Opinion

With interest in Ralph Miliband’s work high after the Mail’s attack, could Marxism regain academic ascendency? asks Martin McQuillan

More and more prestigious US liberal arts colleges are making it voluntary for applicants to submit standardised test scores and say they will not favour the high achievers who do submit. These institutions hardly lack for excellent applicants. What’s up?

Steve West warns that vice-chancellors’ duty to engage in debate is not straightforward

Gareth Williams laments the decline of higher education research since its heyday following an influential report

Weekly transmissions from the blogosphere

Shoddy treatment of foreign students plays into the hands of continental rivals taking us on at our own anglophone game

Malcolm Gillies hesitates before marking any documents ‘For your eyes only’

David Latchman welcomes reforms for restoring funding for some upskilling students, but argues the government should go further

Teachers will be motivated to improve if internal assessments are made public, says John Colley

Douglas Anderson on the results of his active approach to pedagogy

The ‘golden triangle’ is a ringing success in the World University Rankings, but the UK needs every region to play its part

An ‘unconference’ inspires Kevin Fong to rethink his lecture material

If the line you have drawn in the sand is crossed, resign

Emma Rees offers a time-sensitive account of the start of term

After the hype is over, e-learning will be the norm, predicts Stephen Haggard

Weekly transmissions from the blogosphere

Emran Mian on the questions that bothered him while working on the Browne Review, and which bother him still

Weekly transmissions from the blogosphere

Scott Armstrong’s 2013 Max Perutz Prize-winning essay on xenon’s potential to save lives

Critics of The Satanic Verses lost the battle but are winning the war, warns Dennis Hayes

Sally Feldman on students’ transition from adolescence to adulthood

Harvard’s huge fundraising and the US’ big lead in Moocs show that we can only learn from the American ‘can-do’ spirit

Generalists on fair terms would offer the flexibility the sector needs, argues Philip Roddis

Reform must go all the way, argues Bill Rammell

Weekly transmissions from the blogosphere

Anthony Seldon says the best way to improve teaching in universities is through tough appraisals based on student feedback

Christopher Bigsby offers some words of advice

A weighted approach is the best bet for assessment, say Andrew Oswald and Daniel Sgroi

Vince Cable’s uncertainties about funding reform suggest the contingent, ad hoc nature of coalition policymaking

Party conference season is upon us but there may be little dissent expressed over the fees status quo, despite its dangers

I am about to begin my 20th year of teaching in the UK: 12 years at Lancaster University and now in my eighth year at the University of Aberdeen

Alan Ryan reflects on the lack of uniformity in salaries for leaders of American higher education institutions

More government cash is the only way to cut student costs, argue Rudy Fichtenbaum and Hank Reichman

Freedom of demand but not supply, bureaucracy and Stalinist pay deals make progress almost impossible, says Sir Stuart Etherington

Weekly transmissions from the blogosphere

Meetings are an inescapable annoyance for most academics, but there are ways to make them more tolerable, John Kaag says

Weekly transmissions from the blogosphere

The growth in zero-hours contracts threatens the reputation of our universities and the morale of their staff

Felipe Fernández-Armesto on two undergraduates’ stairways to heaven (via Cincinnati)