Opinion

Only losers focus on excellent science. Better to cook the books, spin the wheel and trust to cronies, say Robert de Vries and John Jerrim

Russia may still have no universities in the world’s top 100, but its 5-100 Project has made progress, says Philip Altbach

Providing opportunities for entrepreneurism and learning from start-up culture is no longer a cool optional extra for universities − it is a necessity, says Sam Robertson

Life in the age of Covid does not lend itself readily to students internships, but there are alternatives, says Benjamin Tak Yuen Chan

The way US graduation figures are calculated misses out those with a non-traditional path through higher education, says Corey S. Bradford

Legislation is urgently needed to ensure good governance and fair pay and conditions, says Nahid Neazy

It is often forgotten that this group suffers from even worse educational outcomes than white, working-class boys, says Nick Braisby 

The new coronavirus variant means that the costs to public health outweigh any pedagogic benefits of reopening campuses sooner, says Simon Williams

Amid mass online instruction, universities need to up their game around digital safeguarding and student welfare, say Andy Phippen and Emma Bond

Senior administrators should serve the greater good, not pander to their most powerful stakeholders, says Kathy Johnson Bowles

Cyberpsychology expert Linda Kaye says it’s crucial that we understand the personal, social and educational implications of the shift to online teaching and learning

New research shows that inadequate oversight is leaving institutions dangerously exposed, says Andrew Kakabadse

With new lockdowns upon us, it’s time students received the financial relief they deserve, says David Green

The president-elect may have academic connections, but the path from campus to cabinet is rarely travelled successfully, say three political scientists

Having surveyed thousands of instructors on their lockdown experiences, James T. Walker discusses two key findings and their practical implications

The European programme’s globe-spanning successor, the Turing scheme, is more suited to meeting today’s challenges, says Louise Nicol

The Turing scheme’s focus on outbound mobility will take the UK off the map for most European exchange students, laments Barbara Lorber

Nurturing talent via teaching and research is a well-established pathway to building an innovative, prosperous society, says Dawn Freshwater

Academic couple Theresa Mercer and Andrew Kythreotis are heading into their third lockdown, along with their kids, but this time the expectations are higher and lessons have been learned

The proposed Turing scheme will be hard to set up – especially given its lack of reciprocity, says Martin Paul

Amid geopolitical and research power shifts, the world will be watching to see whether leaders can learn from the mistakes and triumphs of 2020

University administrative staff are often the first point of contact for troubled students but training on how to manage these encounters is non-existent, says Sarah Bones

Uneasy bonds between lecturers and education specialists must be strengthened to deliver post-pandemic learning, says Neil Mosley

Growing impatience with online learning in South Korea highlights the limitations of socially distanced teaching, says Justin Fendos

Academics should not be seduced by the moral certainty on either side of the ‘with us or against us’ divide, says Brad Evans

New measures that provide insight into how universities build personal qualities of their graduates are needed, argue Doug Cole and Dino Willox

Metrics rarely reflect how students have addressed their weaknesses, which is itself the most rewarding part of university teaching, says Megan Argo

Praise for Covid vaccine creators is deserved, but the extraordinary work of other scientists must not be overlooked, says Nicholas Dirks

Calls to redesign curricula for online study ignore how scholars need time and peer support to reinvent courses, says Carole Binns

No one would want to repeat 2020. But perhaps there are ways it will leave us better prepared for the future

In their unearthly calm and Dewey Decimal order, university libraries offer the promise of remaking ourselves, says Joe Moran

A huge endowment could help draw the talent and capital to counterbalance the golden triangle, say Neil Lee and Javier Terrero Dávila

Practitioners have a lot to teach students, but the value of research training should not be dismissed lightly, says Sam Christie

Robert Peckham’s faith in the value of his medical humanities training was gravely tested as his father lay in intensive care

It makes no sense for universities to control all pre-specialism, hospital-based training, says Fistra Janrio Tandirerung

Essay mills’ opportunism, preying on student anxiety about online assessment methods, strengthens the case for legislation, says Douglas Blackstock

Mass reliance on the traditional 50-minute lecture format will soon be a thing of the past, says David Maguire

Pandemic or no pandemic, academics should try to find time for regular rethinking of their curricula and methods, says Jessica Johnson 

Two decades of Bologna-driven programme accreditation has proved that universities can be trusted to assure their quality, says Michèle Wera 

A rationalisation of transnational delivery was already in the offing, but post-pandemic austerity will hasten it, say Matt Durnin and Jazreel Goh 

In the new world order, leadership is about collaboration and coordination. Higher education networks are an obvious forum, says Annelise Riles  

The US’ announcement that it now regards Israeli settlements as consistent with international law does not make them so, say eight senior academics

The pandemic has hit university finances, and further challenges lie ahead. But the case for supporting higher education and research is overwhelming

Distributing financial aid based on identity or academic attainment leaves many poor people excluded from the academy, says Ryan Coogan

In handling cases, UK universities must clarify the burden of evidence, better train adjudicators and publish incidence statistics, says one survivor

While eLife is planning to publish only preprints, even it concedes that journal brand still counts for a lot, notes Michael Marinetto

Gavin Williamson’s directive will embolden other groups to demand the enforcement of their interests by ministerial fiat, says Geoffrey Alderman

The Purpose Coalition will bring together the skills and the jobs needed to create a fairer, greener UK, says Justine Greening

Professionalising university teaching and changing incentive structures are the first steps, says Steven Mintz

Universities’ ethics oblige them to pay their own interns, so why do they permit their students to work many months for free, asks Sam Scott

Evidence suggests that different personality types are drawn to – and excel at – teaching and research, says John Dreijmanis

Inevitable examples of jargon or poor research are no reason to reject an entire discipline, say Debby Cotton, Elizabeth Cleaver and Dilly Fung

Academics remain wedded to prestige indicators, but peer reviewers may conclude that the journal is profiteering, says Dorothy Bishop

An open letter from cultural figures and academics to the University of Roehampton’s vice-chancellor and council members

The ‘Tasmania Model’ of addressing social need offers lessons for the wider sector, say Rufus Black and Nick Fowler

With global warming a priority for the next US president, the International Universities Climate Alliance can lead the academic response, says Ian Jacobs

An Australian university’s attitude towards Rwanda illustrates the West’s failure to treat African academics as equal partners, says Timothy Carey

Until they have their allotted departure time, no one is meant to travel home. So, asks George Bass, should security guards dive on anyone pulling a suitcase? 

This tumultuous year has shown universities can adapt rapidly and radically, but the reimagining mustn’t pause amid continuing disruptive pressures

Most lecturers dread educationalists’ holier-than-thou, discipline-blind invocations of the latest teaching fads, says an anonymous academic