on the website – Gloria Monday suspects that a rebranding is in the offing

Although a believer in books, Tara Brabazon welcomes Amazon’s wireless reading device and its potential to transform reading and researching

UK academic pay has risen significantly. But the disparities between disciplines and genders need to be addressed

Tasks like ordering tape and test tubes halt academic work, Tim Birkhead finds

The prospectus's weathered cloisters and flawless cheekbones are alluring, admits John Brinnamoor, but a dash of realism mightn't hurt

Interactive tools help students most by allowing lecturers to offer them more personal attention, says Jochen Runde

Clinton's toughest battle of all is against a collective mindset that ruthlessly limits the roles female politicians may fulfil, says Mary Evans

We’re enslaved by Crazy Frog capitalism – and the mobile phone is the symbol of our bondage, argues Tara Brabazon

Whitehall's creative industries strategy is welcome, but where is its support for Britain's athletic endeavours, asks Simon Chadwick

Quality teaching, like quality research, requires funding input, say Russell Group chiefs Malcolm Grant and Wendy Piatt

Simon Blackburn muses on RCUK's shelved proposal to test the economic impact of humanities research via algorithms

After a late 20th-century famine, UK universities are in relative good health - but Whitehall's decision to start preparing for an uncertain future is prudent

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto lauds the world's soul foods, and killjoys be damned

The wannabe 'pree-sen-nas' blinded by celebrity culture are closed to ideas and opportunities, argues Tara Brabazon

In the wake of a vote by UCU members to reject pay-bargaining changes, general secretary Sally Hunt calls on all sides to move forward in good faith for the benefit of the sector as a whole

The REF will leave the funding council with many of the same problems that plagued the RAE, argues Ian Marshall

Academics have heroically filled the gap as student funding falls and numbers rise, but it's now time to rethink teaching, says Alan Gilbert

Clear punctuation and compound constructions in titles give research papers an immediate visual impact, says James Hartley

UK academics' ideas may be a potential goldmine, as many argue. But putting fences around ideas may not pay off in the end

A 'post-feminist' world still needs its Emmeline Pankhursts, says Sally Feldman

Emulating a local hero was hard for Kevin Fong - but fees didn't make it tougher

Science can say what caused an event to occur, but not what caused reality to be such that it did, Michael Bulley observes

Orientation classes for first-years offer a chilling insight into an entire cohort's lack of spelling and grammar skills, says a university lecturer

The humanities are told to embrace business agendas and climate change. Geoffrey Alderman is filled with dread at the implications

One way to avoid spiralling debt is to study locally, as many young people who are the target of widening access are doing. But if they are to complete their studies universities must engage with schools and parents early on, says David Baker

Despite their anti-managerial sabre-rattling, most academics know modernisation is inevitable

In the bad old days, sifting would-be students’ painstakingly tarted-up applications was done with blind personal prejudice and ignorance. In one respect, then, little has changed…

Participants in the international higher education race should beware a sub-prime-style crash, cautions Philip Altbac

Head teacher Martin Stephen donated his time to lead a course in poetry, but found the learning environment lacked rhyme or reason

Brian Snowdon sees a case for economists demonstrating that theirs is a discipline broad in scope and inclusive in recruitment