Social science

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

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

Many scholars loathe generative AI but it has immense power to engage the intellectual curiosity of students as long as academics truly embrace it, argues John Kaag

The 2029 Research Excellence Framework aims to assess ‘how institutions and disciplines contribute to healthy, dynamic and inclusive research environments’. But will panellists and university managers really move away from a focus on prestigious journal papers, asks Matthew Flinders

Fed up with a lowly position on the author list? If so, getting creative with surnames could be the solution, a study suggests

Head of UK’s biggest PhD school says promoting impact in doctoral studies would make students more employable and research more visible

Teaching UK degrees abroad promised adventure, sunshine and a regular pay cheque. But navigating an environment in which many students couldn’t speak English, senior academics acted like dukes and oversight from the UK was patchy at best left Anthony Killick disillusioned

Ever-expanding numbers of doctoral students may suit universities, but one’s twenties should be a time for broad learning and professional development, not for burying oneself in detailed research, says Lincoln Allison

Scale of research precarity at top UK university and its effect on staff laid out in new report

Poll finds most researchers are using AI but only a tiny number trust technology companies on data privacy

With the right support, academics with visual impairments are prospering, but barriers to true inclusivity remain, says Kate Armond, while a lecturer reflects on how practice on reasonable adjustments can fall short of policy

Researchers say emails suggest disapproval of social media posts on transgender issues contributed to rejections

The regulator’s example scenarios fail to acknowledge the harm that even lawful speech can cause on campus, say Naomi Waltham-Smith and James Murray

Proposed changes to how scholars publish show little awareness of how they will profoundly reshape academic life, says David Lund

Inflated marks, overworked staff and politically compromised courses are the price of exploiting offshore UK-registered students, says Michael Day

Generative AI firms should stop ripping off publishers and instead work with them to enrich scholarship, says Oxford University Press’ David Clark

The redundancies and course closures proposed at many struggling UK universities follow a decades-long drift away from the idea of higher education institutions as charities whose non-commercial public benefit needs to be supported by profit-making activity, argues Martin Mills

Debate risks legitimising dehumanising ideologies, but rebutting such views is how progress has always been made, says Eric Heinze

Scholarly inquiry is already improving UK society, but its full impact won't be felt until researchers better engage with policymakers, says Rita Gardner

The weaponisation of plagiarism allegations to remove Harvard’s president is no cause for celebration, says research fraudbuster David Sanders

As Harvard University seeks a new leader following the short-lived presidency of Claudine Gay, the institution’s long-time president Derek Bok reflects on the need for elite US universities to react to the political maelstrom by abandoning questionable practices and improving the quality of their education

While UK universities are starting to address the challenges faced by new mothers, combining parenthood and academia remains a difficult task. Five writers give their experience of what institutions are getting right and wrong in supporting academic mums

From satirical novels to US sitcoms and cop shows, academics have proved to be rich source material across many genres. Four writers argue the case for who can claim to be fiction’s greatest scholar

Students love it but faculty typically hate it. Both are asking for help with it. But how close are institutions to devising AI policies that protect both academic integrity and student employability? New York University Abu Dhabi vice-chancellor Mariët Westermann offers her reflections

Recruitment of domestic school-leavers is stagnant amid concerns over rising graduate debt levels and weak employment outcomes. With ministers keen to turbocharge enrolment to upskill the nation, John Ross examines how higher education institutions can win back a disaffected generation

Studying high art is still important, but popular culture can give humanities undergraduates better pointers on how to convert their refined understandings into practical action, rather than passivity and pessimism, activist scholar Caroline Levine tells Matthew Reisz 

Scale of unsuccessful funding bids will be ‘dispiriting’ for researchers and raises questions about ‘substantial differences’ in research landscape, Oxford professor warns

Increased scale of new German-Dutch imprint will speed transition to open access publishing and allow more investment in infrastructure

From dedicating time for brainstorming to taking inspiration from their dog, five writers explain how they are changing their approach to academia and life as another academic year begins in the northern hemisphere

