Europe

Ineffective communication concept

The perils of unheard policy

Effective communication is a core component of successful policymaking. Whether you’re a policy professional or working in communications, how you convey your message can determine whether your ideas thrive or fade

Alistair Sackley

University of Southampton

Students fist bump across a table

Equip students with interdisciplinary skills for the future with the Inner Development Goals

To navigate today’s complex challenges, students need more than just knowledge – they need transformative skills. Here’s how to embed the Inner Development Goals into your teaching

Debby Gerritsen, Rosanne van Wieringen , Belle Jansen, Jasper ter Schegget, Linda de Greef, Katusha Sol

University of Amsterdam

Students sitting together in a library

What matters to students’ sense of belonging?

Using an intersectional and decolonial lens and fostering the formation of a discipline-specific identity are some of the ways to make belonging the cornerstone, rather than merely an outcome, of higher education EDI initiatives

Salma Al Arefi

University of Leeds

A teacher standing next to a blackboard

Want to teach during your PhD? Here’s what you should know

How to prepare for your first teaching experience, manage your time and keep students engaged in class

Marios Kremantzis, Rushana Khusainova

The University of Bristol

Two researchers in white coats high five

The university support services that help demonstrate research impact

Library and knowledge transfer services are just two of the institutional resources available to help academics show the impact of their research. Find out which tools to use and when

Tugce Ataci

Université Paris-Est Créteil

A robot hand ticking check boxes on a piece of paper

Get students on board with AI for marking and feedback

AI can potentially augment feedback and marking, but we need to trial it first. Here is a blueprint for using enhanced feedback generation systems and gaining trust

Isabel Fischer

The University of Warwick

PhD supervision

Working in partnership with PhD students to enhance postgraduate research culture

With guidance on the REF 2029 assessment of People, Culture and Environment just published, how might UK universities’ approach to partnership with postgraduate research students demonstrate their engagement with the factors said to enable positive research culture?

Maisha Islam , Fabien Littel, Nandini Das

University of Southampton

Multiracial group of young people

Unlocking minority students’ potential with an asset model approach

How can we tackle the gaps in attainment and outcomes between racialised ethnic minority and white students? This resource shares best practice based on running positive interventions for black and South Asian students

Hemisha Harji, Gemma Francis

Loughborough University

A tense rope in a tug of war

How to balance tension in interdisciplinary teaching and learning

An interdisciplinary approach to programme development comes with inherent tensions, which need to be balanced and worked through. Here are our tips

Adam Matthews

University of Birmingham

Frosty footprints in grass

The wintering of universities

The fallow moments of retreat are necessary to bring about spring. For universities, we must use this winter to think about what it is we do, writes Katie Normington

Katie Normington

De Montfort University

Students work together in an outdoor setting

Give students the skills to communicate across disciplines

In sustainability education, inter- and transdisciplinary teaching alone is not enough – students need to develop the skills to learn in a cross-disciplinary way. Co-creation could be the answer.

Julia Myatt

University of Birmingham

Vibe Lounge event at Turner Sims at the University of Southampton

How civic arts programmes can make students feel welcome

Empowering students to co-create music events with peers can foster a sense of belonging in their university and city. Here’s how a student-community collective breathed new life into a 50-year-old venue

Jessica Santer, Carley Divish

University of Southampton

Students working on a project

Improving assessments through industry collaboration

How to build and maintain industry relationships and coordinate effective project-based assessments for MBA students

Maninder Singh

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

African colleagues at a conference session

International research needs international research professionals

When researchers in poorer countries are expected to deliver programmes to the exacting standards of funders in the Global North, it makes international collaboration more difficult. Here, Mary Ryan calls for skills development initiatives to align global aspiration and reality

Mary Ryan

University of Glasgow

Students talk with their lecturer

Four things to consider to create a safe and inspiring interdisciplinary learning environment

With interdisciplinary teaching, we need to focus on the ‘how’ as well as the ‘what’. Focus on these four elements of your course design to create a space where integration and interdisciplinarity can flourish

Jessica Oudenampsen

Utrecht University

podcast graphic

THE podcast: the pros and cons of AI in higher education

How should universities manage the rapid uptake of artificial intelligence across all aspects of higher education? We talk to three experts about AI’s impact on teaching, governance and the environment

Shaolei Ren, José Antonio Bowen, Shushma Patel

University of California, Riverside, Bowen Innovation Group, De Montfort University

A student delivering a presentation

Three alternative assessments that build managerial skills

Personal development discussions, presentations and peer coaching help build essential communication skills and emotional intelligence. These tips will make them effective

Michelle Trottier, Alison Sydenham, Julie Pepper

The University of Exeter

Students working on an interdisciplinary project

Can you teach interdisciplinarity in 10 weeks?

