Opinion

Sector experts offer their advice for Liz Truss and her new Cabinet on some of the biggest issues facing UK universities, from finances and R&D to culture wars and common ground

It is scandalous that wealthy publishers make academics provide what is, in effect, unlimited legal expenses insurance, says Andrew Tettenborn

As a campus guard, George Bass often sees the gaps between students’ intellectual abilities and their life skills

Prize committees should re-examine nominees with below-average scientometric scores, says Adrian Furnham

The latest bribery scandal is a reminder that even as the country fights for its survival, bad habits persist, says Ararat Osipian

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

Academics’ passion for research should feed into the ideal higher education experience, says Gill Evans

The new UK PM’s team needs to maintain access for the hardest-to-reach, fulfil research spending promises and continue levelling up, says Laura Brassington

Proactively pushing a more positive, focused agenda around quality and value will win more public and political support, says Vivienne Stern

Creative partnerships between institutions can contribute to NHS training needs, research excellence and regional levelling up, say Brian Webster-Henderson and Martin Lupton

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

From threats to the humanities to the future of universities themselves, the risks of misunderstanding what to value seem to be growing

The reaction to James Sweet’s article about presentism – including his own – compromises genuine scholarly debate, says Jonathan Zimmerman

The wider issues raised by the scandal can be particularly acute in the work of academic practitioners in cultural fields, says Ian Pace

Universities should decide their funding needs based on their goals in teaching, research and outreach, say Nicolai Foss, Peter Klein and Phillip Nell  

Studying images, rather than texts, would allow history students to better grasp colonised peoples’ agency, says Apurba Chatterjee

From admissions to outreach and student data collection, the undergraduate journey must be reviewed to narrow unacceptable social and educational inequalities, say Kim Hunter Reed and Ray Belton

Enormous efforts to increase links between research fields have failed to consider how undergraduates can also benefit and contribute, says Stephanie Marshall

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

Let’s not deprive our students of access to the full range of human experience in the name of protecting them, says Amna Khalid

The regulations can be ambiguous, but the masturbation paper furore is a result of supervisors’ and reviewers’ lack of vigilance, says Michelle Shipworth

The pandemic forced universities to rethink their digital strategies but bolder strategies for IT training and investment are still required, says Liz Bacon

Closing down branch campuses in countries with questionable human rights practices, or restricting student intakes from these nations, would be a grave mistake, says Bashir Makhoul

Academics should not feel uncomfortable when their courses become increasingly focused on improving graduate outcomes, says Patrick Callaghan

Student data must be used more effectively to personalise courses, encourage engagement and identify at-risk undergraduates, says Iain Sloan

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

One of UK higher education’s leading data scientists, DataHE’s founder Mark Corver presents the key statistics that will define this year’s turbulent A levels and clearing season

To sustain its world-leading universities and science, the next UK prime minister must listen to Tory heavyweights and move on from ‘sugar-rush’ policymaking

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

Time-honoured standards of professionalism appear to be unravelling. Authors should be entitled to demand better, says Harvey Graff

Yes, in-person interaction has benefits, but ending online accessibility will close the door again on those unable to travel, says Alexandra Ridgway

We need a sector-wide commitment to reforming career structures, funding strategies and publication outlets, says Ryan Truby

Feeding the belief that success depends entirely on external factors discourages students from taking responsibility, says James Wicks

But affordability holds these non-profit innovators back from fully competing with top public institutions, say Philip Altbach and Eldho Mathews

Universities' response to the Russian invasion needs to be embedded in wider policy and practice, says Linda Morrice

Unbounded discussions develop the critical but playful thinking that allows people to safely challenge and be challenged, says Lee Cronin

But rising inflation means that the pension scheme’s recently reported funding position is likely to be over-optimistic, says Bill Galvin

In order to take a deeper look at how universities approach the UN’s SDGs, we are refining and expanding our questions for the THE Impact Rankings 2023.

Unless research culture fundamentally changes, academics will continue to be fixated with journal rankings, says Carl Rhodes

Without a fuller embrace of repositories, the transition with be slow, partial and siloed, says Kathleen Shearer

Corporate tie-ups bring employability benefits but may be fragile and impose academic and reputational risks, says Paul Springer

Teaching English to military professionals who value relationships has been a breath of fresh air, says a former US academic

Comparing students’ writing abilities in subsequent assignments with this yardstick could help combat contract cheating, says Dave Tomar

Marketisation has compromised higher education, leaving it unsure how to rebut criticism like Kemi Badenoch’s, says Steven Jones

Online has its advantages but it doesn’t match the complex social experience of face-to-face meetings, say four historians of science

There will always be a political temptation to charge universities with improving a school system that leaves some students underprepared

The sense of purpose and connection that a busy academic life confers is not easily replaced. You may cry, says Helen Lees

Goldsmiths’ reduction of people to expendable costs corrodes the necessary conditions for learning. I’m leaving, says Les Back

The push for lifelong learning should revive the ‘I can’t decide which of these exciting subjects to study next’ model of learning, says Andy Grayson

As the Indian and the US examples both show, openness and flexibility is easily limited by parochialism and provincialism, says Saikat Majumdar

Enormous surpluses underline the extent to which universities prioritise their own welfare over that of future graduates, says Hannah Forsyth

Graduate careers are long and pay varies by region – so why measure course value on graduate salaries 15 months in, asks Neal Juster

The idea that revisionism is something to be ashamed of harks back to a mythical golden age of classics, canons and objective truth, says Harvey Graff

Giving adjuncts biweekly payments, internal status for permanent vacancies and tenure on promotion would all help, say Lisa Carver and Samantha King

UK government schemes that purport to guarantee disabled applicants an interview are not working, says Becky Alexis-Martin