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Illustration of robot and man on either side of ball of scribble

Faculty must embrace the ‘messy middle’ to guide AI proficiency

The primary source of institutional AI proficiency must be universities themselves, not the technology companies who offer training for their platforms. Without that agency, we risk surrendering educational practice to commercial interests, write Amy Allen and David Hicks

Amy Allen, David Hicks

Virginia Tech

Man falling into laptop screen with numbers in cords in background

‘If you like, I can….?’ Why GenAI needs to come with a health warning

Warnings about the dependency-forming tricks of GenAI are unlikely to change student behaviour, even as they fear its effects on learning. Educators need to help students recognise engagement loops for themselves, writes Adrian Wallbank

Adrian J. Wallbank

Oxford Brookes University

Laptop with cloud of letters coming out of screen

Has AI cost academia the joy of text?

Rather than asking what writing can be outsourced to AI, we might first ask which parts of the process need to remain slow, imperfect and human, argue four academics

Viktoria Magne, Sharon Vince, Sarah Hooper, Rebecca Mace

University of West London, University of Worcester

Young woman writing notes with a pad and laptop

Colleges, not the College Board, determine university-level writing

Educators who teach first-year writing courses need to use their leverage to ensure students arrive on campus with skills that match expectations, writes Daniel M. Gross

Daniel M. Gross

University of California, Irvine

From model collapse to citation collapse: risks of over-reliance on AI in the academy

The way GenAI surfaces sources for literature reviews risks exacerbating the citation Matthew effect, writes David Joyner. Here, he offers ways to prevent AI-driven search from blunting the impact of new research

David Joyner

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

University teacher helping two multiracial students

Making student experience a core part of academic work

A student and an academic outline how universities must make student experience an explicit part of academic roles, from workloads to resourcing and recognition

Roma Forbes, Benjamin Ong

The University of Queensland

Group of four smiling college students walking

A warm welcome is a strategic imperative for higher education

If we want incoming students to flourish, we must stop treating belonging as a bonus and start seeing it as an essential condition for learning. Scott Dunning offers strategies on welcoming students to succeed

Scott Dunning

Virginia Tech

The case for degrees that teach us how to think

As debate about the cost and purpose of higher education intensifies, the humanities are often the first target. Yet evidence shows that far from being outdated or indulgent, humanities degrees cultivate critical skills, resilience and, yes, viable career paths

Michelle Moseley-Christian

Virginia Tech

A student taking a moment to reflect on a concept

Reflective skills are key in an unpredictable labour market

Students need to be agile to succeed in the workplaces of the future. Rather than rely on static career planning tools, teach students to pause and evaluate

Michelle Civile

The University of Exeter

Are academics becoming overexposed on LinkedIn?

Social media is key to building an academic network but what about the darker side of putting your professional life on global display? Larisa Yarovaya explores the balance between polished presence and oversharing

Larisa Yarovaya

University of Southampton

How business schools can capitalise on changes to legal services

Business schools need not compete with law schools. Instead, they can serve as strategic partners as legal services respond to technology, freer markets and client demand, writes Maximiliano Marzetti

Maximiliano Marzetti

IÉSEG School of Management

The anxieties of non-research faculty at a research university

The worth of know-how – as opposed to know-that – is enhanced when instructors are full-time, eligible for tenure and materially supported in their collective endeavour. Here, Daniel M. Gross makes the case for valuing teachers’ collective wisdom

Daniel M. Gross

University of California, Irvine

Illustration of figures looking at barrier and arrow

The craft and politics of academic writing in the AI universe

Writing lecturers will not reach students by simply talking down artificial intelligence. A more effective approach involves embracing our expertise and engaging in the politics of resistance, says Jane Bottomley

Jane Bottomley

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Blocks with heads and lightbulbs in an arc

What can the university sector learn from block teaching?

Once seen as a pedagogical experiment, the block plan is ready for its researchers and practitioners to move beyond self-examination and share their innovations with the wider higher education community, writes John Weldon

John Weldon

Victoria University

Taking pedagogy to the provost’s office

The skills that make effective teachers – adaptability, empathy, presence and reflection – also shape impactful university leaders. Here, Bill Owen shares leadership lessons he learned in the classroom

William J. Owen

University of Northern British Columbia

‘Every faculty member should go on campus tours’

When one university professor went undercover to find out how different colleges welcome prospective students and their parents, he found out what institutions should, and should not, do in their visit programming

Robert Talbert

Grand Valley State University

Why slowness is a superpower in creative education

Good ideas often appear in the quiet moments we don’t count as work. David Thompson argues for protecting incubation time and for helping students rediscover the value of disconnection

David Thompson

University of Lincoln

Balloons, meritocracy concept illustration

EDI is meritocracy – why is that hard to understand?

Equity, diversity and inclusion is misunderstood when it is seen as valuing identity instead of skill within the systems that determine academic career progression. But it is in the sector’s interest to recognise and support talent, no matter what it looks like, writes Brooke Szücs

Brooke Szücs

The University of Queensland

intersection speech bubbles, inclusive language

For EDI efforts to be sustainable, universities must evolve their language and practice

A transactional model can position higher education institutions as performing equity, diversity and inclusion rather than living it, writes Bruce Watson. But that version of EDI will not serve us in the future

Bruce Watson

UNSW Sydney

Should university admissions decisions rely on academic performance?

If higher education wants to evolve its role beyond gatekeepers of knowledge to true engines of development, institutions need to rethink student readiness and recruitment processes

Rahim Somani

University of Northern British Columbia

Speech bubbles being held above unseen person's head

Universities must stop tiptoeing around debate – appoint free speech champions

As new legal duties on free speech come into force, Mark Butterick argues that universities must move beyond token policies and foster a culture where open debate is genuinely protected

Mark Butterick

University of Leeds

‘An academic career is not a heptathlon’

The secret to establishing a career in academia is focus and deliberate choices, whether the path is into research, teaching or impact. Here, Robert MacIntosh explains why persistence and planning are more important than ever

Robert MacIntosh

University of the West of Scotland

What does the UK’s spin-out ecosystem need to thrive nationwide?

