Human resources

The problem is very real, but it would be more effective to invest in creating an institutional culture of responsibility and accountability, says Jim Nicell 

Focus on organisational hygiene and you get a nice place to work. Quality and high performance may or may not follow, says Grahame Dowling

A scandal over unfair appointments of lecturers to the civil service should spark a broader pushback against nepotism, says Fistra Janrio Tandirerung 

Establishing a peer review accreditation scheme would also help incentivise higher standards, says Arfan Ghani

The escalating pressures of university life are resulting in all manner of exotic new psychological disorders. Adrian Furnham opens his casebook

As the season of goodwill comes around again, warm words about collegiality and fellowship have been dutifully corralled into all-staff missives from university leaders. But in an era of management, metrics and industrial unrest, does the image of the academy as a commonwealth of scholars still bear scrutiny? Seven academics have their say 

Unclear guidelines, screen-tanned conspiracy theorists and government party animals: none of them is helping campus security, says George Bass

Inequality, Covid exhaustion, sympathy for students, fear of public opinion and frustration with UCU tactics are all factors, says Glen O’Hara

Compulsory modules on good conduct risk causing more problems than they solve, says Binoy Kampmark

A new term is beginning in the northern hemisphere, and many campuses are reopening. But are academics relishing a return to relative normality or fearful of unvaccinated students? And what has the Covid experience taught them about their approach to teaching? Six scholars offer their perspectives

Bullies and snakes can only wreak havoc via the support – conscious or otherwise – of those around them, says Irina Dumitrescu

As an international review of the UK’s REF begins even before the assessment panels have done their work, has the exercise’s reliance on rereading published papers finally had its day? Might it be time for metrics? Or something else entirely? Jack Grove looks around the world for options  

A major new study reveals that, across the world, work-life balance issues hold women back, say Elaine Howard Ecklund and Di Di

An initiative by the University Alliance to offer training and support to BAME scholars is an important step in the right direction, says Vini Lander 

Pride Month may be over but inclusion needs year-round commitment that goes beyond noisy and colourful gestures, says Karen Lambert

The summer marking marathon is among the most dreary of academic duties. Thank goodness students can appeal, says Brian Bloch

Anglophone universities must embrace the skills and cultural understanding that learning foreign languages instils, says Vicky Lewis

NIH data hint at the extent of bullying and emotional abuse, but barriers to tackling the issue remain high, says Joanna Buscemi

Covid and its financial fallout are serious, but managers must grasp the impact of their operating experiments on teaching and learning, says Binoy Kampmark

In the absence of agreed definitions and rigorous enforcement, good practice will continue to depend on personal responsibility, says Ron Iphofen

Non-disclosure agreements that silence staff or students should be banned, says Mark Geoghegan

Hybrid working may suit some disciplines, but Gary Macfarlane fears that the convenience will come at the cost of creativity and collegiality

Making campuses sustainable will help limit future climate change but won’t protect against current threats, say Frank Fernandez and Hilary Coulson

An unfriendly and isolating ambience that descended into microaggressions and dismissed complaints shattered one academic's high expectations 

Covid-19 has prompted an explosion in preprints but has curtailed networking and underlined the extra pressures on women and junior academics. Simon Baker asks whether the pandemic era is a dark blip or a bright new dawn

As UK campuses reopen, security staff are hard pressed policing social distancing and delivering toilet rolls to isolating students, says George Bass

A writing group has become a vital support network for female academics facing everything the pandemic can throw at them, says Sorcha MacLeod

Government concern has not yielded concrete steps to address chronic faculty shortages and adjunctification, says Pushkar

Universities must ensure that academics who contribute to the vast online encyclopedia are given the credit they deserve, says Piotr Konieczny

If writers aren’t held responsible for their words, they have no incentive to write reflectively and precisely, says Joe Moran

Teaching online renders women’s bodies invisible, but are their talking heads really judged on a par with men’s, asks Kate Eichhorn

Why shouldn’t marketing staff have ongoing input into the brand perception they work so hard to cultivate among prospects, asks Victoria O’Malley

A national ‘great debate’ in England would be more effective than imposing free speech champions and threatening fines, says Dennis Hayes

Universities’ wariness of online instruction was suddenly swept aside last year by Covid-19. But how successful has the overnight digital transition been? Is it sustainable? And should it be? Paul Jump runs through the results of our major survey of university staff

A rationalisation of transnational delivery was already in the offing, but post-pandemic austerity will hasten it, say Matt Durnin and Jazreel Goh 

Academics have long grappled with the strains that job scarcity and the mobility imperative impose on their families. But might the experience of mass remote working finally offer a viable solution, asks Jack Grove

Evidence suggests that different personality types are drawn to – and excel at – teaching and research, says John Dreijmanis

THE’s new Careers Clinic series brings together the great and the good of higher education to answer a burning careers question

Pledged support for equality must be put into practice on multiple fronts, from syllabi and curricula to advising and recommending, say Chisomo Selemani and Anna Young

University careers attract intellectually curious people who want to make a difference. But Donna Swarthout has been disillusioned once too often

What does it say about our labour culture that a tenured professor stuck in an elevator did not even consider cancelling his class, asks Irina Dumitrescu

Those who make the loudest noises about equality can be among the most myopic about the evils of academic inbreeding, says Bruce Macfarlane

The country’s deep belief in cooperation coexists with a quiet opportunism about recruitment and funding, say Tim Seidenschnur and Georg Krücken 

Survey and report by Women’s Higher Education Network urges universities to radically revise their attitudes to deadlines, career development and promotion

Recent attacks on high-profile scholars by government and by a university executive should give us pause, say Christopher Vaughan and Daniel Ncayiyana

A willingness to lie and manipulate beyond what most people can imagine can do wonders for a career, notes Irina Dumitrescu

The shielding of the academic workplace from all risk of Covid-19 is not a safe or sane position, says Robert Poole

It makes no economic sense for job-retention schemes to postpone the inevitable, says Paul Oslington

Those planning new universities might think that a good institution will attract top staff wherever it is located. But is the quality of the environment beyond the ivory tower really so insignificant – and has the pandemic changed the calculus? Paul Jump runs through our survey results

With the Covid-19 pandemic likely to prolong the need for mass online learning for some time, we seek the experts’ advice on how to do it well – from designing courses and maintaining engagement to choosing applications and carrying out experiments remotely

Academic endorsements cast little light while entrenching privilege, says Vincent Hiribarren

Administrators must stop asking faculty of colour to do more than our fair share and then punishing us for it, says Josh Hiller

But in the new normal, the situation for female academics with children is even worse, says Enrica Maria Ferrara

Failure to act robustly risks legal, reputational and financial consequences for universities, says Susan Matthews

Male security guards are the workers most at risk of dying from Covid, but George Bass is happy to be one of the ‘expendables’

An oft-overlooked component of the research process is that simple little thing called leadership, says Matthew Flinders

Professionals must be able to connect with students from different backgrounds, but obsessing about inter-group differences doesn't help, says an anonymous academic

Video conferencing is a reasonable substitute for lectures, but that is where it must end, say Robert Zaretsky and George Alliger

The lockdown is affecting not only final-year students. Without a blanket funding extension, many others will suffer and drop out, says Ross Goldstone

Virtually all modern university courses end with a request for feedback. But are students’ reactions even useful for improving future course design, never mind assessing lecturers? Seven academics discuss their experiences