Leader: Young, gifted and slapped Why is it that when young people express frustration at the bleak future they see ahead, we respond with another kick in the shins? By Ann Mroz 24 November
Leader: Whoa! You forgot the road map In its reckless rush for change, the government is endangering the charitable public-interest mission at the sector's core By Ann Mroz 10 November
Leader: Bread, not political poses By favouring grandstanding over academics' worries for the profession and their future, the UCU risks irrelevance 3 November
Leader: Take your money elsewhere So the UK tells foreign students with its visa regime. Australia once did too, but it has changed its tune to hang on to a rich trade By Ann Mroz 29 September
Leader: Not such a superpower after all It is folly to emulate a US higher education system that, according to OECD figures, is failing so many of its young citizens By Ann Mroz 15 September
Leader: It's lost control again As poor steering threatens to cut off the supply of homegrown STEM graduates, coalition policy looks set to crash and burn By Ann Mroz 8 September
Leader: Remember this - but not that We need a way to archive the web for the future while ensuring that people are not lost in 'data shadows' or digital doppelgängers By Ann Mroz 1 September
Leader: Depriving the already deprived In the scrum for AABs, elite institutions risk putting themselves beyond the reach of disadvantaged students By Ann Mroz 4 August
Leader: He who pays the piper... Universities cannot be truly competitive unless they can set pay locally. Like it or not, national bargaining is a dead duck By Ann Mroz 28 July
Leader: A big paper but no grand plan The government's proposals promise radicalism. But, born of compromise and fudge, they betray a disturbing lack of vision By Ann Mroz 30 June
Leader: A record fit for the 21st century Scrapping degree classifications for US-style GPAs represents a long-overdue step to modernise accounts of student achievement By Ann Mroz 23 June
Leader: Anthony's Dream School Recipe for success: take a pinch of existing material, sprinkle a little academic stardust and charge punters £18,000 a year By Ann Mroz 9 June
Leader: Case for change yet to convince When bad news goes global and even good news is inconvenient, the government faces a huge challenge in pushing for reform By Ann Mroz 26 May
Leader: Since when is debate a bad thing? David Willetts is getting flak for voicing controversial policy ideas. But universities could suffer too if debate is stifled By Ann Mroz 19 May
Leader: It makes the world go round... But the pursuit of money can be a zero-sum game, and one nation's loss may be another's gain - as the UK could learn to its cost By Ann Mroz 14 April
Leader: Work of infinite value Science alone cannot get to the heart of what makes us human, which is why the humanities and social sciences matter so much By Ann Mroz 17 March
Leader: Count the collateral damage We must not let the high-stakes political game being played by ministers and v-cs overshadow the human toll change can exact By Ann Mroz 17 February
Leader: Standing on shaky ground This year looks to be one in which divisions in the sector widen, leaving no one representing the needs of the academy as a whole By Ann Mroz 6 January
Leader: Short-term relief, long-term grief UUK's readiness to toe the government line ignores the troubling questions at the heart of the coalition's proposals By Ann Mroz 2 December
Leader: Freedom - but only over fees Lord Browne's rhetoric is all about freeing universities, but his plans could result in 'a state-controlled and regulated industry' By Phil Baty 21 October
Leader: A gamble on the market Lord Browne's review could herald a bloody shake-out and damage the fabric of a sector that 'matters' to all of society By Phil Baty 14 October
Leader: Fortune will favour the brave Changes ahead on the higher education horizon may prove the making of some institutions and the breaking of others By Phil Baty 7 October
Leader: Enough of STEM's hard sell The government is mistaken to continue arguing that science graduates alone are the key to delivering economic growth By Ann Mroz 26 August
Leader: Making no plans for Nigel The UK and California both face a shortfall of university places, but at least snobbery isn't making things worse across the pond By Ann Mroz 19 August
Leader: Teaching fare's just deserts Universities must serve up pedagogy fit for the 21st century or suffer the consequences in reputational terms By Ann Mroz 5 August
Leader: Bitter pill may kill, not cure In a competitive global market, the UK academy must be price-sensitive when it comes to overseas fees or pay the price By Phil Baty 29 July
Leader: Open the lab doors to the light To restore faith after Climategate, researchers must be clearer about the limits of peer review and transparent in their workings By Phil Baty 22 July
Leader: Members-only code is outdated The academy needs to cast off its exclusionary conventions and make its publications accessible to non-specialists and the public By Ann Mroz 15 July
Leader: Some very necessary measures Rankings aren't perfect, but they give users, especially students, a broad view of the global sector that's impossible to get otherwise By Ann Mroz 8 July
Leader: As one in search of excellence Every institution aspiring to be a great university shares a set of values that link multifarious activities to a common purpose By Ann Mroz 1 July