Interdisciplinarity is an ambitious and rewarding research process, but how realistic can we be in a 10-week module? Here is how to frame the task, structure the process and balance workloads

Simon Scott

University of Birmingham

Students celebrating graduation

Market orientation must be an institution-wide endeavour

As higher education becomes increasingly global, universities must adopt a market-orientated philosophy, balancing student needs, national priorities and competitive differentiation, writes Emily Owen

Emily Owen

THE Consultancy

Filing cabinet drawers open

Tap the mine of library data to help enhance your courses

University libraries offer a rich well of data for course enhancement teams, on everything from student engagement to which resources they’re using most. Here’s how to make the most of it

Steve Briggs, Carly Ramirez-Herelle , Jo Myhill

University of Bedfordshire

Pathway from PhD to healthcare leadership

Beyond the classroom: from PhD preparation to leadership

A foundational pathway that nurtures future leaders in healthcare and scientific innovation produces students who are not only ready for their PhD journey but emerge as skilled professionals and researchers, write Zoltán Benyó and Attila Szijártó

Zoltán Benyó, Attila Szijártó

Semmelweis University

A professor writing on a whiteboard

What can module leaders learn from Toyota?

How to use the plan-do-check-act cycle to improve student success, satisfaction and grades

Sercan Demiralay

Nottingham Trent University

An illustration of a robot hand supporting a human brain

How to integrate AI into strategy and business education

Incorporate AI into your teaching or ignore it and hope it fades from view? Let’s balance these two attitudes by raising our expectations of students

Guillaume Carton , Julia Parigot

EMLyon Business School, Institut Supérieur de Gestion

People sat around a table slotting cogs together

How can we assess interdisciplinarity?

Effectively assessing interdisciplinarity involves encouraging students to ask the right questions and critically evaluating the quality of the knowledge created, explains Simon Scott

Simon Scott

University of Birmingham

Young businesspeople in suits

Should universities meet all industry demands?

With higher education institutions adapting their programmes to prepare students for future jobs, they risk producing corporatised graduates to a detriment of innovation or even business’ best interests, writes Stéphane Bouchonnet

Stéphane Bouchonnet

École Polytechnique

Middle-aged male patient with female doctor

Evaluating the impact of patient and public involvement in health research

Measuring the impact of involving patients and the public in healthcare research is less about proving that the practice is a ‘good thing’ and more about finding ways to do it better, writes Gary Hickey. Here, he shares eight key considerations

Gary Hickey

University of Southampton

The inside of a university library

White privilege doesn’t exist for working-class men in higher education

Consider social class a protected characteristic and remove financial barriers to make HE accessible to white, working-class men, writes Mark Butterick

Mark Butterick

University of Leeds

Young people making a movie with phone

Active, flipped, micro, virtual learning: a toolbox for interdisciplinary teaching

Young engineers need interdisciplinary skills more than ever to communicate science clearly, both to inform the public and to protect shared resources such as the environment. Here are lessons from a cross-course project

Martin Morgeneyer, Esteban Zúñiga Domínguez

Université de Technologie de Compiègne

A focus group

How to build a citizen science research culture

Practical advice for building inclusive and innovative research cultures that prepare students for real-world challenges

Aadhi Agilan, Sam O’Keefe, Gareth Bilton

University of Chester

Hands tearing off the letter "t" from the word "can't "

Fostering an ‘I can’ attitude in students

Challenging assumptions about competency and student independence and promoting self-reflection can foster agency, writes Megan Jones

Megan Jones

The University of East Anglia

AI and creativity concept

‘Generative AI is making our students more creative than ever’

The real opportunity of AI isn’t automation, it’s the potential to democratise innovation, writes Ramona Pistol. And teaching practices need to catch up to this reality

Ramona Pistol

University of Hertfordshire

A teacher giving a student feedback

The power of effective feedback for early-career educators

How can assessors improve educators’ ability to give feedback that influences students’ motivation, engagement and achievement?

