Social science

The University of Rural England’s wildly popular moggie mascot, Mr Tibbles, has disappeared and suspicion falls on the vice-chancellor. As the frenzy mounts, can our lovelorn hero save his reputation, his job, his relationship and perhaps even his mortal flesh in time for Christmas? John Gilbey tells the tale

Claim by University of Essex law academics that ‘anti-trans’ speakers could ‘contaminate’ buildings branded ‘misogyny’ by critics

Social science papers employ more rigour than policy documents do but need to be more reader-friendly, says Tim Blackman

Failure to expel crackpot social scientists from Russia’s academy has allowed dangerous dogma to dominate public discourse, says Andreas Umland

Revealing desk rejection rates, peer review processing times and other useful operational data would do more to correct slipshod journal practices than an ‘author’s bill of rights’, says Jerry Jacobs

The student accommodation crisis seen in many UK cities highlights the need for a more strategic and sustainable approach to town-gown issues, says Neal Juster

As THE’s Global Sustainable Development Congress kicks off at the University of Glasgow, Oxfam’s chief executive Danny Sriskandarajah explains why universities are increasingly important in the fight against poverty and social injustice

Encouraging students to embody their institution’s distinctive values will allow it to present a more rounded view of the true worth of higher education, says Claire Taylor

Nigerian-born Cornell University professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò explains why academia – particularly in Africa – should consider the drawbacks of decolonisation alongside its benefits

America’s two-year public colleges are often romanticised as engines of social mobility and the epitome of the educative mission. But one academic has found the reality to be very different, with callous management failing students and staff in equal measure

NTEU council rejects outright condemnation and resists push for expulsions

Surprise news that the UK is achieving its long-term target for research spending does not dent case for more public investment, says David Willetts

The toxic dispute over the rights of transgender people and how freely these matters should be discussed remains academia’s most divisive issue. Laura Favaro explains what she learned from speaking to both sides

Supporting young researchers to peer-review and edit journal submissions will also accelerate their training, says Quan-Hoang Vuong

Shaking off impostor syndrome can be tough for isolated academics who pursue niche areas of study where grant funding opportunities are limited, says Rachael Hains-Wesson

Universities must agree on sector-wide expectations and support for the growing number teaching-focused academics, says Christine Cassar

Reliance on student reviews of university teaching has led to a warped understanding of quality, says Sally Patfield

Without more reliable data on graduate employability or courses more aligned to employers’ needs, Ukrainian students will continue to look elsewhere, says Alexander Kostyuk

Students should be encouraged to tackle books, ideas or ways of thinking they may find distressing or offensive – but offering emotional support is important too, says Sussex’s new vice-chancellor, Sasha Roseneil

The latest A-level data show concerning long-term trends in the popularity of humanities subjects, says Julia Black

Bringing students into departmental conversations on standards safeguarding can reinvigorate a process that has served UK universities well for almost 200 years, says Clare Peddie

Karl Andersson’s ‘appallingly bad’ paper has exposed the insanity of ethnography’s turn towards introspection and other postmodern research methods that place little value on objectivity, says William Matthews

Thousands of applicants missing out on their first-choice university is not a pandemic-era blip but a ‘new normal’ that will force many more to look for excellent courses beyond the Russell Group, says Mary Curnock Cook

Karl Andersson has long attracted controversy over his interest in sexually suggestive images of teenage boys, so did university investigate this?

A bitter feud between the head of one of Oxford’s grandest colleges and its dons made front-page news. As a new, internally recruited vice-chancellor prepares to take office, Jack Grove hears from both the dean at the centre of the dispute and those who are glad to see him gone

Britain’s first history professor of African heritage discusses Colston, the ‘myth’ of Windrush and surviving in academia without support

Narratives describing research in departments should be replaced by institution-level document, recommends funder-backed study

Human rights expert claims ‘inaccurate’ impact submission written on her work by old employer highlights why funding rules should change

Doctoral training centre sorry for email suggesting doctoral students work in fields and sell cosmetics to make ends meet

