Higher education

Matthew Reisz considers the work of researchers who have shed light on the ‘invisibility’ of social class in US universities

Higher salaries enjoyed by many graduates are offset by sky-high living costs in many cities, but this quality of life metric is entirely absent from policy debate, says Charlie Ball

Debate sparked by criticism of growth of PhDs by publication, and allegations that corruption and nepotism are undermining the reliability of the academic doctorate

Louis Theroux’s interviews with those accused of sexual assault at US campuses should be a wake-up call to UK universities who have ducked this issue for years, says Graham Towl

Ministers love talking about grand government-directed projects, but Philip Hammond must reaffirm tomorrow the UK’s support for open-ended research using quality-related funding, says Stephanie Smith

Royal Statistical Society vice-president Guy Nason explains why it has taken the unusual step of reporting the Teaching Excellence Framework to the UK’s statistics watchdog

Cage Boons explains why he and other University of Hertfordshire students decided to run their own careers fair for ethnic minority undergraduates

Degree apprenticeships are helping to alter perceptions of earn-as-you-learn courses, but universities must demonstrate their value to students and employers, says Jane Turner

Ministers are right to question student recruitment practices in some universities, but restricting loan access to those who fail to hit three Ds at A level would be a retrograde step, says Tom Richmond

Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, Selina Sutton explains what universities are doing wrong (and right) when supporting PhD candidates during pregnancy and beyond

Robert Zimmer explains why the US president’s threat to deny federal funds to colleges that fail to protect free speech is a bad idea

Treasury officials will find it harder to ignore the deficit pressures caused by subsidising lower-earning creative arts students after analysis, researcher argues

Education secretary Damian Hinds’ call for more scrutiny of decision-making behind vice-chancellors’ ‘high pay’ may lead to problems, experts warn

The departure of the University and College Union’s long-time leader has intensified calls for democratic reform, and activists could take a greater role

Carolyn Fairbarn will urge ministers not to cause ‘needless’ damage to the ‘precious national asset’ of universities

Failure to reach 50 per cent turnout threshold on pay ballot and exit of leader Sally Hunt must open the door for debate on future, union leaders agree

University and College Union leader steps down with immediate effect after 12 years in charge

Long-held beliefs on early US public colleges are compellingly debunked, says Howard P. Segal

Academic turned wrestler Dan Mathewson is just one of many educators willing to go the extra mile for scholarship and learning, says Jack Grove 

Robert MacIntosh offers managers some hints on how to succeed at their university strategy day

Average salary rise of £8,000 awarded to English university leaders highlights ‘lightweight’ nature of new regulator, says University and College Union

Higher Education Policy Institute director Nick Hillman assesses the history of UK academia’s main pension scheme to ask whether it needs fundamental reform

Book of the week: resisting neoliberal managerialism won’t solve the academy’s problems, says Martin McQuillan

England’s universities minister explains why the government is allowing universities to charge students more for condensed honours degrees

Researcher finds that impressive enrolment numbers conceal the tiny profit margins earned by UK universities operating abroad

Generous philanthropic giving brings significant benefits to US universities but poses leadership challenges too, says Ángel Cabrera

University leaders are increasingly expected to communicate directly with staff and students, often on controversial topics – how should they handle this tricky task?

Liz Carlile explains why the University of Sheffield has avoided giving unconditional offers to applicants who have yet to sit their exams

The success in attracting Erasmus+ students must be translated into more far-reaching and economically transformative initiatives, says Conrado Briceño 

Encouraging academics to spend time with scholars from outside their own discipline will be vital to tackling today’s grand challenges, says Annette Rubery

The way ancient texts are treated in today’s classroom can validate or call into question students’ deep-set values and cultural expectations, finds Rachel Moss

UK universities must cover soaring staff visa costs to mitigate the effects of the Home Office’s harmful policies, says Tristan Sturm

With Wales’ Coleg Harlech due to be sold this month, Sam Christie reflects on why ‘second-chance colleges’ have failed to thrive given their role in post-industrial communities

Today’s Office for National Statistics report will make challenging reading for the Augar review panel, but it must not resort to draconian cuts to student numbers, says Greg Walker

Latest remuneration figures bring prospect of more criticism for UK universities

Claudia Bueno Rocha Vidigal on the cultural and political forces that drove efforts to address discrimination in university admissions

Major Ucea study finds ethnic minority staff suffer ‘significant pay penalties’ relative to white male staff with equivalent academic backgrounds

The international stars in the Boston Red Sox and the city’s stellar universities highlight why Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric is so out of step with a ‘winning’ part of America, writes Jack Grove from Boston

China’s growing presence in Africa is causing many students to head to Asia rather than Western universities, says Zahir Irani

Nick Hillman disputes a narrative that assumes all would be well if ‘experts’ were put in charge

A polemic against the divisive effect of ‘victimology’ puts its author’s prejudices on display, says Joanna Williams

Academics should not be afraid to challenge the wisdom of requiring institutions to make financial amends for their past links to slavery, says Robert Dingwall

Physicist who transformed himself into leading higher education expert remembered

Lawyer of former university president imprisoned in Turkey gives glimpse into courtroom practices faced by persecuted academics

New pilot phase of post-Brexit immigration plans will prioritise applications from European Union staff working in higher education

Many retired academics embrace the freedom to fully embody their view of the serious scholar, says Bruce Macfarlane

A landmark analysis of several government data sets will help policymakers make more effective interventions, says Roger Smyth

Human beings may struggle to maintain their place in tomorrow’s highly mechanised universities, claims sociologist

The elaborate prank that saw spoof papers accepted by social science journals reveals more about the hoaxers’ politics than the shortcomings of ‘grievance studies’, says Alison Phipps

Scholarly prose can be verbose and unclear, and can obscure the point you are trying to make. Joe Moran offers his top 10 tips for writing well

Right-wing intellectuals who fetishise ‘facts’ frustrate rather than further intellectual debate, says Ryan Coogan

Only students with the deepest pockets can afford to pay hundreds of pounds for ghostwritten work, says Anthony Smith

The US car industry shows why higher education deregulation is ultimately disastrous for product quality and consumer safety, says Jeff Frank

Durham University has cleverly positioned itself as the ‘Harry Potter university’ to attract Chinese students, says Madeleine Ferrar

Research reveals how the new Longitudinal Education Outcomes data on graduate earnings give a misleading view of graduate earnings and value for money, says Gordon McKenzie

Claims that the UK’s counterterrorism strategy targets Muslims and harms free speech are ‘nonsense’, says Prevent coordinator Chris Sybenga

Senior leaders must lead the charge in changing higher education’s structural disadvantages for black and minority ethnic staff and students, say Kalwant Bhopal and Sally Hunt

Conservative anger at initiatives to make campuses more inclusive to minority students is misplaced, say Kevin Singer, Laura Dahl, Matthew J. Mayhew and Alyssa N. Rockenbach

The UK’s new research mega-body has huge power to tackle long-standing inequalities, says its new diversity tsar Jennifer Rubin

The Migration Advisory Committee review showed little interest in understanding international students or how the UK labour market works, says Stanley Ipkiss