Impact and engagement

Holberg Prize winner Sheila Jasanoff says policy implications of technological progress deserve far greater study

Three decades after the abolition of the binary divide between universities and polytechnics, some commentators still lament the supposed loss of locally focused vocational education. But even as the political winds buffet them, do post-92s offer the solution to the UK’s skills problem? John Morgan reports

While all US states exempt non-profit organisations, communities under financial stress renew push for campuses to contribute voluntarily

Flagship campus resumes full autumn admissions plans after legislature exempts it from environmental ruling, but promises fixes to housing crisis

Police, politicians, doctors, cleaners and school students share Southern Cross campus as an emergency base

Any attempt to address regional inequalities must recognise the role of post-92 universities as anchor institutions, says Ian Campbell

Newly elected Sorbonne president Nathalie Drach-Temam says scholars will not back away from controversial subjects and that she has no desire to profit from British academia’s Brexit woes

South Yorkshire town without university plots recovery from deindustrialisation via innovation and skills ‘ecosystem’, winning OECD praise

THE research finds that high share of global institutions fail to provide relevant documentation, despite claiming to have numerous measures aimed at supporting women

Levelling-up plans for ‘innovation accelerators’ bring hope for local decisions on R&D, but warnings against Whitehall’s ‘Stanford-Silicon Valley’ concept

If just one in 20 supported technologies hits paydirt, new fund will pay for itself, says STEM lobby

A ‘dashboard’ of metrics for assessing science communication could help generate 100 million hours a year of evidence-charged ‘dialogue’

2022 winner brews up a fungi-based love story with a lot of help from his friends

Institutions across a record 110 territories take part, with Pakistan and Thailand among those significantly increasing the number of submissions

The Covid experience has strengthened common values and accelerated unification in European higher education, says Ferruccio Resta

The grip of Silicon Valley on commerce and culture is huge and ever-growing. But as concerns mount about tech firms’ ethics, is there anything that universities – with vastly lower research and salary budgets – can do to put them on a more responsible trajectory? Four experts give their views

City residents fighting student overcrowding win order that would slice planned freshmen class by a third

A publisher’s move to correct the undue influence of pro-Israel groups on a history textbook shows the value of engagement, says John Chalcraft

Furore over political interference shows no sign of abating, as government presses ahead with research commercialisation agenda

All types of institution must be welcome if new funder is to achieve its true potential, sector groups say

The UK government’s White Paper is a good start but needs to do more to link local learning with local needs, says Marius Ostrowski 

Paper says ‘too often colleges and universities have been pitted against each other’

Inhaling one another’s insights could help scholars assuage public confusion about this crucial but confusing concept, says Jacques Berlinerblau

Fifth of respondents to major global survey said universities were ‘unimportant’ in fight against Covid-19

Pay, promotions and intellectual property protections set for ‘refinement’ under new action plan

But critics say windfall won’t compensate for the money stripped from basic research

Even institutions that are engaging with the SDGs as a whole are ignoring their responsibilities to promote sustainable agriculture, argue Wayne Nelles and Supawan Visetnoi

Significant additional funding needed to realise Canberra’s commercialisation goals, say scientists

Analysis of global database of policy documents suggests projects, especially in natural and social science, have widespread impact

The publication of three Nature papers demonstrates that money is no substitute for good ideas, open science and collaboration, says Andrea Morello

Researchers decry ‘ridiculous’ travel for 30-minute interviews and ask colleagues and funders to commit to flying less

Trudeau government set to fulfil campaign promise for version of legendary US innovation agency, amid mixed expert assessment of its wisdom

Adapting and adopting US approaches to commercialisation offer an opportunity for the UK, says Chris Loryman

Northern Powerhouse Partnership appeals to universities to follow Sheffield Hallam’s lead on pandemic mentoring for secondary pupils

Pushing the ARC to focus on commercialisation neglects the complex interdependency between basic and applied research, says Duncan Ivison

French president seeks to rejuvenate thinking about common continental identity

The pandemic has demonstrated that there are broad deficiencies in quantitative reasoning skills even within the academy, says David Sanders

UK higher education is in robust shape, but it must be willing to build multiple bridges in 2022, says David Bell

Networks such as Universitas 21 facilitate mutual support to meet net zero targets, say Tan Eng Chye and Anton Muscatelli

Conscripting industry players into research assessment roles will also turn the grant application process into ‘Frankenstein’s monster’

Persuasion is everywhere, but universities could do a public service by communicating the messy, uncertain truth more widely, says Michael Blastland

European University Association survey also highlights importance of increasing staff support and management buy-in

Dirk Brockmann, branded a ‘lockdown maker’ by Bild, says scientists must make clear the uncertainty in their advice

Emily Shuckburgh and Alyssa Gilbert, co-chairs of the COP26 Universities Network, draw the lessons from two years of collective effort

Leaders prioritising regional impact above competition, while significant numbers consider mergers, annual PA Consulting survey suggests

Diversifying income stream also makes institutions less exposed to possible government cuts, say Ian Matthias and Mike Boxall

Studying institutional success stories is socially useful and has nothing to do with selling out, say Matthew Flinders and Paul ’t Hart

The effects of gentrification and displacement as neighbourhoods are transformed into vibrant hubs of creativity shouldn’t be ignored, says Costas Spirou

As ministers prepare White Paper, South Yorkshire Futures programme reaching neglected suburbs and towns could be model for putting policy into practice

Trust in scientists rose in the UK at a faster rate than the global average during the pandemic, Wellcome Trust finds

The UK’s whole-genome sequencing project could spark a global step change in the treatment of rare diseases, says Damian Smedley

Estates directors complain about academics wanting offices to be ‘toasty warm’ around the clock despite visiting for only a couple of hours a week

Universities support gentle touch on nudging researchers to make climate-friendly decisions

Tens of millions of dollars on offer for institutions that walk their commercialisation talk

The LSE director on the institution’s green strategy, the importance of social scientists working with industry and the advantages of being ‘different’

Research that is neither rigorous nor insightful serves no one, say Stefan Stremersch, Nuno Camacho and Russell Winer

Equity challenges loom, but solidifying evidence of value brings academic stature to science of partnering with the public

Graduate networks are the perfect launch vehicle for systemic voluntary efforts to improve society, say Michael Madison and Martin Skladany

Shifting fields takes courage, but if a tenured professor can’t take the leap to address the ecological emergency, who can, asks Adam Aron

Universities face ‘reckoning’ on societal relevance akin to last major transformation after Second World War, says Harvard professor on Unesco commission