Opinion

The HE policy debate may shift, but in England the idea that we might be over-educating is always lurking – it’s a hydra that needs decapitating again

Profound change is in the offing for higher education, but history suggests non-Western students’ voices will not be heard, says Farish A. Noor

If writers aren’t held responsible for their words, they have no incentive to write reflectively and precisely, says Joe Moran

We do our students a disservice by not educating ourselves on disruptive technologies such as VR and machine learning, says Christine Janssen 

The circle can be squared via long-term projects conducted outside the regular timetable, says Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Students’ gravitation towards communal living may be exactly the insight we need to solve the stubborn problems of remote learning, says Carlo Ratti

The promise of the new lifelong learning loan allowance is undermined by the insistence on separate and impermeable tracks, says Tim Blackman

All faculty endure mounting stress over online instruction, but BAME academics face an even more precarious situation, say Henrika McCoy and Madeline Y. Lee

Events at the University of Leicester suggest an always tense relationship may be turning toxic, says Ursula Huws

The emerging online demand for expert content offers an opportunity to scholars working outside formal academia, says Anton Howes

Trusting in the continuing power of prestige to open employers’ doors is a dangerous strategy, say Alejandro Caballero and Sean Gallagher

In a good asynchronous class, students are still learning, just not in a way that produces a post-performance high for educators, says Zachary Michael Jack

Autocracy starts with the violent repression of students and academics, say Matteo Fumagalli, Achim Kemmerling, Youngmi Kim and Luicy Pedroza

Successful learning design can happen only when academics and learning designers work in partnership, says Amy Sampson

Students should not be left out of pocket for pursuing legitimate claims against their institutions, say Daniel Sokol and Bradley Talbot

Selling ‘the uni experience’ has helped put bums on seats and cash in coffers, but now it’s providing grist for refund-seeking students, says Madeleine Davies

Digitisation opens up a world of possibility but it doesn’t compensate for the loss of physical interaction, says Mark Griffin

Universities often reproduce colonial logics by exploiting, commodifying and diluting the very ‘thing’ that was to set us free, says Manvir Grewal

Grim statistics on single-honours enrolments belie an explosion in joint-honours provision, says Katherine Astbury

A video by a professor for only their class is akin to the single-copy, handwritten book disseminated to just one room of people, says David Kellermann

Progress is being made but much still could and should to be done to boost women’s advancement, says Helen Bartlett

The brutal cost-cutting demanded by Covid-19 may finally see intercollegiate athletics cut down to size, says Bruce Svare

Putting the onus on students to maintain honour can be effective but it takes time to assimilate the mindset, says Sara Pervaiz Amjad

Local and international collaboration will allow institutions to tackle the challenges of sustainable development, says Tawana Kupe

The crackdown on ‘Islamo-leftism’ is a purely political move to court right-wing votes in the coming election, says William Barylo

Worries about Islamo-leftism in France and free speech in England reflect disciplines’ straddling of science and activism, says Alexis Artaud de La Ferrière

International student mobility was the rock on which universities built their empire. With Covid turning prior certainties into unknowns, what now?

It is precisely by getting their priorities straight that established academics can, and must, set a better example, say Fleur Jongepier and Mathijs van de Sande

Rites of passage failed to launch this year, from sex to graduation. We have a moral duty to help students find meaning in their lives, says Bertus Jeronimus

Teaching online renders women’s bodies invisible, but are their talking heads really judged on a par with men’s, asks Kate Eichhorn

Higher education reforms promised differentiation, but a failure to implement bold changes and a lack of desire for innovation are resulting in the opposite trend, says Liviu Andreescu

We know that employing learners as active co-creators of their learning builds opportunities for knowledge absorption, say Guy Daly and Andrew Turner

To coordinate research translation, a new organisation is needed that isn’t tied to one university but is linked to all, says Keith Ridgway 

Badly designed sessions are big on waste: waste of talent, waste of concentration, waste of ability and waste of time, says Christian Gilliam

The Chicago Principles are powerful partly because they are linked to institutional history and values, say Carolyn Evans and Adrienne Stone

Many of us with learning disabilities struggle to process hour-long lecture recordings but pedagogical flexibility and online support offer new ways ahead, says Gemma Ahearne

Too many trustees misunderstand or forget their fiduciary responsibilities and become co-opted by institutional presidents, says James Koch

Pakistan’s labour shortages illustrate that well-rounded graduates also need to be properly prepared for specific industries, says Tahir Shah

A global recession will accelerate the latest shift away from high-cost study destinations, say Janet Ilieva and David Pilsbury

Many students have not had their expectations met, but it’s unhelpful to assume this is a systemic online teaching and learning issue, says Linda Kaye

Why shouldn’t marketing staff have ongoing input into the brand perception they work so hard to cultivate among prospects, asks Victoria O’Malley

Sir Michael Barber’s blueprint can help digital delivery enhance learning rather than acting as an inconvenient stopgap, says David Puttnam

We know from bitter experience that poor or misguided online practice can have serious safeguarding consequences, say Emma Bond and Andy Phippen

Awareness campaigns, support services and coordination with local authorities and transport providers are all needed, says Maya Tutton

Universities need to review the unhelpful websites and unwittingly ageist admissions procedures that prevent older people becoming doctoral students, says Alison Etches

The University of Groningen’s response to the pandemic has been widely lauded. Key to it was taking teachers and students seriously from the start, says Klaas van Veen

Trauma suffered by lecturers who were forced to teach in-person during coronavirus spike should not be dismissed, say Paul Hanna, Carl Walker and Mark Erickson

Actors? Videographers? Graphic designers? Covid has forced academics to wear many uncomfortable hats, say Christine Rivers and Anna Holland

Pausing the assessment timetable for tenure and promotion may seem helpful, but it will actually deepen disparities on campus, says Jennifer Greenfield

What if I could be in 2,000 breakout group discussions simultaneously, nudging students along a more productive path? asks David Shrier

No institution will be able to make it alone amid the pandemic-induced tumult, so let’s make shared values the antidote to the crisis, says Ferruccio Resta

The great loss is the more subtle stuff, such as arching an eyebrow at a pal when Professor X starts droning on, says Athene Donald

Knock-backs are frequent and unavoidable. But treating referees’ comments with a hard-headed pragmatism lessens the sting, says Adrian Furnham

Academia jettisoned decades of orthodoxy about how to teach and research overnight when the pandemic hit. What’s stopping it making other transformations?

My research inspired laptop bans in classrooms around the world, but we need nuance in our thinking about using technology, says Danny Oppenheimer

Different university groupings should have strong, distinctive capabilities that address specific markets, says John H. Howard

Scrutiny is inevitable but universities should do more to promote their teaching and their place in civil society, says Rosemary Bennett

Many institutions may find it challenging to translate the crisis experience into an immediate enhancement of teaching and learning, says Michael Gaebel 

This isn’t the 18th century. Email and phones exist. So why is so much academic discussion still left to journals, asks Julian Baggini

A national ‘great debate’ in England would be more effective than imposing free speech champions and threatening fines, says Dennis Hayes