Academic & University News | Times Higher Education (THE)

11 December

Susan Lapworth to leave the Office for Students

11 December

Academics far more likely to reply to elite university students

11 December

Wendy Larner: ‘It isn’t easy to have your personal integrity impugned’

Cardiff’s January announcement of plans to cut 400 academic jobs and close several departments prompted a media firestorm that heaped opprobrium on its vice-chancellor. But she also received lots of quiet support for her efforts to put the university back on an even financial keel, she tells Chris Havergal

11 December

A robot's hands shackled, illustrating restrictions on AI use

The UK’s copyright laws will hobble its AI ambitions

11 December

One rock climber hold the rope for another, illustrating a supportive research environment

The REF’s environment rebrand is no climbdown

10 December

Rankings

Latin America University Rankings 2026: Brazil tops list

South American giant holds on to number one spot and continues to dominate table, despite concerns over Bolsonaro’s legacy

Access all our rankings

Events

THE Asia Universities Summit 2026

22 April - 24 April 2026

Hong Kong

Campus

Five ideas for fostering belonging and collaboration in the classroom

By Jamie Heywood

North America

Most employers confident in higher education

By Kathryn Palmer

11 December

Canada announces details of C$1.7 billion talent scheme

10 December

US universities must do all they can to counter voter suppression

By Jonathan Becker

10 December

Policy impact undervalued by universities, say social scientists

9 December

Europe

Susan Lapworth to leave the Office for Students

11 December

Student governors sidelined despite expanding role, report warns

11 December

Last-minute REF changes ‘show how far things drifted off course’

11 December

The UK’s copyright laws will hobble its AI ambitions

By Benjamin White

11 December

Asia

Computer scientist researching in their laboratory

Academics far more likely to reply to elite university students

11 December

Will the US meltdown propel China into global scientific leadership?

9 December

UNSW unveils branch campus plans as elites join rush to India

8 December

Taliban supporters dominate Afghan university leadership

8 December

Australia & New Zealand

Overpayments persist despite Australian student debt overhaul

11 December

‘Pre-order’ research in sights of science academy president-elect

10 December

Stronger links between TNE and research would boost innovation

By Paul Harris

9 December

Study abroad halves among disadvantaged students

6 December

News

Last-minute REF changes ‘show how far things drifted off course’

Decision to row back reforms demonstrates difficulties of using process to engineer social change, critics say, with little clarity over how newly revised ‘people’ section will work

11 December

Susan Lapworth to leave the Office for Students

Chief executive becomes latest to depart English regulator after nearly four years in charge

11 December

Academics far more likely to reply to elite university students

Researchers sent emails to authors of recently published papers to test how much prestige matters in access to academic resources

11 December

Student governors sidelined despite expanding role, report warns

11 December

Overpayments persist despite Australian student debt overhaul

11 December

Universities ‘overthinking’ competition laws, says OfS chair

10 December

REF 2029 downgrades research culture, restores five output limit

10 December

More than half of disadvantaged students living at family home

10 December

MPs query Smith’s claims that insolvent providers can teach out

By Tom Williams

10 December

Canada announces details of C$1.7 billion talent scheme

10 December

Talent race ‘wide open’, say US researchers heading to UK

10 December

International student levy ‘could topple mid-tier universities’

10 December

In-depth

Wendy Larner: ‘It isn’t easy to have your personal integrity impugned’

11 December

A visitor at the Shanghai Expo Trade Center in Shanghai, China, on 27 April 2025, during China’s Space Day to promote the education of aerospace science and technology for youth in China.

Will the US meltdown propel China into global scientific leadership?

Chinese science’s meteoric rise has long prompted questions about whether it will ultimately eclipse the US. Many now see that as inevitable, as Donald Trump wreaks havoc on US science. But might wariness about collaboration hold China back? Tash Mosheim gauged the mood among Shaw Prize laureates in Hong Kong

Purse full of gold coins with the clasp looking like a bomb, while a banker wolf holds its ears. To illustrate whether banking covenants are the big bad wolf of UK higher education.

Are banking covenants the big bad wolf of UK higher education?

Dark tales abound of various UK universities being at risk of breaching agreements with their banks. But what exactly are covenants? Why have they come to play such a prominent role in the conversation about sector health? And would breaking one really lead to institutional ruin? Helen Packer reports

Opinion

By Benjamin White

The UK’s copyright laws will hobble its AI ambitions

Without exemptions for commercial as well as academic data mining, the government’s AI for Science Strategy will fall flat, says Benjamin White

11 December

The REF’s environment rebrand is no climbdown

The pragmatic response to misunderstandings around the word ‘culture’ will ensure that grassroots momentum is not lost, says John-Arne Røttingen

People with signs encouraging people to vote

US universities must do all they can to counter voter suppression

Reject calls for passive ‘neutrality’ and develop integrated plans to promote student voting, say Jonathan Becker, Erin Cannan and Yael Bromberg

Stronger links between TNE and research would boost innovation

By Paul Harris

9 December

How long will HE be able to protest its job-relevance in the AI era?

By Ali Hindi

8 December

Code red on campus? Black belt talking skills are most effective

By George Bass

5 December

Subsidised canteens are a must to address student food insecurity

By Jane Dyson

3 December

World policy

Iranian students on computers, illustrating online universities

Iran’s war on independent learning has gone digital – and international

The targeting of a Netherlands-based online Persian university represents a state grappling with limits on its control of knowledge circulation, says Roohola Ramezani

Editor’s pick

A suited man about to step on a banana peel, illustrating the threat to UK diplomacy posed by language department closures

The procession of university language closures will trip up UK diplomacy

The government needs to signal its demand for elite foreign language skills before more universities leave provision to inferior alternatives, says Ian Proud

Disquiet over ‘PhDs by publication’ diminishes doctorate’s prestige

Misuse of ‘cumulative PhDs’ should prompt debate over whether stacking research papers is really equivalent to writing a dissertation, says Brian Bloch

Featured jobs

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Talking leadership

Wendy Larner: ‘It isn’t easy to have your personal integrity impugned’

11 December

Seaton: Dundee finances soon ‘normalised’ but job cuts a must

In wide-ranging interview, crisis-hit university’s interim principal admits further redundancies are ‘uncomfortable’ for ministers and acknowledges ‘moral hazard’ of £62 million bailout

24 November

‘Good citizen’ Teesside University ‘rising to local challenges’

Departing vice-chancellor of Middlesbrough institution crowned University of the Year discusses riot aftermath, serving a deprived area and the importance of ‘learning gain’