Blog

The reawakening of political activism within academia sparked by the pensions strike will reinvigorate scholarship, says Jana Bacevic

Academic sleuths have used investigative skills and Twitter to tell the real story behind proposed pension cuts, says Sherrill Stroschein

Introducing a ‘consumer-style ratings system’ for degrees has the potential to cause terrible damage to universities and society in general, argues Cathy Shrank

Better-resourced universities are the key to achieving the government’s ambition for a knowledge-based economy, says David Mba

Having well-resourced and world-leading university research is crucial if the UK is to succeed as a knowledge economy, says Michael Drew

The government must end its absurd and self-defeating stance against the National Union of Students, says Ruth Wilkinson

Pension cuts have been presented as a matter-of-fact and inevitable response to an enormous deficit, but this position has started to unravel, says Jan Machielsen

There are very few outlets for women to work together against unhelpful concepts that hold back female progression in academia, says Elisabeth Julie Vargo

Where you live and where your family comes from still determine your access to a university education, says London Metropolitan University vice-chancellor John Raftery

Doing a part-time doctoral degree while working full-time is rewarding, but it can be demanding, says Pat Culhane

Diplomatic dinner celebrating US-Australian relations is only the entrée to a full-blown battle over funding cuts that has put the demand-driven system on ice, says John Ross

Students in the UK who are angered and alienated by Brexit must find new ways to collaborate with their European counterparts, says Laura Chiorean

The university strikes are a militant campaign that attacks the very heart of learning as the union propaganda makes clear, says John Marenbon

Historians must not let Boris Johnson and other armchair scholars take centre stage in their discipline, says Tanja Bueltmann

With state intervention back in vogue, and publishers’ profit margins still sky-high, journals could be the next monopoly to come under scrutiny

Too many partisan board members are causing the university pensions dispute to drag on, says Adrian Bell

Don’t blame university support staff for not joining the strike over pensions – it is because too often they are left out of the conversation, says Fiona Whelan

Talk of making arts degrees cheaper than science courses disregards the mix of disciplines that creative industries demand, says Bashir Makhoul

Pensions industry must use academia’s knowledge to create more imaginative solutions to global pensions crisis, argues Lionel Martellini

Ahead of University Mental Health Day on 1 March, Robin Brinkworth argues that institutions must become far more open and accountable on how they are handling student problems

Warwick's vice-chancellor Stuart Croft explains how radical government action might help to avert the pensions strike affecting half of all UK universities

Extraordinary demand for a conference on how universities support staff with invisible disabilities highlights how ableism remains widespread in academia, argue Jennifer Leigh and Nicole Brown

Free Speech University Rankings coordinator Tom Slater says academics are peddling myths and smears to downplay the shocking level of censorship on campus

Nottingham Trent University’s chair of governors Neil Goulden explains why institutions need to do more to regain public esteem

Academics do not want to damage students' education but strike action is the only option left to protect pensions, says Sam Marsh

Alexander Clark and Bailey Sousa urge academics to leave their ‘fixed mindsets’ behind if they want their careers to flourish

The prime minister’s review of higher education is an exercise in self-harm that will also inflict damage on universities, says Patrick McGhee

Threats to dock pay from university staff working only their hours during the USS pensions dispute ignore academics’ unpaid hours, says Will Pooley

Murky cross-subsidy between university courses must be addressed by the government’s review of higher education funding, argues David Robinson

Former education secretary Justine Greening explains her plans for a graduate contribution system that funds universities in the same way that national insurance covers state pensions

Launching the post-18 education review in Derby tells you all you need to know about why yet another look at HE is vital for the prime minister’s political future

The University of Essex’s vice-chancellor explains why he disagrees with Universities UK’s position on USS pension reform

Making arts and humanities degrees cheaper than science courses would be 'cultural heresy' and 'economic barbarism', argues the University of Hertfordshire's vice-chancellor Quintin McKellar

Sheffield Hallam University's vice-chancellor Chris Husbands explains why cutting tuition fees would harm social mobility and why variable fees are also a bad idea

Ahead of the prime minister’s speech on reforming university funding, Charles B. W. Prince suggests four routes to improving student finance

Getting professional experience puts postgraduates in situations that they are unlikely to have faced in their university life, says Alfredo Cumerma

The evidence used to compile Spiked Online’s Free Speech Rankings is not to be trusted, says Carl Thompson

Sarah Stevens looks at how universities are endeavouring to deliver the skills and learning the UK needs

Compound interest rates of 6.1 per cent on student loans are unfair and create a debt trap responsible for today’s worsening mental health crisis, says Estelle Clarke

The ‘leaky pipeline’ metaphor for the lack of women at senior levels of academia can demotivate those whose professional paths meander, says Aileen Fyfe

A law graduate’s attempt to sue the University of Oxford for £1 million over ‘inadequate teaching’ sheds far more light on how students learn than current TEF metrics, says Gill Evans

Successful trials of a robot tutor should encourage universities to ask which roles can never be replaced by artificial intelligence, argues Robert MacIntosh

Attending the criminal trial of a dissident scholar brings home the inhumanity of Turkey’s academic purge, says Masi Noor, and underlines the importance of showing solidarity

Universities must resist the urge to make knee-jerk cuts after disappointing application numbers – better times are on the horizon and we must be prepared, says Zahir Irani

New Office for Students guidance hints at a more adversarial approach to sector that most wish to avoid, says Gill Evans

Accepting that your doctoral studies will sometimes take second place to family commitments is part of the journey of a PhD student mother, says Annabelle Workman

Universities must dramatically increase their levels of technical training to close the skills gap and deliver social justice, says Robert Halfon

Growing interest in the student mental health crisis is welcome, but it is overburdened hourly paid lecturers who are most at risk of stress in universities, says Sam Christie

Qatar is improving its university system faster than any other world economy, explains Cesar Wazen

Universities must do more to tackle the class privilege that is still rife in the ranks of academia, says Louise Morley

Long-held beliefs about the UK’s hierarchy of institutions do not stand up to scrutiny, and hold back progress, argues Edward Peck

As Theresa May concludes her trade visit to China, Tim Bradshaw reflects on how research-intensive universities have paved the way for increased East-West trade

Explore the latest offering in our teaching-focused rankings portfolio, says THE’s data and analytics director Duncan Ross 

The huge economic benefits of international students to the US economy must not be ignored by President Trump, warns one US university leader

It is incumbent on the government to help build better ties between companies such as Google and the university sector, says Alex Acland

Not every course takes three years to complete, says Charles Prince, so we must look at ways to deliver accelerated programmes

The University of London’s Leading Women campaign is celebrating the pioneering women who joined the university 150 years ago, writes Philip Carter 

Dorothy Bishop wishes people would stop reinforcing the idea that universities are places of privilege where the staff sit idly around thinking ‘great thoughts’

The teaching of ethics in drama overlooks how theatre-makers should be treated, and how they should treat one another, while doing their jobs, says Daniel Foster 

David Pitt-Watson and Hari Mann believe there could be a way to settle the ongoing pensions row amicably