Opinion

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

Given the year we've just had, we might expect some acknowledgment of the need to address student welfare online, say Andy Phippen and Emma Bond

Academics must emphasise that thinking critically does not mean dismissing everything as biased, say Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren

In virtually all our endeavours in the academy, collaboration is valued – so why is the classroom an exception, ask Kwong Nui Sim and Michael Cowling

Evidence shows that universities outside the golden triangle are among the best at creating successful companies, says Brian McCaul

‘Warming up’ the screen needs to become a priority for educators, especially for video-based tutorials and seminars, says Lucinda McKnight

Global university networks, enhanced by technology, will offer students more flexibility over where to study, says Youmin Xi

Mastering the art of saying 'no' is one way academics can protect themselves from spiralling workloads, says psychology lecturer Dean Fido

As Netflix’s film on Sutton Hoo illustrates, collaboration between academic and commercial research enriches understanding of history, says Susan Greaney

We must find ways to balance integrity, privacy, accessibility, workload and student expectations, say Jennifer Lawrence and Kylie Day

The discipline’s existence reflects an enduring Western belief in the inferiority of knowledge production specific to different cultures, says David Simon

An ideological gap has grown, where some universities have different ideas to students about the concept of a university, says Steve Davies

Fighting discrimination is a must, but the IHRA document undermines that fight and threatens free speech, says Hagit Borer

This swift transformation highlights who among our students we think are worthy of learning and who we choose to leave behind, says Clare Mullaney

Reduced tuition fees and more hardship scholarships would help those watching Zoom lectures while working on checkouts, says Barbara Franz

His experience teaching in Iraq has underlined for Jack R. Williams the perils of simply extrapolating from personal experience

Flexibility around degree provision is the only way to ensure that workforces are equipped for the future, says Liz Barnes

It will do no harm to find colleagues who understand the role of social, economic and cultural backgrounds in academia, says Carole Binns

The ‘feel’ for a person that comes from encountering them in their home is difficult to replicate in depth online, says Graham Crow

Announced increases in hardship funding are not enough, while missed educational opportunities must be replaced, says Paul Blomfield

Academics might have scrambled to adjust to online teaching but their expertise has taken flight and merits a global platform to share it

With US enrolment numbers falling off a cliff, the future is ripe for deep, cross-border partnerships between institutions, says Rick Shangraw

People who teach digital skills in a computer lab know that students aren’t always as adept as they might pretend to be, says Elizabeth Losh

Shocking lapses in scientific standards show why renewed scrutiny of existing literature and new anti-fraud measures are needed, says David A. Sanders

It’s highly likely that one result of the pandemic will be a significant improvement in higher education throughout the region, says Liz Reisberg

English universities are making huge efforts to support students through the pandemic, but the government must play its part, says Anthony Forster

Encouraging pandemic-hit graduates to continue their studies will only delay problems unless universities embrace student employability, says Sabrina Wang

Continuous professional development must become an integral part of the academic career path, not a mere ‘extracurricular’ endeavour, says Alexandra Mihai

Applying emotion science allows us to motivate students and help them focus, pay attention and connect more deeply, says Flower Darby

Forthcoming policies on ‘low-value courses’ and grade inflation must acknowledge how pandemic will hit graduate prospects and undergraduate preparedness for years to come, says QAA deputy chief executive Vicki Stott

Like retailers, institutions must adapt to new circumstances by accelerating transformation or face long-term extinction, says Paul Baines

Compulsory Covid jabs for students may seem sensible but would discriminate against minorities, says Zachary Michael Jack

Ambiguous status of postgraduate research students in lockdown has underlined why they should be treated as staff, says Rebecca Teague

Despite the strong rhetoric currently en vogue, an end to lectures entirely would be an intellectual loss, says Seán Williams

The never-ending checklist of skills required by academia means careers advice is rarely consistent, says Maarten van Smeden

Online teaching has allowed less-confident students, so often female, to create for themselves a space in which to speak, says Madeleine Davies

The Turing mobility scheme is a poor substitute for Erasmus+ but UK universities must learn to love it or it will soon crumble, says Marcus Dowse

The move online allows students the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and learn from a variety of sources, says Tom Collinson

Online graduation rates are much lower than those for conventional degrees. It’s time to ‘re-personalise’ remote learning, says Ormond Simpson

Researchers should campaign with the public to build back better, say Stephen Bradley, Jessica Butler and Chris Chambers

When students can’t or won’t cross borders, universities can do it instead, says Wing Lam

The unique skills that academics bring to local projects underline that they change lives well beyond the lecture theatre, says Zahir Irani