Social science

Sussex philosophy professor on why she continues to speak out despite facing online abuse and ‘hostile environment’ at work

Coalition of publishers, scholars and funders believes that combating confusion on issue is the first step to finding a solution

Asian academics lend their own languages and experiences to the budding field of queer studies, says ‘godmother’ of the Taiwan LGBT movement

Some traditional marketing-focused courses replaced by programmes emphasising environmental studies and social responsibility

Economic and Social Research Council may provide four years of PhD funding amid concerns over stress caused by three-year model

Universities UK poll shows Britons value skills rather than income level when it comes to immigration

University of Texas at Austin scholar argues that the poor state of quantitative psychology makes replication impossible

Prince Andrew’s fall from grace a full decade after Jeffrey Epstein’s conviction underlines academia’s failure to probe modern power, says Jason Lee

Growing numbers of academics struggle to combine work and personal care responsibilities, according to research by Marie-Pierre Moreau, who explains how universities can help

Junior scholars have always needed to curry favour with their seniors, but quantifying research impact exacerbates the problem, says Jonathan R Goodman

Universities are rapidly expanding their student rolls, using their increased scale to invest, compete and insulate themselves against economic uncertainty. But at what cost, asks Ellie Bothwell

Lorenzo Fioramonti wants to ‘put his ideas to the test’ and end the country’s brain drain

Fees reform has not quelled popular anger over exploitation, but academics can play a key role in constitutional reform, says Robert Funk

£9,000 fees permitted per-student funding to rise even at the height of austerity, argues former minister David Willetts

More sharing of impact will improve understanding of how it can be promoted and evaluated, says Peter Tufano

Restrictions on loan access for university courses with low graduate earnings under consideration for Tory manifesto, though Augar-inspired cuts not ruled out

Former higher education minister will leave in December to seek consultancy and advisory positions

Would-be Brexit Party MP Kevin Yuill says he is encouraged by support for Leave party among staff and students

Analysis of publishing deals across Europe highlights different costs faced by country-level consortia

There is a vast universe of information about people’s online behaviour. But academics say social media firms are restricting access to it, leaving us in the dark about the web

The impact agenda is often portrayed a diversion from the real activity of research, but it can also provoke new lines of enquiry, says Alix Green

Harry Collins takes issue with an outdated account of the relations between science and society

Ever since it emerged from English departments in the 1970s, media studies has been routinely dismissed as the archetypal ‘Mickey Mouse’ degree. But in an era of fake news and media hegemony, has this multifaceted subject finally found its place in the zeitgeist?

New Social Democrat administration drops annual 2 per cent saving target, but could end teaching subsidy for humanities and social sciences

Graduates arranged workplace visits in major world cities as well as donations to cover travel costs, university alumni relations head tells conference

Trend for ‘shorter and closer’ overseas study options among Japanese students puts premium on demonstrating educational value, EAIE conference hears

France’s president responded to the gilets jaunes movement with a surprise plan to abolish the grande école ENA, reigniting debate about the country’s intensely hierarchical higher education system. John Morgan explores what lies behind the proposal and what it says about the role of exclusive institutions in a populist, anti-elitist age

The University of London’s new vice-chancellor reflects on her Canadian working class roots, leadership lessons from local government and her time in 10 Downing Street

Pension fund’s deficit is likely to be worse than feared rather than better, says Sir David Eastwood

There have been big declines in the proportion of humanities and social science papers published in Norwegian, conference told

A new survey of employers raises questions about the labour market value of higher degrees, says Tristram Hooley

Critical thinking is not enough. Students must be taught dynamics of social media, say Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren

A bold policy to internationalise Turkey’s universities by teaching in English should be abandoned, says Sinan Bayraktaroğlu

A lecturer describes how her university failed to act when she was racially victimised by a student receiving mental health support

Academics should consider whether they are comfortable giving top marks to students barely literate in English who submit work translated by Google, says Paul Stapleton

An independent service to check data and algorithms is the only way to resolve the research replication crisis, say Christophe Pérignon and Christophe Hurlin

Business and management schools are highly successful in financial terms, and provide valuable income to their wider universities. But opinion remains sharply divided on how successful they have been intellectually. Here, five business academics give their views on whether their discipline has done enough to earn the respect of the academy and wider society

All modern academics know that it’s publish or perish, but is regular publication a gateway or a barrier to groundbreaking scholarship? Simon Baker assesses the data on the relationship between research volume and quality and asks which, if either, should be prioritised

If academics want students to see value in course-based activities, we need to make clearer to them exactly what broader skills they will learn by completing them, says Tanya Martini

Gradual changes to lifestyles will not save the planet. Universities need to go beyond Cambridge's recent lead and think bigger, says Peter Harper

Consumerism, technology and the culture wars threaten to render critical thinking an unwanted skill, worries Victor Ferrall

Apparent moves to increase university autonomy will have the opposite effect given the government’s authoritarian tendencies, says Jarosław Płuciennik

Deep partnerships with government, business and civil society leave a sweet taste for both academics and the public, says Mark Western

Candid interviews with Chinese university presidents and government officials reveal widespread doubt that institutional freedom has increased

Robert MacIntosh considers how university staff should approach the management merry-go-round of vice-chancellors, pro vice-chancellors and department heads

Big datasets linking higher education participation to a range of socio-economic factors are useful and fascinating, but their translation into policy remains fraught 

The advent of datasets linking graduates’ income to their student records has fuelled calls for certain courses and universities to be excluded from public funding. But, ahead of England’s Augar review of post-18 education, the minister who commissioned the longitudinal education outcomes project, David Willetts, warns against such abuses of the data

Agreement that EU research funding should continue to be distributed according to quality is an important step forward, writes Jan Palmowski

Indian scholar explains why she thinks guidelines on ensuring PhDs focus on ‘national priorities’ are dangerous and wrong

If Americans lose faith in alternative routes to success, entry to top universities could become as cut-throat as it is in South Korea, says Stephanie K. Kim

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

Difficult conversations about student complaints and colleagues’ underperformance will test the skills and judgement of senior academic staff, says Robert MacIntosh

Marketisation, precarity and global competition have combined to create a vast market for academic ghostwriting, says an anonymous scholar

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

Liberal arts professor Dan Mathewson uses his wrestling alter ego to explore the politics of the working-class American South

US government funding $7.6 million (£5.9 million) project designed to give policymakers a quick indication of reproducibility

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

Portland State University’s investigation of a researcher who published hoax papers misses the point of ethical oversight, says Jeffrey Flier