Politics

President Jacob Zuma says he ‘understands the difficulty faced by students’ as demonstration also held outside South African High Commission in London

A new paper finds that more than half of economic studies are unreproducible. But there could be even deeper issues with the discipline, says David Matthews

President Megan Dunn faces battle over campaigning tactics as leftwingers increase power

Are the continent’s for-profits exploiting students or have they helped to widen access?, asks Chris Havergal

Discussion of governance bill largely off agenda at SNP conference despite worries over ‘public sector status’ for universities and warnings about financial impact

From the battle against Ebola to climate change strategy, research insights from a wide range of disciplines are proving invaluable, says Mark Walport

As China's president visits the UK, heads of UCL, LSE and the Royal Society all warm to his slogan "the Chinese Dream"

V-cs fail to oppose repayment threshold plan attacked as ‘unfair retrospective change’ by GuildHE

Above-inflation deal for university staff still lags behind pay increases seen elsewhere in the UK this year

Home Office policy viewed as ‘racial discrimination’ by applicants, conference told

Open letter to Hefce and UUK chiefs attracts 169 signatures as quality assessment and TEF proposals debated

The Chinese president is visiting several of the UK’s top universities. But would they thrive in China? 

University of the Witwatersrand suspends proposed increase, as University of Cape Town is among those forced to suspend classes

Party's conference also hears how MP was 'riled' by Jo Johnson Oxbridge comment

Times are changing – and university boards need to understand what their executive are doing about it, writes Nick Hillman

GuildHE declares ‘absolute opposition’ to move, saying it goes against assurances to Parliament and students

High-profile visiting professors at King’s Policy Institute include Margaret Hodge, David Willetts and Charles Clarke

Lack of enthusiasm for Labour £6K fees policy could have been factor, says Hepi report

Sorana Vieru also questions motivations of academic establishment ‘cartel’ when opposing metrics

Concerns also raised over ‘reckless’ plans to advance market entry and exit in England

Business secretary responds to fears that 2017 is too soon to bring in new teaching excellence framework

President responds to wave of violence at campuses across country

‘Scientists for EU’ also issues warning on research funding

Russell Group institutions say government is wrong to assume that over-30s are in a strong financial position

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson says universities ‘hate’ the SNP bill and claims it threatens to end their charitable status

Academics debate whether non-subject-specific exams could be used to measure ‘learning gain’ in English higher education

Gene Grossman says restrictions on globalising the academy are ‘hugely damaging’

Interim chief executive Douglas Blackstock warns teaching excellence framework will lack credibility without external assessment

Department’s 250,000 ‘credibility interviews’ in two years questioned after ‘unjustified’ refusals to students

Hanging too many measures on a bill can cause it to topple over, argues Nick Hillman

Deeper academic collaboration between Cuba and the United States has now been put on the agenda

Andrew Hamilton warns politicians against ‘false economies’ in his final annual speech

Higher education Green Paper due in the next few weeks, says minister at Conservative Party conference

Home secretary takes swipe at university ‘lobbyists’ but no mention about speculation that she has lost support of Cameron on students being included in net migration count

Former universities minister criticises colleagues by pointing out irony that to cut participation, it is affluent South where numbers would need to be cut

John Morgan blogs from the Conservative Party conference in Manchester

The Labour Party’s lack of a higher education policy could leave the sector at the mercy of perils far greater than the teaching excellence framework, argues Martin McQuillan

Berkeley chancellor says great public institutions can support their missions by looking for funding elsewhere

New education minister Simon Birmingham announces at THE summit in Melbourne that controversial policy will not come in next year

The good, the bad and the offbeat – the academy through the lens of the national press

Nobel prizewinner makes comments in run-up to November spending review

New shadow minister Gordon Marsden also warns TEF must not be ‘back door’ to removing fee cap

New shadow higher education minister, Gordon Marsden, also warns of ‘TEF apartheid’

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz says a lot of UK research would be reduced to ‘irrelevance’ in the event of Brexit

John Morgan looks at the latest spending review developments

University’s v-c and deputy also raise concerns about teaching excellence framework’s timescale, choice of metrics and impact overseas

Former Labour education secretary defends his top-up fees policy and attacks ‘unacceptable’ coalition changes, as he starts King’s College London role

The good, the bad and the offbeat – the academy through the lens of the national press

Women and students from poorer backgrounds to be hardest hit, says Sutton Trust analysis

Term in office marred by protests against outsourcing and suspension of the ‘Sussex Five’

Former head of No 10 Policy Unit to be professor of public policy at the university

Exams could measure 'learning gain' but may also form part of planned teaching excellence framework

Project to measure learning outcomes globally could have got off the ground ‘if UK had signed on’

John Morgan looks at the differences between Cambridge and Oxford on the £9,000 tuition cap – and the idea of ‘going private’

Jo Johnson and George Osborne among MPs targeted by campaigners

Funding council role could be taken on by other bodies, according to lead civil servant on Browne review

Stance of Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, who calls fee rise linked to TEF ‘contentious’, appears to contrast with that of Oxford counterpart

BIS aims to step up competition for universities from new providers – but questions remain about impact on UK higher education

Physicist warns that the UK’s high scientific output is based on investment made ‘decades’ ago

Former business secretary’s book says PM cannot move Theresa May ‘an inch’ and reveals Lib Dems had plan to protect higher education and science budgets under new coalition