Feature article

Student athlete with a gold medal

Using sports storytelling to raise an institution’s profile

How the University of Stirling leverages student athletes’ stories to create impactful content and drive engagement

Greg Christison

University of Stirling

A Black man has his blood pressure taken

‘You can change the world with a haircut’: engaging communities at risk

With Black and minority ethnic communities disproportionately affected by high blood pressure, academics found innovative ways to reach them. Here’s how to launch a community outreach programme that works

Nicola Thomas

London South Bank University

Young man playing guitar in studio

Income should not determine outcomes for young musicians

If we accept the view that music education is only for the rich, it makes us complicit in stifling the life choices of talented artists, writes Jennie Henley

Jennie Henley

Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM)

A university lecturer responds to a student's question.

Build a practitioner community to embed industry experience into your courses

Bringing industry professionals into your teaching roster brings a multitude of benefits. Lesley Pender shares insights on building a community of teacher-practitioners

Lesley Pender

University of Strathclyde

Students laugh together while working on a whiteboard

Set your PhD students up with opportunities to debate and share

Creating alternative publishing opportunities and space for peer-led conversation are a vital part of the PhD research student journey. Teal Triggs launched two initiatives to do so

Teal Triggs

Royal College of Art

Illustration of female graduate in palm of robot

Is AI literacy an information skill?

To capitalise on GenAI’s strengths, and understand its limitations, students need to develop their research and critical thinking skills in practical, embedded and subject-specific ways

Emily Dott, Terry Charlton

Newcastle University

A pharmacist works on a computer

Five key tips for using AI-based simulations

With professional experiences now crucial to undergraduate pharmacy degrees, academics turned to AI simulations. Here’s what happened

Natalie Lewis

Aston University

Students standing and chatting outside of a campus building

How unlocking data maximises student support and success

See how using sophisticated dashboards and targeted interventions can enable institutions to deliver personalised, preventative, proactive and predictive student support

Aleata Alstad-Calkins

Roehampton University

Boy receives immunisation from medical professional.

Knowledge exchange as a driver of better health outcomes

A model for how universities can collaborate with public or private sector organisations and community groups to co-develop solutions to local problems

Amina Ismail , Vicki Doyle

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

An illustration of tiny figures in white coats examining a cartoon brain

Three tips when creating a one-of-a-kind undergraduate degree

Building an integrated undergraduate degree in clinical neurology offered Tim Young a blank slate to work with. Here is how he made it unique

Tim Young

University College London

A group of business students brainstorming on bean bags

Empower the next generation with an inclusive approach to enterprise education

How to enable all our students, especially those from under-represented communities, to become entrepreneurs

Paul Dwyer

University of Westminster

A group of students arm in arm

How to embed inclusion into the curriculum

From getting buy-in at the highest level within an institution to clearly communicating inclusivity goals, Liz Jones outlines the foundations for putting inclusion at the heart of the curriculum

Liz Jones

University of Leicester

LSHTM Tavistock Place

Construction with the local community: how to manage estates projects in a built-up area

Dedicating resources to community engagement from the start is a key investment for the success of estates projects and future relationships

John Starmer, Vicky Ratcliffe

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Engage Involve

A group of business students working together on a project

Best practice in building business clinics

Collective advice on setting up and running a successful business clinic from experts in entrepreneurship education around the world

Track Dinning

Liverpool John Moores University

A student withdrawing money from an ATM

Make money management matter: five rules for cost-of-living communications

A finalist for THE’s Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team of the Year award shares strategies for leveraging data and insights to help students better manage their finances

Lauren Phillips

University of Leeds

A mortarboard pencil topper

‘I’ve been a research supervisor for 35 years and I’m still learning’

How can we supervise our PhD students to give them the best chance of success? Here are seven tips to keep in mind when taking on the role

Kimberly Hutchings

Queen Mary University of London

Rack with server data storage equipment

Developing a circular economy for the data centre industry

With collaboration and stakeholder buy-in, universities can help solve global issues such as reducing e-waste and the environmental impact of internet servers

Deborah Andrews

London South Bank University

A group of people work around a computer

How to prepare students for a global working world

As universities, we need to teach our students how to operate in a global online workplace – and facilitate their opportunities to do so

