Opinion

The unravelling of internationalisation and academic freedom is likely to come with a repurposing of research to military ends, says Maria Yudkevich

Improving benefits and lowering contributions must not mitigate against the pension scheme’s ability to better ride out future storms, says Kate Barker

I want my research to fuel change and make a positive impact on the world, and I do not want to suffer in the process, says Heidi Green

Ethics committees should further a culture of research ethics rather than act as judge and jury, say Yoann Bazin and Élise Goiseau

Regardless of its merits, the bill barring state agencies from boycotting Israel cannot apply to universities, says Graham Virgo

Race-based admissions may be banned, but legacy students and those from elite schools still enjoy huge, unfair advantages, says Aman Majmudar

The biggest step backwards over the last 50 years was supporters’ retreat from equal opportunity to a focus on ill-defined ‘diversity’, says Harvey Graff

Use of the CSAT is likely to increase US enrolment of South Koreans but could bode ill for some of the latter’s domestic institutions, says Kyuseok Kim

As financial pressure takes its toll, the Oxford vice-chancellor’s clarity and commitment to the health of the whole sector show a way forward

Commitments to flip individual journals have not proved to be the game changer that Springer Nature had hoped, says Steven Inchcoombe

The ban on race-conscious admissions does not override the need to monitor progress in equity and social mobility, says W. Carson Byrd

Subsidising domestic with international provision would not be tolerated in healthcare. How long before it unravels in HE, asks Mark Corver

When faced with a real, full-bore crisis, this generation of supposed snowflakes just got on with it and coped better than I did, says Joe Moran

Based solely on a Turnitin report, Emily was condemned for using ChatGPT to write her essay. Except that she hadn’t, writes Daniel Sokol

Ambitions to boost institutional profiles will fail unless academics are motivated, trained and rewarded to take the initiative, says Sheldon Jacobson

Doctoral students drive Iranian science, but the country’s low spending means that they often lack access to basic resources, says Roohola Ramezani 

It isn’t perfect, but data and analytics could capture the disadvantages applicants face and the diversity they may represent, says Carlo Ratti

When Covid closed borders, universities’ over-reliance on international student fees looked like disaster. Are they any less exposed today?

The new REF rules allow greater scope to aim for the (four) stars. But who will embrace the risk of crashing to Earth, asks Matthew Flinders

Some incidents are inevitable, but, as all security guards know, de-escalation is a lot less painful than the alternative, says George Bass

For some students, a little more understanding of their difficult individual circumstances goes a very long way, says Hannah Forsyth

When passable texts, images and music can be automatically generated, the creative industries may need fewer, better graduates, says Ian Pace

Scientists and technologists must participate in a genuinely collective project to regulate technological development, says Nicholas Dirks

Collective effort can combat misinformation, respond to climate change and harness the power of AI for the good of mankind, says Rocky Tuan

Reaction to the new rules has been mixed, but they promise to fix the toxic aspects of research culture, says Cat Davies

Challenges for practice research reflect broader issues around knowledge production and academic hierarchies, say Bill Balaskas and Katia Chornik

Graduates who can make connections across time and disciplines would be more stimulated, in both the workplace and wider life, says Harvey Graff

Researchers can help policymakers get to grips with what is and isn’t possible in areas such as hydrogen fuel production, says Tracey Brown

STEM subjects are important, too, but the creative economy employs more young people than any other sector, says Stuart Croft

If passable essays can be generated in seconds, should educators refocus on originality and style – or reframe assessment entirely, asks Andrew Moore

The political will is there, but doubts remain about whether supply and demand will follow suit, say Peter Wolstencroft and Elizabeth Whitfield

Displaced people need better study options, including in the locations where they are based, say Gentille Dusenge, Jackson Byiringiro, and Isaac Ayuen

ChatGPT’s ability to churn out mediocre papers should lead us to reappraise how research is carried out, reported and evaluated, says Martyn Hammersley

The shocking loss of two students’ lives in Nottingham attacks is a sharp reminder of the precious individuals behind the data

Five years on, higher education’s attitude towards student-faculty relationships is very different, says a UK-based academic

Asean governments and institutions have to focus on developing academic leaders to advance the region’s sector, says Norzaini Azman

Climate income schemes can help institutions live up to declarations of a climate emergency, say Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs and Wolfram Möbius

The country’s National Education Policy aims to build a quality internationalised and marketised sector. But, says Saumen Chattopadhyay, it faces many entrenched challenges

Infrastructure might be repaired, but the loss of historical artefacts and Sudan’s reputation for safety are irreparable, says Kuyok Abol Kuyok  

Tsinghua vice-president Bin Yang outlines how the nation’s rapid digital development is evolving to boost the quality and accessibility of education and to give the world a window on China

Funders and administrators regularly praise the benefits of cross-departmental research, yet damaging schisms remain, says Jonathan Goodman

International collaboration on tackling global problems has never been more important, say Chris Husbands and John Dewar 

Carrying out this increasingly herculean task effectively is beyond most universities’ capacity. The burden should be shared, says David Hardstaff

It is widely accepted that Indian curricula need to become more relevant. Links with the business community are key, says Amarjit Singh

Tracking doctoral alumni in other sectors would inform departments about what their specific training allows graduates to do, says Patrick Walsh

So far, Russianists have been strangely resistant to confronting imperialistic, Russocentric narratives, says Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Our report suggests the discipline is struggling in the UK amid low funding and methodological clashes, say four academics

The route will ease the staffing crisis by widening access, but apprentices will have to pass the same professional exams as everyone else, says Nichola Hay

Ministers’ metric-based boasts about the country’s scientific prowess are belied by the reality, as a recent incident illustrates, says Roohola Ramezani

Outrage at cases of falsely claimed Native identities is fuelled by the conflation of positionality with academic merit, says Jonathan Zimmerman

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

Much has changed since Tony Blair declared his priorities to be ‘education, education, education’. Could better communications help restore relations?

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

Strong financial health at sector level conceals wide institutional variation. If growth is choked off, whole universities could fail, says James Brackley

Universities are places where ideas are proposed and improved. It shouldn’t be so hard to discuss an issue with far-reaching implications, say 20 academics

Science may be the best tool humanity has to improve our social conditions – but we must steer it in the right direction, writes Carolina Torrealba