‘Astonishing demand’ to suspend book launch over claims that its essays ‘delegimitise trans people’ shows activists have been ‘emboldened’, say editors

Pairing of ideologically opposed academics should become sector norm when researchers disagree, says Pennsylvania project leader

Barack Obama’s favourite political thinker Yascha Mounk has made his career attacking right-wing populism. His latest target – identity politics fostered on US campuses – will surprise many of his acolytes, he tells Matthew Reisz

As university libraries invest heavily in digital resources, Caroline Ball explains why physical books are still vital for research, teaching and the preservation of knowledge

Academia and the armed forces may seem worlds apart, but officer training has valuable lessons for university managers, says former Indian army veteran-turned-professor Vikas Rai Bhatnagar

University managers’ doomed pursuit of unattainable ideals turns staff into martyrs who see work as sacrifice and suffering. It explains much about why so many feel stressed, harassed and miserable, says Joe Moran

Those with passionate convictions must be willing to concede their arguments may be flawed or even wrong if useful debate is to happen on campus, says UCL president Michael Spence

Politicians, the public and judges have grown tired of deferring to universities’ opaque decision-making processes, as illustrated by Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action in admissions, say Anthony Carnevale and Peter Schmidt

Seven years after he took the ‘big leap’ out of academia, John Ankers explains what he’s learned from life coaching other scholars who are mulling a change of career

At the heart of the debate about the global competitiveness of EU-funded research is the question of whether science should be a tool for industrial policy or a global power for good, says Jan Palmowski

Limits on free speech, funding cuts and political appointments at public universities risk squandering a golden opportunity to create a thriving higher education system, says Saikat Majumdar

Freedom of speech and student welfare concerns are also likely to influence whether staff flag potential extremism to authorities, says major study

From Coldplay to Queen, the world’s biggest bands often meet as students – yet universities are seldom mentioned in song. Jeremy Clay ponders why and unearths some lost exemplars – including a long-lost Dutch psychedelic paean to the University of Leicester

After tackling the challenges of accessing large and diverse survey samples, Phelim Bradley’s Prolific is moving into AI

Research funder investing in leadership capability to support academics and encourage collaboration across disciplines and sectors

If you want to get promoted in UK academia you will probably need to apply for an Advance HE fellowship. But there is widespread scepticism that this extended ‘box-ticking exercise’ improves pedagogy, says Amanda Goodall, while Martin Rich considers how the programme might be made fit for purpose

Training survivors of domestic abuse to become researchers could provide blueprint for public engagement, says King’s academic

When she was BBC Newsnight’s top booker, Sam McAlister persuaded Prince Andrew to give his infamous interview about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. She tells Jack Grove how academics can avoid shooting themselves in the foot and what TV producers want from expert guests

With a UK general election potentially less than a year away, there is no better time for academics to influence political thinking, says ex-MP Natascha Engel

Parents have been misled by UK universities about the support available to students, and Parliament must intervene, says Lee Fryatt

Aligning Kurdistan’s higher education system with European norms has given hope to Iraq’s students, but international help is still needed, say Aram Mohamad Qadir and Amanj Saeed

Historically black colleges offer a useful blueprint on how academic administrators can support progressive change, says John Silvanus Wilson Jr

With just 50 sub-Saharan journals listed in Scopus, it’s time to consider how citation indexes are holding back scholarly publishing in Africa, argue David Mills and Natasha Robinson

Having discussed the gender critical philosopher’s work with students, it’s hard to accept her gloomy assessment of silenced people, says Tony Lang

Economist Nicholas Barr, whose research shaped Labour’s 2006 fee policy, says mixed graduate tax and loan system can fix funding crisis

Buildings and academic positions endowed by the US family linked to US opioid crisis will be renamed

Success of Turing Scheme should not obscure lost benefits of deeper, reciprocal student exchange initiatives, explains House of Lords review

Alliances with university colleagues can be inspiring and life-affirming but may also be grounded in little more than ambition or survival instinct. Six writers reflect on the joys and challenges of having friends in academia

Document disappoints campaigners with lack of detail or targets after major funder promised overhaul during Black Lives Matter protests