Leader: Discontent is currency for all ages Reform of the sector's pension scheme may be essential, but no single option will please everyone - not least students By Ann Mroz 24 June
Leader: Stop with the gloom and doom Moaning about cuts won't win the sector friends or spare it pain. Its leaders must step up and make a positive case for its value By Ann Mroz 17 June
Leader: Support for second chances 'Upskilling' is a noble aim of the main parties, but to achieve it, we must remove the financial barriers to part-time study By Ann Mroz 10 June
Leader: Flaunt your beauty and intellect As universities are being forced into the commercial world, academics shouldn't be shy of launching a charm offensive By Ann Mroz 3 June
Leader: Just keep cool and carry on Universities' lack of new-media savvy can leave reputations exposed, but popularity was never wholly within their control By Ann Mroz 27 May
Leader: Is he our man in a pinch? David Willetts has the intellect to deal with his universities and science briefs. How that will feed into policy is as yet unknown By Ann Mroz 20 May
Leader: Mavericks won't be corralled Academics chafe at being forced into open-plan offices, often with good reason. Can their home-working solutions be supported? By Ann Mroz 13 May
Leader: Decide it on science, not silence Academics prize their freedom of enquiry, but where do we draw the line when lives are at stake, and how can we enforce it? By Ann Mroz 6 May
Leader: Historical lessons are priceless The heritage industry puts flesh on the past to flog it. History sits less easily on the impact agenda but is vital nonetheless By Ann Mroz 29 April
Leader: More than money is at stake Exploiting foreign students may briefly bolster balance sheets, but such disrespectful treatment will cause long-term damage By Phil Baty 22 April
Leader: Don't cut short a new lease of life As London Met cleans itself up, it deserves to be given another chance to succeed - for that is what it affords its students By Ann Mroz 15 April
Leader: One step beyond the pale The government now wants even postgraduate education to serve industry by inculcating business awareness and skills training By Ann Mroz 8 April
Leader: Like pay, the stakes are rising The importance of balancing reward and responsibility is highlighted by the sums paid out when things go wrong at the top By Ann Mroz 1 April
Leader: Accidental, but also elemental Administrators may lack a career structure, but they are essential to universities and do not deserve to be disparaged By Ann Mroz 25 March
Leader: After the good time, resolve The previous year seems one of plenty in light of the storm ahead, which will test leaders' fortitude and resourcefulness By Ann Mroz 18 March
Leader: Love HE? Let's count the ways #loveHE Higher education's many contributions to the UK are too often missed - we hope to help change that with our campaign By Ann Mroz 11 March
Leader: Red tape: A form of distrust As audit overloads academics, it also undermines their freedoms, impedes their work and damages their public standing By Ann Mroz 4 March
Leader: The big push must come early Given that A-level success is key to entering higher education, perhaps universities should leave widening participation to schools By Ann Mroz 25 February
Leader: Do your job well, and you will rise Despite the tales of jiggery-pokery employed to climb in the league tables, there is no need to sacrifice mission to position By Phil Baty 18 February
Leader: Rise up, freedom fighters The cornerstone of the academy is the liberty to pursue ideas and knowledge without constraint. It needs vigilant defending By Ann Mroz 11 February
Leader: The trust deficit's heavy toll The recession and a succession of government cuts and blunders have robbed young people of their future and of hope By Ann Mroz 4 February
Leader: Is survival all that matters? The financial crisis will force universities to make difficult choices not just about how they operate but to what end By Ann Mroz 28 January
Leader: Reiki riles while Rome burns The wellbeing of individuals matters, but what matters more is the wellbeing of a sector facing swingeing cuts By Ann Mroz 21 January
Leader: Cheap writ buys costly silence English libel law allows all comers from across the globe to chill free speech and still scholarly inquiry. Reform is now essential By Ann Mroz 14 January
Leader: Factor in the human equation The liberal arts feel threatened by indifference and the impact agenda. Can we recognise their true worth before they are gone? By Ann Mroz 7 January
Leader: Get used to life on the edge As we bid farewell to the old unit of resource and usher in a new reduced one, we anticipate a year of fear, uncertainty and pain By Ann Mroz 31 December
Leader: First, let's find out if it will fly Before we commit to linking funding to impact, we should wait for the results of pilots to determine its feasibility By Ann Mroz 17 December
Leader: Fight it out with the facts alone If climate research is seen as 'tribal' and unable to bear scrutiny, the whole scientific edifice is weakened By Ann Mroz 10 December
Leader: Autonomy must be the goal Universities need to be free from government control if they are to succeed in providing the education demanded of them By Phil Baty 3 December