Jennie Fox

The University of Exeter

Students in a university lecture hall

Tackling declining attendance with the ‘show up’ mindset

A model that instils in students a commitment to ‘showing up’ from day one includes practical strategies for improving attendance and fostering long-term engagement

Maya Cara, Nina Seppala

University College London

Two toy robots network

Five key stages when embedding AI networking tools

The Ask an Alum AI tool is helping current students connect with alumni, develop networks and benefit from career advice. Here’s how to embed a digital networking tool

Wallis Spence

The London School of Economics and Political Science

Female students sitting along in lecture hall

Empty classrooms and disconnected students in the age of AI

Universities face an urgent need to accelerate change in how they teach – and think about teaching – to reconnect students’ digital lifestyles with the way they learn, write Nic Fair and Larisa Yarovaya

Nicholas Fair , Larisa Yarovaya

University of Southampton

Students learning about sustainability

Three ways to ensure you are teaching for lasting societal impact

Multidisciplinary courses, applied learning and personalisation will all help business schools prepare graduates to serve the needs of the global community. Baback Yazdani explains how to make them work

Baback Yazdani

Nottingham Trent University

podcast graphic

THE podcast: a brighter future for academic publishing

Hear from two academics who are developing publishing solutions that encourage and underpin quality research practices and improve access to scholarly work

Paul Ayris, Philipp Koellinger

University College London, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

A jumble of everyday objects, including a calculator

Use everyday objects to educate student teachers

By using simple, familiar items and fostering open dialogue, we can encourage critical reflection in our students, transforming traditional teaching models into more inclusive learning experiences

Daniel Gutiérrez-Ujaque

University of Lleida

A webinar with multiple participants

Tips for creating and delivering effective educational webinars

Strategies that incorporate interactive elements and rules setting to help teachers design engaging webinars

Lauren Flannery

The University of East Anglia

Young woman working at laptop

Beyond Chat: how AI teaching assistants are transforming student support

Pedagogically integrated AI is like having knowledgeable support that understands course materials and objectives and, most importantly, can guide students towards deeper learning, writes Thorsten Fröhlich

Thorsten Fröhlich

LIBF

Clapperboard in front of greenery

Changing the climate of teaching: embedding sustainability into film and media studies

Research-led teaching can bring educators’ work and passions into the classroom, making topics such as climate change less overwhelming for students and linking learning to future skills. Here are five key takeaways

Malcolm Cook

University of Southampton

An academic using AI tools in her research

Here are seven AI tools you should be using for your teaching and research

AI can assist with idea generation, data analysis and mind-mapping, among others. Here are some tools that should be on any academic’s radar

Natalie K. D. Seedan

The University of the West Indies

A team work on a research project round a table

The power of participatory podcasts as a research method

Instead of seeing podcasting as an alternative output, producing a series with a group of youth curators helped Abigail Harrison Moore and Lauren Theweneti understand how significant it can be for participatory research

Abigail Harrison Moore, Lauren Theweneti

University of Leeds, Sheffield Hallam University

Man sitting among piles of papers

‘Academic writing equals chaos’

If you are stalled in your latest writing project, Glenn Fosbraey shares three tips for breaking through blocks, getting organised and finishing the final draft

Glenn Fosbraey

University of Winchester

A young woman uses sign language

British sign language users deserve a place in higher education

BSL users are under-represented in academia. What can we do to foster an inclusive environment for them?

Astrid Smallenbroek

University of the West of Scotland

Illustration of scientists passing test tube

Researcher speed-dating: developing strategic collaborations with international partners

From meeting online to forming long-term relationships, researchers’ shared projects can foster stronger international partnerships between universities

Joanna Daaboul

Université de Technologie de Compiègne

Hands type on a laptop

Anatomy of an academic book proposal

Pitch your book to publishers with an irresistible proposal. Here are all the elements you’ll need

Richard Baggaley

The University of Westminster

Two students smiling to camera

Making admissions processes fair on Black students

How we can use alternative criteria and targeted outreach to promote fair access to higher education for Black students

Patrice Seuwou

University of Northampton

A female academic smiling to camera

How to transition from a student to a researcher mindset

Tips for developing a professional network, building resilience and making a realistic research career plan

Noman Mahtab

London College of Contemporary Arts

Male student concentrating at laptop

The case for rewarding hard work in higher education

Taking a cue from copyright’s ‘sweat of the brow’, Ian Solway and Shan Wang argue that recognition of effort and resilience should not be lost in a rush to maximise learning efficiency

Shan Wang, Ian Solway

University of Southampton