Blog

Universities should reflect upon the intellectual life and sacrifices of South Africa’s student activists as they mark milestones, says Mashupye Maserumule 

Call for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ is scarcely better than the ‘stop arming Ukraine’ motion that led to resignations a year ago, says Christopher Phelps

Vice-chancellors can often overestimate the savings from institutional mergers and underestimate their complex challenges, says Malcolm Prowle

Strategic silence of vice-chancellors within our national debate is a mistake when the quest for truth is so central to academia, argues Sir Geoff Mulgan

Working-class undergraduates who juggle paid work with their studies are finding it difficult to devote long hours to their course, says Randall Whittaker

From Putin to Orbán, autocrats are using postcolonial theory to flood reading lists with ‘overlooked’ native authors in a drive to further xenophobic identity politics, explain Karolina Koziura, Daniel Palm and Adrian Matus

As an academic, I have found my best holidays to be anything but a vacation from intellectual life, says Lincoln Allison

Refugee student Naweed Zafary recalls harrowing scenes as the Taliban took power and thousands fought for places on the last flights out of Afghanistan

Universities of all types are embracing the earn-while-you-learn qualifications but government can do more too, says Exeter’s vice-chancellor Lisa Roberts

Speculation over imagined backstabbings and betrayals is rife but the joining of two of Australia’s universities is more of a meeting of minds than clash of clans, insist vice-chancellors Peter Høj and David Lloyd

Degrees taught in Hindi might play well with Modi fans but this shift risks IITs’ global reputation for producing outstanding graduates, says Eldho Mathews

Research, innovation and education are recognised in the European Commission president’s manifesto, but let’s assert their wider relevance, says Jan Palmowski

The OfS’ approach is evolving, partly reflecting the fact that a course’s long-term value is not always immediately obvious, says John Blake

Continued prioritisation is essential to maintain gains in student health and wellness, as well as to feed into elite sport, says Amanda Broderick

The exascale computer’s cancellation underlines the need for a long-term vision that transcends political whim, say Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield

It is heartening to have an education secretary who values universities as a public good, but public goods require public funding, says Jo Grady

Successive governments have a long history of suppressing freedom of speech, thought and association on campus, says C. Rashaad Shabab

Pension scheme members are entitled to ask why so much was lost and why the raw sewage continues to flow into rivers, says Bernard Casey

The OfS needs only to tweak its guidance in light of the considerable free-speech duties by which universities are already bound, says James Murray

The OfS’ stronger than expected registration condition on sexual harassment and misconduct comes not a moment too soon, says Anna Bull 

Bridget Phillpson’s decision to reconsider implementation will only hamper wider recognition of universities as a public good, says Abhishek Saha

Educators need to do more to help students reassess the meaning they attach to labels such as “female engineer”, says Elena Liquete

Providing skills, creating opportunity and training the teachers and nurses the UK needs: modern universities stand ready to deliver, says Rachel Hewitt

Off-campus trips have manifold benefits, especially for poorer students. We mustn’t lose them to technology or cost-cutting, says Robert Phillips

Instead of viewing GenAI only as a threat, we should embrace it as an opportunity to reform our outdated approaches, says Dorottya Sallai

We should not deprive numerous hard-pressed students of valuable flexibility merely to ensure that the ‘undeserving’ don’t skip classes, say five experts

While there are ethnic, class and gender penalties, Sean Brophy found no evidence of an extra penalty for falling into more than one category

Modern universities make up over half of the UK sector, yet their vital work flies under journalists’ and politicians’ radars, says Amanda Broderick

Persistent earning gaps by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background are unfair to individuals and a drag on the economy, says Omar Khan

The government must recognise that lower international revenues will make research costs unsustainable, says John Carroll

One of the advantages of a large majority is that there is more generous political cover for experts brought into ministerial roles, says David Willetts

The sea change in ministers’ educational backgrounds should prompt more action to get poorer students into selective universities, says Jon Datta

Without increased support, many RAs may choose to leave for other opportunities that provide more job security and benefits, says Bre-Anne Fifield

Ease of entry encourages access, and most universities have enough places to guarantee entry without requiring personal statements, says Tim Leunig

Ministry support will be vital, but a lack of political imperative could limit motivation, say Hyejin Kim, Erik Mobrand and Sylvia Schwaag Serger 

The instinct to err on the side of non-transparency is understandable, but the accused get more protection than the victims, say five experts

Institute of Physics Publishing is making innovative efforts to broaden the referee pool beyond the usual suspects, says Laura Feetham-Walker

Successful university twinning arrangements were set up remarkably quickly. They must not be allowed to peter out slowly, says Anthony Manning

The likes of Cambridge can and should open up more permanent positions without resorting to age discrimination, says Wyn Evans

If the best books aren’t REFable, UK research will appear artificially weak, say Heather Widdows, Fiona Macpherson and Simon Kirchin 

Evidence suggests that the benefits of lecture capture are coming at the cost of broader student and staff well-being, say Treasa Kearney and Liz Crolley

Students’ aspirations to succeed in the high-tech job market are reshaping Indian higher education, says Eldho Mathews

Anonymisation or even quotas could level the playing field, but fragmentation of college processes threatens a reversal in decades of gains, says Alan Baker

Rigorously and open-mindedly exploring ‘what if’ questions is more necessary than ever in a troubled world, say Brian Ball and Patrycja Kaszynska

UK universities’ image is better than many in the sector suppose, but we should be wary of being seen as profit-obsessed, says Bobby Duffy

It is surely not Gradgrindian to ask whether a subject can do without a corpus of factual knowledge and still expect students to study it, says Colin Swatridge

Perhaps AI will be a useful tool. But our obsession with every shiny new object regardless of the harm it might do makes me worry, says Melinda Zook

The less rigorous oversight of foundation courses at private providers poses a risk to the UK’s reputation for quality, says Zahid Naz

As data becomes ever more central to policy and commerce, its creation demands closer scrutiny, say Cristina Alaimo and Jannis Kallinikos

More nuanced data could help tease out why some disadvantaged students manage to buck the trend and overperform, says Nikolai Elkins

Our public exhibition on maths’ global origins aims to stimulate discussion about decolonisation and inclusion, says John Armstrong  

The Universities Accord’s call for full funding is vital to avoid over-reliance on hazardous overseas relationships, says Brendan Walker-Munro

The UK needs a skills strategy that values the full variety of training and education pathways and reflects regional needs, says Neal Juster

Undermining universities offering degrees to fund apprenticeships is poor policy. Here are some better ones, says Paul Baines 

Working with established community networks can boost the quality and choice available in food banks, say Hilda Mulrooney and four co-authors

The merged Adelaide University’s brand personality tries to find a sweet spot between proven and audacious, say Peter Høj and David Lloyd

There is ample opportunity to educate students about the nuances of history, ethics and economics. Why aren’t universities doing so, asks Harvey Graff 

ATEC must work to ensure that under-represented groups aren’t cut adrift from the knowledge economy just as it moves up a gear, says Shamit Saggar

Those of us who stay on post-study give far more to our adopted country than we have been able to give to our home nations, says Elena Rodriguez-Falcon

Whether targets of sexualised attention or audience members, students lack power to divert harmful classroom dynamics, says Mary Peterson