Opinion

Some days all I can do is watch Gilmore Girls. But on others I may come up with an idea that changes my whole research field, says Vikky Leaney

Prioritising volume over quality by abolishing master’s-level funding will damage the pipeline of skilled workers, says Tyler Harvey-Cowlishaw

Let's not overlook the transformative power of education to spark curiosity, build resilience and drive positive change, says Rahim Somani

Civil servants appreciate a relational approach that responds to their needs and convenes evidence they will actually find useful, says Sally Hogg

If elected, I will use my vast experience of higher education to help Oxford lead the way through the big challenges facing UK HE, says David Willetts

Speaking Spanish is seen as a problem to be erased. But in Puerto Rico it is key to our success, say Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera and Héctor José Huyke

Policymakers must recognise that international education is a lifeline for low- and middle-income countries, say Maia Chankseliani and Joonghyun Kwak

UUK’s Blueprint is right to call for greater FE-HE collaboration so both sectors can complement each other’s strengths, say Sam Parrett and Nick Whitehouse

English higher education is already very diverse. Aggressive top-down attempts to diversify it further will do more harm than good, says B.V.E. Hyde

A story of UK decline in this year’s rankings reflects higher education’s years out in the cold – a funding thaw is needed, but so too is sector-led reform

In this age of widespread mis/disinformation, non-scientists need help to better grasp which claims bear rigorous scrutiny, says Gary Atkinson

Partnerships with the public and private sectors can be slow-going or episodic. Urgent challenges demand a step change, says Daniel Diermeier

Victims may feel more comfortable disclosing incidents to supervisors than to the killjoys who shut down their 4am corridor parties, says George Bass

When my babysitter fell through, why couldn’t an exception be made so I could attend the fancy £90 dinner, asks Eve Hayes De Kalaf  

Veterans face many barriers to attending university. Let’s give those who have served our country free access, says Zlatko Skrbis

Whatever happens in the Middle East, we must learn how to minimise harm when discussing emotive topics, says Emma Davies

Our student survey underlines the scale of the problem. Here are some tips on how to respond, say Rosa Freedman and Odeliya Lanir Zafir

The new administration must also adopt systemic measures to rebuild trust within the academic community, says Roohola Ramezani

Leadership troubles at two Parisian mega-universities reflect ongoing debates around governance and academic culture, says Jean-Yves Mérindol

Administrators at US colleges are increasingly defective and detached from education but I’m too old to try something new, says a faculty member

But radical thinking is needed to make its collaborative instruments more effective and convince sceptical governments of their value, says Jan Palmowski

Publishers used to provide authors with better service – and royalties. But open access cooperatives offer a ray of light, says Harvey Graff

Universities are sprawling enterprises with numerous interlinked activities, so winning support for the funding they need is harder than it should be

Allowing Big Tech to train AIs on academic output will only exacerbate the threat posed to teaching and research, says Martyn Hammersley

The Fulbright Commission’s insistence that fellows return home is senseless in a country dismantling its science base, says Nicolas Mongiardino Koch

Following progress on gender pay disparity, universities should start providing annual statistics on ethnicity pay, say David Mba and Robert Mokaya

Without a nuanced examination of the place of the intelligence services in HE policy, Australian universities risk isolation, says Brendan Walker-Munro

Chris Rock’s joke about US gun control exemplifies a cognitive sophistication that machines will struggle to match, say Akhil Bhardwaj and Anastasia Sergeeva

A ground-breaking physics experiment underlines a proud scholarly tradition that relies on purpose, dedication – and money, says Keith Burnett

Ukrainians are very resourceful and are more eager than ever to develop cooperation with institutions and scholars in the West, says David Livingstone

Institutions should make the case for their vital role in the proposed drive for more EU-wide coordination on skills and innovation, says Jan Palmowski

Even the ‘predatory’ label gives an undue level of legitimacy to operations that lack all the typical accoutrements of journals, says Steve Hochstadt

Doing so would do a service not only to Muslim would-be students worried about usury but to everyone concerned about debt, says Steve Connolly

Recent figures suggesting growing Russian isolation doesn’t tell the full story, say Lin Zhang, Zhe Cao, Gunnar Sivertsen and Dmitrii Kochetkov 

Support networks, mentoring and inter-institutional collaboration could make a big contribution to improving representation, says Mercy Denedo

Limiting overseas enrolments will reduce diversity and hit capacity to fund programmes that enhance Indigenous higher education, says Barry Judd

Planned recruitment caps in Australia reflect a global shift in attitudes to internationalisation, exacerbating the woes of universities on multiple fronts

The UK’s austerity-fixated new government is highly unlikely to find significant extra money for universities, says Andrew McRae

Marking every minor triumph inculcates a motivated mindset of appreciation for your effort and the process of scientific discovery, says Valerie Horsley

The British Museum learned it was wrong to brush off a whistleblower. Universities and journals should do the same, says David Sanders

A boom in international enrolments has brought many benefits, but public concerns about visa abuse are rising, says Kyuseok Kim 

Boosting access to higher education is important, but closures and mergers will create better institutions for students to attend, says Manigandan Ganesan 

Next year’s review must consider why the equality charter now views ‘gender as a spectrum’, in addition to questions of cost and effectiveness, says Lucy Hunter Blackburn

Universities should reflect upon the intellectual life and sacrifices of South Africa’s student activists as they mark milestones, says Mashupye Maserumule 

Call for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ is scarcely better than the ‘stop arming Ukraine’ motion that led to resignations a year ago, says Christopher Phelps

Vice-chancellors can often overestimate the savings from institutional mergers and underestimate their complex challenges, says Malcolm Prowle

Universities keep being told that the status quo is not sustainable. But the new Labour government also has a responsibility to act and change tack

Strategic silence of vice-chancellors within our national debate is a mistake when the quest for truth is so central to academia, argues Sir Geoff Mulgan

Working-class undergraduates who juggle paid work with their studies are finding it difficult to devote long hours to their course, says Randall Whittaker

From Putin to Orbán, autocrats are using postcolonial theory to flood reading lists with ‘overlooked’ native authors in a drive to further xenophobic identity politics, explain Karolina Koziura, Daniel Palm and Adrian Matus

As an academic, I have found my best holidays to be anything but a vacation from intellectual life, says Lincoln Allison

Refugee student Naweed Zafary recalls harrowing scenes as the Taliban took power and thousands fought for places on the last flights out of Afghanistan

Universities of all types are embracing the earn-while-you-learn qualifications but government can do more too, says Exeter’s vice-chancellor Lisa Roberts

Speculation over imagined backstabbings and betrayals is rife but the joining of two of Australia’s universities is more of a meeting of minds than clash of clans, insist vice-chancellors Peter Høj and David Lloyd

Degrees taught in Hindi might play well with Modi fans but this shift risks IITs’ global reputation for producing outstanding graduates, says Eldho Mathews

Research, innovation and education are recognised in the European Commission president’s manifesto, but let’s assert their wider relevance, says Jan Palmowski

The OfS’ approach is evolving, partly reflecting the fact that a course’s long-term value is not always immediately obvious, says John Blake

A-level results day celebrations belie a vicious spiral of demand for degrees that damages students and society, says Paul Wiltshire 

As a loss-maker, research is under pressure as fears of insolvency rise. But universities must do all they can to shore up a key element of their impact 

We need a mechanism whereby academics can build a public reputation as referees and receive career benefits for doing so, says Randy Robertson