Opinion

Understanding students’ individual needs and concerns during this pandemic will go a long way to helping them progress academically, says Cathy Sandeen

There are simple ways that the publishing process can be made easier for academics with educational needs, says one early career researcher 

Institutions and scholars must serve society, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile was more than willing to join efforts to tackle the country’s coronavirus outbreak, says Pedro Bouchon

Anthony Seldon reflects on his time leading the University of Buckingham as he prepares to step down 

Now is the time for universities to interrogate the inequities of traditional classroom settings to ensure they aren’t repeated online, says Jessica Rowland Williams 

Cross-border knowledge sharing is core to higher education and must be preserved, say 33 university leaders in a joint statement on global academic mobility 

There’s no evidence that lower fees will lead to more enrolments, and employability for ‘work relevant’ degrees is low, says Gavin Moodie

The challenges of the future won’t respect disciplinary boundaries, so why would we teach and research within them? asks Tan Eng Chye

Challenging students to collaborate on course content will help them learn better and develop essential skills, say Cathy Davidson and Christina Katopodis

They have an obligation to engage in diversity education because it is the flip side of the intercultural work in which they are experts, say Harvey Charles and Darla Deardoff 

In the wake of the George Floyd killing, institutions should prioritise health and well-being over armed enforcement, says Michael Sierra-Arévalo

But auditing such efforts will be difficult, while unintended consequences are always a risk, warns Athene Donald

There are benefits to running a young institution like the University of Duisburg-Essen, says Ulrich Radtke 

We will need wisdom and common purpose to update multiple layers of norms, says Jinghai Li

The Sydney university’s roots in the aftermath of the Second World War means the institution is used to being practical, inclusive and unwilling to compromise on standards, says Ian Jacobs

Selling income-contingent stakes in the future earnings of graduates is the best way to address the student debt crisis, says Paul Oslington

International research and community service are not mutually exclusive, and young universities can easily and productively combine both missions from the outset, says Yaroslav Kuzminov

Doctoral graduates’ occupation of Higher Education Ministry will do little by itself to solve a structural problem, says Kenneth Nsah

Stephen Thomson outlines his evidence of ‘letterhead bias’ in legal academic publishing and suggests ways to dismantle it

Moving paper tests online increases access and security problems. Rather, online exams should be ‘digital first’, says Burr Settles 

Rishi Trikha says his experiences of racism and homophobia in a conservatoire show that creative fields have to be part of anti-racism conversations, too

With Covid-19 imposing huge strain on universities’ digital course development, collaboration is the obvious solution, says Alexandra Mihai

Historical data from New Zealand give cause for optimism on student demand. But how much is unclear, says Roger Smyth

The UK’s international education strategy must be more ambitious if the country is to remain globally competitive, writes Jo Johnson

Women and racial minorities are more likely to introduce valuable scientific novelty. Why are their ideas not taken seriously? Bas Hofstra and Daniel McFarland ask

The volume of Covid-19 publications raises questions of legitimacy and risks public trust in science, argue Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva and Peter Tsigaris

In the post-Covid world we have a chance to increase our use of data to better understand research opportunities and student learning, says Dawn Freshwater

Research from a team at Henley Business School highlights the funding, time and location constraints on academic research during the pandemic 

An inadequate response to the death of George Floyd will diminish universities in the eyes of their increasingly diverse students, says ’Funmi Olonisakin

Michael Jordan was a superstar, but he didn’t play alone. Science, like basketball, is a team undertaking, and must continue to refresh its roster

The global race against coronavirus to develop a vaccine cannot be won by principal investigators alone, says John Tregoning

Universities’ divestment policies are undermined by the USS’ continued investment in oil companies, says Bill Spence 

Posts on social media aren’t enough to dismantle institutional and structural racism in the academy, say Marcia A. Wilson and Lurraine Jones

Even students on remote atolls face familiar problems around inequitable access to the internet and family support, says Geoff Goodman

The reboot of universities post-Covid against a backdrop of anti-racist protests makes decolonising the curriculum imperative, says Priya Rajasekar

A plan to put foreign students in supervised quarantine before studying could rescue international programmes, says Roger Smyth

As we integrate online learning more into on-campus classes, let’s break away from synchronous classroom models, says Dilip Soman

Universities must ensure students are satisfied with Covid-19 contingency plans to offset complaints and requests for refunds, argues Susan Matthews

As most universities digitise all their teaching, they are finding it very difficult to deliver education online. Gorgi Krlev offers three challenges to conventional wisdom

As the president of a university where ‘crossing borders is in our DNA’, Fernando León Garcia urges institutions to ensure that new e-mobility programmes are more than just a pale reflection of study abroad

The country’s universities face many challenges, but publicly funded graduate programmes aim to keep the research breakthroughs coming, writes Hiroshi Amano

Global pandemics require global responses – that’s why producing globally competent graduates should be central to universities’ missions, say Harvey Charles and Darla Deardorff

Universities are starting to reveal how they intend to move forward in a world still reeling from the pandemic. Much rides on getting the response right

Why shouldn’t universities decide what to teach based on annual student demand, then hire temporary instructors, wonders Thomas Schneider

The problem is measuring all women, with or without children, against patriarchal standards, says Srila Roy

£7,500 fees are off the agenda, but Covid-19 only increases the need to align state subsidies with economic need, says Philip Augar

England’s main skills challenge is not over-education but preparing workers for the emerging economy, says Tim Blackman 

What might a test-optional admissions landscape look like for US higher education? The takeaways from South Korea provide an important lesson, says Stephanie  K. Kim

The new social order will require thought leadership, free enquiry and interdisciplinarity, says Susan Lea

By working together, universities can aid in economic growth, support societal recovery and improve resilience of key institutions, write the heads of U15 and the Russell Group

It’s a decision that must balance all the interests of the academic community and give the same benefits to students that a university education always has, says Alan Ruby

Apart from the ecological degradation, the conference circuit is riven by socio-economic, class, race and gender divides, say Ambreena Manji and three others

The economic fallout of Covid-19 is an opportunity for public institutions to offer accessible and affordable education again, says Stephen Gavazzi

Maastricht University’s cross-syllabus approach could point the way forward, say Herco Fonteijn and Teun Dekker

With this year’s graduates having only a recession to look forward to, universities must change the way they provide career support, says Tristram Hooley

Balancing the potential of remote learning with the benefits of student mobility for skills will be crucial, say Barbara Lorber and Sabine Prem

A university closure would provoke a ‘run on the university’, which will be much more expensive than the bailout the sector is currently seeking, says Adrian Bell

When suicide prevention plans aren’t enough, postvention can help minimise the impact on students, faculty and staff write Susanna Harris and Robert Cramer 

They can teach the practical essentials needed for emerging from lockdown and localising the supply chain, says Zahir Irani

The pandemic has worsened longstanding sexist and racist inequalities in science pushing many of us to say ‘I’m done’, write 35 female scientists