In-depth

In John Gilbey’s seasonal tale, life imitates on-screen romance when a film crew is duped into choosing the distinctly unphotogenic University of Rural England as the location for its next blockbuster

As the season of goodwill comes around again, warm words about collegiality and fellowship have been dutifully corralled into all-staff missives from university leaders. But in an era of management, metrics and industrial unrest, does the image of the academy as a commonwealth of scholars still bear scrutiny? Seven academics have their say 

Coyness, contention and competing agendas all hamper historians and sociologists of sex. Matthew Reisz speaks to those who choose, nevertheless, to probe this most sensitive and intimate of subjects

A push to end the habit of assessing researchers by their publication metrics is gaining momentum. But are journal impact factors really as meaningless as is claimed? And will requiring scientists to describe their various contributions really improve fairness and rigour – or just bureaucracy? Jack Grove reports

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

On 15 October 1971, the first edition of The Times Higher Education Supplement was published. In the five decades since, the publication now known as Times Higher Education has charted the expansion and marketisation of the UK sector while taking an ever more global perspective. Three editors reflect on their time at the helm

Saikat Majumdar surveys developments from the Gulf to South Korea in light of the closure of Yale-NUS College

Amid concern on graduate employment in Westminster and across West, looking at funding systems that put labour market demand at centre is instructive

In the first of our new ‘talking leadership’ interview series, Rosa Ellis meets the Johns Hopkins University president to discuss how he is realigning the institution to educate students about democracy and encourage them to contest ideas

New Zealand’s embrace of Māori vocabulary goes hand-in-hand with the incorporation of Māori understandings into curricula. But is a debate about the unintended consequences of this move being stifled by fear of speaking out? John Ross reports

Scholarships can be important, but the risk of brain drain must be borne in mind, say experts 

Any move to limit higher education participation would be judged against policies of rival advanced economies – and by public opinion