Opinion

A number of competing priorities are on the table as European lawmakers decide on the next phase of the continent’s research funding programme, but finding the right balance among them is crucial, says Jan Palmowski

University leaders have said that they expect to work more closely with industry in the future, but universities need to make clear how those links will benefit graduates, says Ronel Lehmann 

Online learning platforms can provide the future workforce with necessary upskilling that will complement traditional higher education degrees, argues Stephen Somerville 

New assessment criteria for the research excellence framework aim to ensure that the synergy and balance in interdisciplinary research is recognised, says Athene Donald

In an unpredictable, increasingly digital age, Singapore’s universities are rethinking how to equip alumni with relevant skills throughout their lives

Ucas is attempting to get a clearer perspective of equality in higher education admissions by taking into account students’ sex, ethnic group, environment and free school meal eligibility, says David Best

Many retired academics embrace the freedom to fully embody their view of the serious scholar, says Bruce Macfarlane

Academia’s exacting standards on attribution are spot on. It is their inconsistent implementation that is the problem, says David Sanders

Scholars should not be walled off from mainstream biography’s playground of unlicensed fun, says Richard Bradford

A landmark analysis of several government data sets will help policymakers make more effective interventions, says Roger Smyth

Domestic league tables in the UK don’t capture the quality and accessible higher education Birkbeck provides to non-traditional students, says David Latchman 

On World Mental Health Day, Matthew Flinders calls for more open discussions about mental health struggles and their modern-day provocations 

It’s likely that someone on your campus has suffered the loss of a pregnancy so creating spaces where they feel cared for is essential, says Petra Boynton

The professional and cultural barriers faced by women in teaching-focused roles at universities are three-dimensional, says one law teacher

In light of Iran’s participation at the UN General Assembly, Sophie Gregory reflects on the hardships of Bahá’í youth expelled from the country’s universities

The REF’s guidelines for open access are very limited, but the expectations are clear and universities should show that they are upholding the principle, says Anna Grey

Universities must be clear about their ethics to avoid tripping up on the precarious path from principle to guidance

The elaborate prank that saw spoof papers accepted by social science journals reveals more about the hoaxers’ politics than the shortcomings of ‘grievance studies’, says Alison Phipps

Restricting access to university property is a sorry symptom of commercialisation that is making students poorer, laments Les Back

The research excellence framework’s reliance on hasty peer review by generalists limits sample size and accuracy, three academics argue

If academics object to students’ intended destinations, they have a right not to write, says David Palumbo-Liu

Research will suffer from the collapse of professional development into financially fixated assessments of ‘capability’, say Gill Evans and Dorothy Bishop 

Universities should rethink how they use student evaluations of teaching because of their bias towards male instructors, argue Anne Boring, Kellie Ottoboni and Philip B. Stark

Universities should ask themselves if they are perpetuating the monoculture of text-based resources and writing-based activities that put dyslexic students at a disadvantage, says Alistair McNaught

Right-wing intellectuals who fetishise ‘facts’ frustrate rather than further intellectual debate, says Ryan Coogan

Only students with the deepest pockets can afford to pay hundreds of pounds for ghostwritten work, says Anthony Smith

The US car industry shows why higher education deregulation is ultimately disastrous for product quality and consumer safety, says Jeff Frank

Durham University has cleverly positioned itself as the ‘Harry Potter university’ to attract Chinese students, says Madeleine Ferrar

Research reveals how the new Longitudinal Education Outcomes data on graduate earnings give a misleading view of graduate earnings and value for money, says Gordon McKenzie

All campus life is here

Universities in China are once again the fastest-advancing group in the THE World University Rankings. A closer look at their approaches shows why

Conservative forces forget that canons and canonical understandings always evolved as science and society have progressed, says Gurminder Bhambra

Western universities must do much more to meet high-fee-paying Chinese students’ expectations, say Lena Langosch and Wilfred Dolfsma

For most young Australians, a bachelor’s degree remains a wise investment, says Andrew Norton

Australia’s Monash University takes a multifaceted approach to preparing its graduates for an increasingly globalised and digital economy, says Margaret Gardner

Universities face a number of tough challenges, but they can rise to any test if they stick to their principles and continue their course, says Bernd Huber

Universities will be key to ensuring that China’s Belt and Road Initiative succeeds with maximum benefit and minimal disruption, argues Rocky Tuan

Claims that the UK’s counterterrorism strategy targets Muslims and harms free speech are ‘nonsense’, says Prevent coordinator Chris Sybenga

Universities serve society in innumerable and inimitable ways. But we still must earn our place in people’s hearts and minds, says Stephen Toope

In addressing divisive free speech ‘events’ and shrinking budgets, Berkeley’s Carol Christ worked with the campus community to create a new, unifying narrative

Unleashing the power of place by weaving itself firmly into the fabric of its local area made Toronto a better, more attractive institution, says Meric Gertler

Young people are rightly impatient for change, so Cape Town is using their input to reshape the curriculum and more, says Mamokgethi Phakeng

Do away with the expectation that young people will seek out universities to inform their world view and meet them on common ground, argues Ed Byrne

It’s easy to miss or undervalue the academic accomplishments of universities when they are rated on their reputations alone, argue Pam Benoit and Suzanne Austin

Where will higher education be in 2030? Our survey asks university leaders what they think the next decade holds for the sector

Giving personalised, frequent feedback to students at scale is no longer the privilege of small, highly resourced universities, says Timothy Renick 

Michigan State is applying the scientific knowledge it’s developed over 150 years to its own campus to improve student success, says June Pierce Youatt 

Countries around the world are increasingly seeing the benefits of a compromise between free fees and income-contingent loans, say Alex Usher and Robert Burroughs

The mooted merger of the universities of Adelaide and South Australia would cast a long shadow over the city’s other major university, says Gavin Moodie

Science blooms when colleagues’ ideas cross-pollinate. Impediments to free movement will lead to a disastrous withering, says Sir Keith Burnett

Training staff and students in ‘mental health first aid’ can help ameliorate the growing crisis, say Clemente Diaz and Douglas Medina

Feelings of isolation and the need to self-censor are familiar to the tens of thousands of Muslim students affected by the counterterrorism programme Prevent, says Akiqul Hoque

Senior leaders must lead the charge in changing higher education’s structural disadvantages for black and minority ethnic staff and students, say Kalwant Bhopal and Sally Hunt

While maintaining an anti-intellectual position, the far right is misrepresenting social science research to support its own agenda, observes Cynthia Miller-Idriss

A nation-wide survey has found that public opinion is on the side of student mobility and higher education, but new institutions must be built where socio-economic needs are greatest, says Jill Rutter

Conservative anger at initiatives to make campuses more inclusive to minority students is misplaced, say Kevin Singer, Laura Dahl, Matthew J. Mayhew and Alyssa N. Rockenbach

The UK’s new research mega-body has huge power to tackle long-standing inequalities, says its new diversity tsar Jennifer Rubin

The Migration Advisory Committee review showed little interest in understanding international students or how the UK labour market works, says Stanley Ipkiss

Asking social scientists to demonstrate academic impact ignores the messy reality of political lobbying, says Matthew Flinders

Although universities share a common goal, they face diverse challenges that make it unhelpful to view them as a homogeneous mass