Politics

Recent clashes over Hong Kong and Tiananmen Square have strained universities’ diplomatic sinews, says Roger Smyth

Lennard Davis wonders whether activist academics have wrongly prioritised exuberantly bad behaviour over the hard graft of working for real change

John Morgan looks at why the universities and science minister’s comeback was so short and what his exit means

Prime minister’s brother cites ‘unresolvable tension’ between ‘family loyalty and the national interest’

Chancellor’s omission of any mention of post-18 review cements impression that plans for fee cut are dead

Committee hears claim that director of research centre lost job in row over funding from foreign state

Students schedule their own classes in protest theory, political history and martial arts

Universities minister ‘needs to come out and say what he thinks’, says one vice-chancellor

Australian reviewer suggests quality and scale of scholarly output should be key factor in deciding classification

New strategy advocates a hybrid version of demand-driven funding, but acknowledges it is a long-term proposition

Exclusive survey of student voting intentions for Times Higher Education suggests party is suffering from Brexit stance, mirroring national picture

Kremlin action follows US reluctance to work with China, and comes as Moscow moves closer to Beijing

Plan to direct undergraduates toward nations of political and economic value

Productivity needs will drive taxpayer support of universities in the ‘medium term’, minister tells conference

Strikes planned, welcomes canned, visits discouraged and events cancelled as campuses brace for strife

Experts raise further concerns over excellence initiative after 14 more universities granted elite status

Sting operations counter welcoming narrative hinted at in changes to residency rules

Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes has often been at the centre of contemporary political battles over the country’s communist past

Director of Onward thinktank says polling showing public opposition to university expansion justifies shift in emphasis

Poland’s authoritarian government is routinely compared to its widely criticised counterpart in Hungary, and its university reforms sparked a wave of protest by students and academics fearful of political interference. But, one year on, are those concerns being realised? David Matthews travels to Warsaw to find out

Poland’s underperforming university system raises hard questions for those who advocate academic self-government over ‘managerialism’ 

Under pressure, state leader spreads smaller reduction over three years

Legal structure could offer opportunities for horse trading on proposed scheme

Abolishing predicted grades system would help poorer students, says Angela Rayner

Pan-continental prosperity will suffer if the UK’s near-absence from the European University project is a sign of things to come, says Martin Paul

Those fired and imprisoned for signing a 2016 statement condemning Turkish military action still have a long struggle ahead, says Mehmet Ugur

Cultivating open-mindedness and intellectual humility is the best way to combat arrogance and insouciance, says Bethan Willis

Universities, already facing upheaval on several other fronts, fear imminent plans could make it far harder to recruit students

Office for Students’ judgement that for-profit college was ‘not financially viable’ raises questions of why Department for Education extended funding access last year

Lords committee says Augar panel ‘missed mark’ in not considering how reducing tuition fees could force universities to divert research income to teaching

If universities don’t assert their expertise, demands from ministers and industry will become ever more misguided, says Dawn Freshwater

‘Distinctive Australian’ scheme will ‘buffer out unintended consequences’, architect says

Stuttering reforms and party control of academics hinder country’s extraordinary scientific rise

Conversations with students at the failed for-profit provider reveal much about its business model and the Department for Education’s judgement, writes John Morgan

Retention, graduate employment, student feedback and widening participation to guide distribution

States have rolled back funding as Washington has stepped in – and this must stop, says Louisiana State president

Tuition comprises less than half the cost of attending US universities, but taxpayers may be unwilling to cover it, says Anthony P. Carnevale

Jo Johnson is back in his old brief as England’s universities and science minister, reappointed by the prime minister, his brother Boris. John Morgan looks at his most pressing challenges – some his own creation – and his likely goals

US president’s agitations seen as having political rather than practical goals

Battling to protect online institutions, Trump administration raises risk to student dollars

Ex-European Commission official predicts ‘zero chance’ of UK joining Brussels research programmes after no-deal, with ‘going global’ and looser rules the likely alternatives

Lack of a functioning executive and threat of a no-deal Brexit have put Northern Irish universities in jeopardy: could a new university help?

Students from poorer regions who enter their local workforce after graduation should also be celebrated, says Sir David Bell

In the context of all the privations Palestinians suffer, international academic isolation is a terrible thing indeed, says David Palumbo-Liu

Law dean calls Amy Wax’s views ‘repugnant’ but does not answer demands for her removal

Gavin Williamson named education secretary and Andrea Leadsom business secretary in Boris Johnson Cabinet

UUK and Russell Group issue appeals after former shadow HE minister’s victory in Tory leadership race

Rising numbers of overseas academics have been hit with visa denials or refused entry to Palestine, scholars say

New campus after seven years of CMU operations in Rwanda raises hopes, questions of sustainability

Minority institutions wary of big candidate promises to lavish them with support

Several years on from Rhodes Must Fall, the hoped-for revolution in South African university teaching has not happened, says Saloshna Vandeyar

Provision of teacher residencies and mentoring by universities seen as key to long-term science improvement

Situation is ‘driving anxiety and fear on our campuses’, Lawrence Bacow warns top officials

Political shifts will bring funding shift from HE to FE, but universities could play into ‘politics of belonging’, former No 10 adviser says

Universities ‘on the front line’ as authoritarianism rises and other European nations may follow Hungary’s example, leaders and academics warn

As the UN reviews its Sustainable Development Goals, Åse Gornitzka and Sidsel Roalkvam argue that the push for quality education needs to go well beyond primary schools

University of Alaska cuts are just the latest example of what is probably the new normal in US political culture, says Ben Trachtenberg

The long overdue top-up to England’s quality-related funding stream is a reminder that project grants are not the only show on the beach

Student satisfaction appears to be higher with some humanities courses like history, and lower with certain STEM subjects 

The well-known economic and social benefits of higher education have been tossed aside for short-term political gain, says Steven Brint