Mike Cole and Sara C. Motta defend the record of post-Chávez Venezuela, a country that offers a vision of genuine participatory democracy in stark contrast to the West’s cynical politics
Scotland must stand against tuition fees and preserve universal state-supported access to higher education or risk a return to Dickensian darkness, argues Kate Smith
Managers may promote the use of technology in teaching purely with a view to saving money, but students want face-to-face interaction with inspirational teachers they can admire
Librarians remain an often unseen and unappreciated element of good teaching and research. Tara Brabazon interviews an extraordinary one about the challenges the profession faces at the front line of scholarship in the 21st century
Jerome de Groot’s Consuming History offers a forensic examination of modern culture’s sentimental, simplistic repackaging of the past. Tara Brabazon admires its corrective qualities
The Browne Review’s narrow economic approach will leave vital non-STEM subjects at the whim of fad and fashion and ultimately undermine the academy, argues Gerald Pillay
@Lord_Browne gained a following by poking fun at UK higher education’s upheavals. Now silenced by Twitter, he tells Sarah Cunnane about real universities, the trouble with students and how many Russell Group v-cs it takes to change a light bulb
Harold Innis was a professor at the same institution for decades – but while he remained steadfastly local and empirical, he probed the expansive variables of space and time. Tara Brabazon reveres the Canadian historian and economist
The coalition’s qualified support for science recognises that universities are the ‘jewels’ in the UK’s economic crown, argues Paul Clark. But the huge cuts to non-STEM teaching require decisions to be made about Lord Browne’s plans – and quickly
Across the academy, scholars must stand by their colleagues, especially those deemed ‘non-priority’, and assert the value of all subjects in enriching our lives, argues Keith Burnett
The CSR proposes shifting the burden of university spending from the state to the student. The academy must probe coalition weaknesses and stop the plans before it’s too late, argues Pam Tatlow
In a time of shrinking funding, librarians’ savvy use of time- and space-shifting podcasts can aid diverse groups of students and scholars and highlight valuable resources, argues Tara Brabazon
Alan Ryan proposes that there should be no cap on tuition fees, grants for the talented poor should return and universities should lose their safety net