Taxi drivers are a good source of inspiration on profound questions of alien life, intergalactic travel and deep space exploration, says British scientist

With first-year students no longer contributing to classroom discussions as they did pre-pandemic, we need to rekindle their pleasure and agency in their own education, says Sophie Scott-Brown

Research England unveils substantial uplifts for both quality-related research funding and knowledge exchange activities

Rising star of contest to be next PM signals intention to clamp down on ‘low quality degrees’ and universities that ‘indoctrinate social attitudes’

British Academy chief Julia Black says Treasury must urgently clarify stance on Horizon Europe and long-term backing for UK science

Analysis reveals that UK scholars tend to move to jobs that bring them into closer conformity with disciplinary standards, says Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra

Once lauded as engines of social mobility, American universities are increasingly perceived as widening social and economic injustices. Matthew Reisz speaks to two academics whose new book lays bare the extent of the problem and the potential solutions

Friendly reminders about university events, deadlines and policies may seem harmless, but fielding these endless emails exacts a high price, says Frank LoSchiavo

Well-meaning initiatives that prioritise student satisfaction over educational objectives deny students access to the type of rich learning experience that universities were designed for, argue Rebekah Wanic and Nina Powell 

The new 43-year-old head of Sciences Po discusses how he is helping Ukrainian students, institutional change and his classmate Emmanuel Macron

Labyrinthine university administration is causing unnecessary stress for scholars and students but beware red tape cutbacks, says Maree Martinussen

The UK government’s bill to tackle university cancel culture would give it unacceptable powers to control academic debate and student protest, says George Letsas

Head of Cardiff University’s new social sciences centre says virtual working has not dented the case for new ‘superlab’

Thirty years after his breakout book declared democracy to be an unstoppable force, the End of History author explains to Matthew Reisz why a new defence of liberal values is urgently needed, and why scholars must share some responsibility for destabilising them

Obsessed with graduate employment, US universities are doing little to improve students’ ability to think independently, a major new study has concluded. Paul Basken speaks to the Harvard academics behind the decade-long investigation and hears how student learning can be repaired

The teaching philosophy at the long-awaited institution is based on interdisciplinary programmes and experiential instruction, says its president Pierre Ouellette

Mistreated foreign lecturers welcome ‘endgame’ of marathon dispute but some say strings attached to a proposed deal are unacceptable

With both Oxford and Cambridge seeking new vice-chancellors, Rosa Ellis examines the unique pressures of leading these prestigious universities and the qualities that successful candidates will need to do the job

As the pandemic increases public scrutiny of science, the UK Parliament is holding another inquiry into the long-running issue of reproducibility. Five of its contributors give their views on how sloppy science can be eliminated and trust be more firmly rooted 

Appealing narrative attached to ‘first-in-family’ students may obscure the actual extent of their social disadvantage, says researcher

Studying institutional success stories is socially useful and has nothing to do with selling out, say Matthew Flinders and Paul ’t Hart

Scrutiny of graduate outcomes is appropriate but the issue is much more complex than arts v science, says Anna Vignoles

ESRC extends PhD support to last three-and-a-half years but rejects review’s four-year recommendation

Negative connotations attached to ‘liberal’ and ‘arts’ have created a misleading perception of a transformative education model that delivers for students, say Barbara Altmann and Jeffrey Nesteruk

The LSE director on the institution’s green strategy, the importance of social scientists working with industry and the advantages of being ‘different’

Social scientists have an opportunity to advise on reorienting the traditional public inquiry towards focused lesson-learning, says Matthew Flinders

International scholars in arts, humanities and social sciences are recognising universities in China, sometimes more than their local academics

The cultural historian and author of The Art of Self-Improvement on positive transformations, the Stoic approach to life, and what self-help books can reveal about individuals and society

US and UK lose dominance in law, while social sciences, business and economics and education results also released

Economic and Social Research Council warned that current three-and-a-half-year funding period is ‘insufficient’ and is causing student hardship

Addressing the very real problem of global epistemic exclusion is inclusive and democratic, says Simon Marginson