Richard Sant

University of the Arts London

High school students in laboratory

Encouragement and talent development for future scientists

Secondary students need access to practical laboratory experience and career guidance. Mamta Sharma explores ways to introduce budding researchers to the lab setting and broaden scientific horizons

Mamta Sharma

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Students holding their graduation caps in the air

Working with local authorities to support asylum seekers into HE

How institutions can partner with local authorities to provide English language support to asylum seekers and refugees who wish to pursue higher education

Gabrielle Smallbone

Kingston University

Hands holding together a jigsaw depicting the Earth

Equitable international research collaboration is possible – find out how

Lessons on building a successful international research collaboration founded on trust and respect between partners

Manuel Barcia

University of Leeds

Young male with backpack looking up at a plane overhead

Measuring the environmental impact of student relocation

A simple but robust tool and methodology can help universities calculate the carbon emissions from student travel when they relocate for study

Roederer Rose Lyne, Fraser Lovie

University of Aberdeen

A teacher reads a story to her primary school class

An on-campus primary school helped to enrich the community and embed social responsibility

Establishing a university primary school made a difference in the local area and sparked a sense of social responsibility in students. Andrew Lenehan explains how he did it

Andrew Lenehan

Manchester Metropolitan University

Online student studying at her laptop

Bringing the human touch into the virtual classroom

Personalising learning experiences and building trust are just two of several strategies outlined in this resource aimed at helping teachers build supportive online learning environments

Lauren Flannery

University of East Anglia

Four students sit on a grassy lawn

How to cultivate a green campus: the journey to carbon neutrality

Achieving carbon neutrality is not an easy task but it is a necessary one. Here are four strategies to achieve it

Kay Choy, Jimmy Lam, Kenny Chan

Hong Kong Baptist University

Students sitting at their desks in class while a teacher speaks

Teach research methodology using these low-prep exercises

Use these engaging exercises to gently introduce your undergraduate students to research methods

Adrian Man-Ho Lam

The University of Hong Kong

An illustration of a man holding an umbrella while emotions rain down upon him

Psychological safety can be a positive, powerful influence on learning environments

In order for students to feel confident speaking up in class and flexing their creative muscles, educators must create a sense of psychological safety. Here are eight tips to do so

Jenny Moffett

RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

Young male Asian graphic designer working

Fostering a start-up culture among academic staff

An environment of entrepreneurship that supports academic staff will, in turn, have a positive impact on start-up-minded students. Here, Gavin Clark outlines five approaches

Gavin Clark

University of the Arts London

A lightbulb is added to a machinery process

A guide to making automation work in higher education

Implementing automation in universities can relieve staff from repetitive tasks, streamline operations and enhance the student experience. Find out how to do it and the key questions to ask at each stage

Gregor Caldow, Jennifer Robertson

University of Glasgow

Group of students working on a modern urban architecture project with renewable green energy sources

How to embed sustainability into different curricula

A framework to support discipline-appropriate sustainability education, with discipline-specific examples

Chris Preist

University of Bristol

Latin woman looking thoughtful with book

How to bring Indigenous knowledge into classrooms and curricula

Academic institutions have a mandate to engage and serve the Indigenous communities whose land they occupy, writes Edward Polanco. Here, he offers tangible techniques for amplifying these voices on campus

Edward Polanco

Virginia Tech

Healthcare workers looking at a tablet

Partnership work as a catalyst for upskilling in key employment sectors

An example of how a business school can partner with public sector and industry bodies to develop products and services that help upskill and support practice-based education

Mike Brownsell , Kirstie Simpson

University of Chester

Plastic pollution concept

The art of change: using creative research methods to solve the plastics crisis

Incorporating theatre, music and the visual arts as research tools complements analytical and qualitative approaches to environmental challenges – and goes beyond public engagement into local and global policymaking

Cressida Bowyer

The University of Portsmouth

A schoo lof fish swimming in the ocean

Embedding the SDGs into curricula via an interdisciplinary approach

Incorporating the SDGs into teaching involves facilitating project collaboration among students from different disciplines. Here are examples of how this can work in practice

Sambit Dash, Guruprasad Rao, Preetham Kumar

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

A pair of surgical scissors are passed from one member of the surgical team to another