Despite their abundance of research and expertise, UK academic institutions lack mechanisms to encourage and incentivise movement between academia and industry, particularly within the spin-out community, writes Richard Hague

Richard Hague

University of Nottingham

Different languages in speech bubbles on a laptop

International students don’t need ‘fixing’

To internationalise education, and not just enrolments, educators need to move feedback on academic language from correction to collaboration. Here Nashid Nigar offers a framework for rethinking inclusion through literacy diversity

Nashid Nigar

University of Melbourne

The economics of belonging: a new way of thinking about student success

Rising costs of living and tuition mean that US university students may prioritise career and economic factors rather than self-actualisation as a reason to remain at a university

Richard Tomczak

Stony Brook University

It’s time to break the extraction mindset of higher education

A logic of scarcity and competition leads academia to see hoarding economic, human and social resources as the only way to survive – as a university or a higher education employee, writes Lucas Lixinski

Lucas Lixinski

UNSW Sydney

‘Departmental orthodoxies silence dissent and chill scholarly enquiry’

Universities have not handled ongoing challenges around free speech, protest, academic freedom and safety well, writes John Hyman. Here he offers short- and long-term actions to promote secure, pluralistic campuses

John Hyman

UCL

From peanut butter to effective policy impact

In a sector that often seems tasked with being everything to everyone, each university needs a policy strategy that focuses institutional expertise where it will make the most difference, writes Alistair Sackley

Alistair Sackley

University of Southampton

Coco the Therapy dog in the Templeman Library on University of Kentcampus

Ask students what mental health support they need

A student-led advisory board can help universities understand what services students will use and how they prefer to engage with support

Ryan Wong

University of Kent

An academic disclosing their disability to their manager

Stop treating disability support as an afterthought

Find out what prevents university staff from disclosing invisible disabilities – and steps their institutions can take to change that

Christina Dzineku, James Murray

Independent academic, University of Buckingham

Students in a classroom smiling to camera

AI over-personalisation can hinder learning

In the rush towards ever-greater personalisation, we must not lose sight of what makes learning meaningful, writes Kathy Charles. Here, she shares her insights on fostering ‘productive struggle’ to deepen learning

Kathy Charles

Nottingham Trent University

Is a ‘co-opetition’ model the way to safeguard higher education for future generations?

Shared support functions don’t mean the end of competition among institutions, writes Mark Thompson. Instead, collective thinking could focus effort on universities’ strengths and potentially rescue the sector from ‘an unsustainable race to the bottom’

Mark Thompson

The University of Exeter

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

Assessment or measurement?

Authentic assessments and measurements serve distinct purposes in understanding student success in higher education. Here’s why equating the two can undermine the depth and quality of student learning

Heather Strine-Patterson

Virginia Tech

Universities must evolve from degree-granting hubs to social anchors

Higher education institutions can be incubators for ethical leadership, lifelong learning ecosystems and community partnerships, writes Rahim Somani

Rahim Somani

University of Northern British Columbia

Online should not mean offline for business lecturers

When online courses are delivered more or less to a prescribed script, this leaves little space for an educator’s personalised contribution and autonomy, writes Anita Wheeldon. Here, she makes the case against ‘teacherless pedagogy’

Anita Wheeldon

The University of Southern Queensland

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

A phone screen with several different GenAI apps displayed

DeepSeek and shallow moats: what does it mean for higher education?

DeepSeek’s arrival may have spooked the markets, but what does it mean for the research and development of LLMs? Higher education should avoid putting all its eggs in one GenAI basket, writes Ben Swift

Ben Swift

Australian National University

Voice, agency and style: what goes missing when AI chats back

We need to teach that imperfect but authentic writing is more valuable than sentences that are polished on the surface, argue three US academics. Here, they share surprise findings from STEM and beyond

Qian Du, Daniel M. Gross, Patrick Hong

University of California, Irvine

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

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

‘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

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

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

How to humanise engineering education and why we must

Despite years of effort across the education sector, engineering sciences are still not gender equitable. Incorporating more social sciences into engineering education could help address the imbalance

Rich McIlroy

University of Southampton

Imagine an age-inclusive university sector

Age inclusion should be part of universities’ mission, as well as their day-to-day operations. To not support staff and students at all stages of their academic life is an opportunity missed

Paul Harpur, Brooke Szücs, Nancy A. Pachana

The University of Queensland

‘Students need to take responsibility for class participation’

Questions to encourage undergraduates to contribute to class content or in discussion help them develop skills for academia and the workplace. Mariano Carrera shares his experience from teaching in Thailand

Mariano Carrera

King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok

What Frankenstein’s monster can teach researchers about the dark side of ‘impact’

What can a 19th-century novelist tell academics about research ethics? Taking time to see the impact of research on ourselves is a good place to start measuring the social good of scholarly endeavours, writes Jennifer Allsopp

Jennifer Allsopp

University of Birmingham

‘Uncertainty is part of co-production’ in research

Flexibility and an open mindset can help health researchers work with healthcare professionals and patients to create better adapted services. Here, Gary Hickey shares ways to navigate through the process

Gary Hickey

University of Southampton

Medical professional talking to a female patient

Yes, empathy can be taught – here’s how

Find out how evidence-based methods can be used to provide empathy training, bringing huge potential benefits for healthcare outcomes and busting the myth that it can’t be taught

Jeremy Howick

University of Leicester

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