Opinion

Political ambition is not enough. Stable funding, coherent regulation and realistic institutional differentiation are also vital, says Kyuseok Kim

We are witnessing the collapse of the idea that, as civilian institutions, universities should not be targeted in wartime, says Roohola Ramezani

After Péter Magyar’s landslide election victory, we discuss why it might not be easy for him to restore independence and academic freedom to Hungarian higher education

Calls to ditch AI because it is destroying students’ analytical skills ignore institutions’ questionable record at developing complex reasoning, says Ian Richardson

With undergraduates viewing education as a transaction and AI offering helpful summaries, reading is dying out on UK campuses, says Agnieszka Piotrowska

Pretending research environments could be measured by metrics or policies ignored how scholarship actually relies on peer-to-peer relations unique to academic cultures, say Martin Holbraad, Dan Nightingale and Aeron O’Connor

Lacking profile or career reward, higher doctorates are being mothballed by UK universities. That is a pity for a credential that helps scholars build on the research potential of their PhD, says Andrew Shenton

Some of the most important questions around accuracy, bias, authorship and appropriate use might not be immediately visible, says Santa Ono

How we describe research groups can shape how we lead them. It’s time we abandon images that normalise exploitation, says Anders Bach-Mortensen

Northumbria’s move to encourage staff on to USS is not about saving costs. It will allow pay to keep up with other research-intensives, says Andy Long

A precipitous fall in the university’s performance can only be rectified by a restoration of academic governance, says Terence Kealey

As UK universities queue up to open branch campuses in India, we discuss what has sparked this renewed enthusiasm for a model of TNE previously considered moribund and why many remain cynical about the chances of success

However strong China’s university system becomes, its success will always be partly dependent on international networks, says Futao Huang

The UK needs a national strategy involving funders, universities, libraries, publishers and scholarly communities, says Lindsay Farmer

Research Australia’s pre-budget submission is the latest move to ensure women finally receive equity in health and careers, says Jessica Borger

Without big improvements, universities will fail to play their part in a long overdue effort to embed support in everyday institutions, says Noel Vest

The issues concerning AI and copyright are far more complicated than the ‘Big Music v Big Tech’ paradigm presented in the media, says Benjamin White

When teaching staff are casualised and cut while delivering the core business of universities, something is broken, say Katharine Hubbard and Damien Page

If AI amplifies what you bring to it, the liberal arts mission of developing critical thinkers becomes not nostalgia but practical necessity, says Nicholas Creel

Even if delayed grants arrive soon, it is too late to hire postdocs this year, and wider budget cuts will cut the supply of tech skills, says Malcolm Fairbairn

With the 35 recommendations of the Strategic Examination of Research and Development made public this week, we discuss how many of these long-hoped-for reforms are likely to become a reality

The quality of Ehler and Repasi’s amendments will force the European Council and Commission to take them extremely seriously, says Jan Palmowski

Paris-Saclay’s statement reprimanding its own ethics committee provides a prime example of the Palestine exception, says Jonathan Rosenhead

Such students’ uneven degree results suggest that we might be funnelling some young people into university too early, says Alex Blakemore

We need greater openness among scholars on both the left and right to revise their views in light of counter-argument, says Martyn Hammersley 

Full automation may be possible in narrow cases, but it is neither realistic nor desirable as a general model, say Bashir M. Al-Hashimi and Nick Jennings

If we lose our constitutional rights and freedoms, colleges will cease to remain true to their purpose, says Martin Skladany

Humans’ epistemic arrogance belies the fact that subject knowledge is always incomplete and cognitive bandwidth is strictly finite, says Prince Sarpong 

The path forward is not a simple pivot to domestic students but a shift towards programmes with strong labour-market outcomes, says Boxi Yang

Before the Taliban’s return, many Afghan academics went abroad for PhDs. But the collapse in their prospects has left many in limbo, says a scholar

Experiences in Hungary, the US and the Netherlands make threats like autocratic legalism and oligarchic capture feel existential, says Ferenc Laczó 

If we treat AI as a purely rational evolution of human intelligence, we risk repeating colonial erasure on a digital scale, says Agnieszka Piotrowska

His successful insurgent campaign for New York mayor was not driven primarily by moral appeal but by sustained fieldwork, says Mayank Chugh

We cannot bureaucratise our way into producing better thinkers, any more than we can automate wisdom, says Akhil Bhardwaj

Unlike those in the West, Iranian students explicitly reject a leftism they see as supportive of the Islamic Republic, says Roohola Ramezani

As lay-offs continue elsewhere, postdocs’ inability to land permanent roles will block the pipeline of future faculty, Cambridge academics argue

The legislation must also ensure mission-based compacts protect equity, academic freedom and civic engagement, say Jesse Gardner-Russell and Richard Lee

Although Trump has rolled back some of Biden’s programmes, his replacement is still more progressive than England’s Plan 2 system, says Graeme Atherton

Scorned for their employability metrics and students’ experimental outputs, Britain’s art schools should be seen as seedbeds of innovation that can help graduates thrive as white-collar jobs are replaced by AI, says J. Harry Whalley

Framing this technology as a helpful ‘tool’ disguises how much it guides every element of critical thinking that academics seek to cultivate, says James Garvey

Forcing institutions to remain neutral on contentious issues will stifle – not protect – academic freedom, argues Gavin Schwartz-Leeper

It turns out that being an outsider can be an asset when you are trying to disseminate knowledge in accessible ways, says Laura Kelly-Corless

The fact that a mere few months’ hiatus imperils the futures of those without permanent posts underlines the fragility of UK biomedicine, says a researcher

The UK’s new Academic Interference Reporting Route is welcome, but senior university leaders have significant blind spots, says Michelle Shipworth

From climate change to geopolitics, the knowledge, skills and insights of geographers have never been more relevant, say five professors

Universities must provide a counterweight to a government whose aid policies and public statements have been hostile to Africa, says Noam Schimmel

As a first responder to thefts, attacks and student house parties gone wild, the prospect of faster emergency help sounds great, says George Bass

The how and why of conducting transparent, rigorous, ethical research must be explicitly taught, say Madeleine Pownall, Charlotte Pennington and Flavio Azevedo 

The only question is how to do so in ways that are legally sound, institutionally durable and worthy of renewed trust, says James S. Bridgeforth

Higher education has seen alliances launch with broad declarations and fade with little to show. But we are structuring this one differently, says Noah Pickus

Chinese academics, students and partners bring great benefits that the UK would be very foolish to spurn, says Michael Spence

The Supreme Court’s suspension of the regulations highlights contention about when equity efforts tip into reverse discrimination, says Mukhtar Ahmad

We must better explain to school-leavers the intellectual, technical, creative and social benefits of higher education, says Brooke Storer-Church

A globally open Horizon Europe could play a key role in realising Mark Carney’s vision of an alliance of middle powers, says Jan Palmowski

If we still believe that science is a vocation grounded in argument, curiosity and care, we can’t delegate judgement to machines, says Akhil Bhardwaj

The downturn in overseas student numbers shows the folly of relying on a small number of volatile markets, say George Pavlakos and Estelle Zinsstag

Universities, states and lenders all need to step up when limits on lending from federal sources are implemented in July, says Josh Farris

Universities can produce commercially viable projects while giving the industry the sustainability and freedom to take risks on new talent, says Chris Nunn

Meeting public expectations demands careful design of statutory and regulatory arrangements, not rhetorical commitment, says Emma Roberts

During times of austerity, when trust and cooperation are needed most, their absence results in division, secrecy and vengeance, says a UK academic