Making educational content open access can save lives

RCSI and its partners are making training resources for surgical professions available on an open access platform to address the huge number of preventable deaths each year. Find out how you can do something similar

Eric O'Flynn, Ines Perić

RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

person using laptop in front of blackboard

AI as a catalyst for assessment innovation

University educators have an opportunity to rethink their approach to assessment, so that artificial intelligence tools support student learning without compromising academic integrity

Zheng Feei Ma, Antony Hill

University of the West of England Bristol

A wheelchair basketball player

Address the lack of research in Para sport by embedding students in doctoral programmes

The Embedded Scientist Approach places doctoral students in Para sport-focused research programmes. Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey explores the lessons she learned from implementing it

Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey

Loughborough University

Members of the Network for Persons Affected by NTDs in Liberia.

Lessons for co-producing research with affected communities

Advice on meaningfully engaging with diverse communities to co-produce research, drawn from a project looking at treatment for neglected tropical diseases in Liberia

Rosalind McCollum

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

A hand picking up a plastic bottle off the ground

Greening your university is not optional; it’s urgent

Investing in greening your institution will result in huge savings in the long run. Here are some strategies that have worked for CETYS University

Isaac Azuz

CETYS Universidad

Medical researchers in white lab coats

How to succeed as an early career researcher? Be motivated and inspire others

Pursuing a research career, especially in a competitive field such as neuroscience, requires commitment, early action, long-term goals and, above all, ongoing passion and curiosity about your field

András Horváth

Semmelweis University

A running track

Four tips for setting up a fast-track accountancy degree programme

The Flying Start programme helps students from lower socio-economic backgrounds get started on their accounting careers. Here’s four things to remember when setting up your own alternative degree pathway

Ishani Chandrasekara

Queen Mary University of London

The evolution of a paper plane from crumpled to flying form

Ways to enhance your institution’s change agility

How to involve and empower staff to make changes that can have a big impact on their roles and the institution as a whole

Kristy-Jai Chantrey

The University of Newcastle, Australia

A globe nestles in green grass

Building a sustainable future on campus

Work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals starts from the ground up. Here’s how to cultivate a greener campus

Gerry Wee

Singapore Institute of Technology

Yooung woman studying at her latop at university

Ensuring online education is inclusive and accessible to all

Creating a culture of inclusivity where every student feels welcome and listened to is paramount. Here are some ways to achieve it

Mayela Beatriz Rodríguez Romo , Martha Fabiola Espinosa Mata, Abraham Esteban Gómez Coss

Monterrey Institute of Technology

Smiling Chinese college tutor at whiteboard

Setting boundaries for teachers’ well-being

Practising self-care and saying no can help university educators manage the increasing demands of teaching and find a sustainable work-life balance

Cheong Fan

Macau University of Science and Technology

A student presenting a green initiative in front of an audience

How to include student voices in green campus initiatives

As centres of knowledge and innovation, higher education institutions have a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to lead by example in promoting sustainability and environmental awareness. Here are ways to do it

Sowparnika Pavan Kumar Attavar

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Members of Gen Z use a range of devices

For Generation Z, online courses are the future of education

What do online courses need to offer to engage Generation Z? Find out what young people want and how to make their education serve them better

Samar Abdelazim Ahmed

Dubai Medical College for Girls

Elements of innovation on a blackboard

Six actionable strategies to be a successful ambidextrous leader

Ambidextrous leadership requires not only strategic planning but also a deep understanding of the needs – current and future alike – of the research group, institution or organisation. Here are six aspects to consider in its implementation

Greta Faccio, Valentina Lorenzon

Independent consultant, Independent academic

Hands high-five in front of a leafy tree

Bridging the SDG awareness gap

Universities have a critical role to play in increasing awareness of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Here’s how to do it

James Miller, Andrew Hursthouse

University of the West of Scotland

Wilberforce House Museum, the birthplace of William Wilberforce, politician, slavery abolitionist and social reformer.

A model of authentic knowledge exchange to advance social inclusion

An example of how knowledge exchange can help remedy social injustice and bring forward previously overlooked perspectives, based on a project at Hull’s Wilberforce House Museum

Nick Evans

University of Hull