Opinion

The Russell Group must not be the only focus for widening access, says Pamela Taylor. Local provision is a good fit for many students

Why is it not possible to choose individual courses from a number of different universities, asks Khaled Benkrid

The QAA's promotion of bureaucratic centralisation cannot go unchecked, says Terence Kealey - reform is needed

Gary Day learns narcoleptics can't sleep at night, quiz genii are insufferable and ministers clearly evasive

The click-and-copy culture of “fast capitalism” breeds credulity. Tara Brabazon on educators’ duty to unsettle, probe and offer alternatives

In offering colleges new powers, the Government could find that it damages the very qualifications it set out to improve and extend

Alan Ryan wishes John Denham would build bridges instead of picking fights

Schools, colleges and universities must work together on widening participation initiatives, says Stuart Billingham

With 2,000 active cases of members claiming unfair treatment at any one time UCU membership remains vital, says Sally Hunt

Lecturer Rebekka Kill's love of DJ-ing and popular music led her to build links between academe and Britain's vibrant creative industries

It’s time men recognised the powerful relationships and allegiances between administrative and academic women and how much academe depends on their contributions

Gloria Monday has to negotiate her way past the crowds of parents on campus for a meeting that can only mean more work

Always controversial, the World University Rankings are nevertheless an invaluable quality-marker for the sector

When it comes to grants, Tim Birkhead knows just how Kevin the Teenager feels

A black president would mean most abroad, says Felipe Fernández-Armesto

RCUK is working to build a fair and robust system that will minimise research misconduct, says Glyn Davies

Prospective students in the US need a consumer guide to make sense of the plethora of college listings, argues Robert Johnson Jr

When classes resume, those good intentions resurface. Even the ones, says Carrie Dunn, that never seem to make it into practice

Tara Brabazon on competing visions of ownership, content and scholarship

Perceptions that the UK is 'aloof' from the Bologna Process are grossly unfair - but they could prove damaging

Universities must learn to make full economic costing work on industry-funded projects, says Martin Vincent

Let us drop skills-only courses and return to an integrated knowledge-based syllabus, urges Penelope J. Corfield

Education should create more rounded individuals and a better society, not just a better-trained workforce, says Rudi Bogni

Tara Brabazon ponders a future bereft of the custodians of knowledge. Science fiction – or the all-too-probable result of the devaluation of librarians?

It is right for universities to co-operate with business, but not to cater to a demand for out-of-the-box employees

Sally Feldman has spotted a new breed of troublemaker appearing on campus

Educational research is meaningless and out of touch because it is completely divorced from wider social concerns, argues Dennis Hayes

At first, those chosen for academic audit were startled rabbits, says Frank Burnet; soon they had wised up to minimise the risk of injury

Monographs, conferences and keynotes are vital elements of the modern scholarly world, but they are by no means the only, let alone the best, ways to spread ideas and insights. As Tara Brabazon notes, teaching can be a powerful, and inspiring, method of disseminating findings

Kevin Fong says the experiments at Cern represent science at its finest

Mary Evans says the sector stands to gain from greater use of retired scholars' wisdom, experience and independence

Using a 20th-century princess to market an 18th-century duchess betrays a wider malaise, says Hannah Greig

Universities need exemption from the time-wasting - and costly - absurdities of the Freedom of Information Act, argues Jon F. Baldwin

In an era of media-manipulated ‘reality’, Tara Brabazon is inspired by helping students learn to use oral history techniques to capture genuinely authentic voices

Attacks on the grading system will not improve standards but will harm the UK's reputation, claims Malcolm Grant

Treat your staff to lashings of 1940s-style good sense and you jolly well won't go far wrong, advises Blyton devotee Sally Feldman

Alan Ryan says growing disparity in graduate premiums doesn't bode well for HEIs

After two weeks on holiday, with time to think, Gloria Monday considers whether she should leave the exhausting world of academia take the less-regimented option of life in the military

British academics must stop being monoculturalists and embrace the influx of foreign students, says William Burns

The trashing of Howard Atkinson's potato trial transcends the genetics debate and could have profound consequences for food security

The grading scale for students' work is a twisted mess and will need to be overhauled soon, says Martin Luck

The PowerPoint presentation is redefining public speaking. Tara Brabazon argues that it is an unnecessary evil

In denigrating students, devaluing teachers and equating degrees with big salaries, the media and the Government damage society

Tim Birkhead dispels the myth that lecturers spend three months on the beach

Arts and humanities advocate Philip Esler offers to fill a yawning gap in No 10's strategy for realising Britain's potential

Felipe Fernández-Armesto says we must choose our commemorations wisely

The dilution of PhD standards damages the status of every aspect of UK academe, claims Kevin Sharpe

Pictures of smiling girls clutching A grades belie the fact that they are still unrepresented in elite institutions, claims Miriam David

Wikipedia is created mostly by teenage male computer nerds, so Martin Cohen worries about its growing clout among 'scholars'

Textbooks have been neglected in favour of other media, but Tara Brabazon argues the case for their importance

Beware those who want information - and informers. An anonymous academic considers the police-state side to 'managerial techniques'

It's time to start exchanging gifts and sharing cultures with the digital natives who are our students, says Fintan Culwin

Developed along idiosyncratic lines since the age of Napoleon, France's universities must embrace globalisation, Zoe McKenzie says

The spark of connection between lecturers and students cannot be duplicated, although digitisation has its place in preserving special, life-changing lectures

Economic woes and political uncertainty mean the sector must take charge in proposing new policies, says Deian Hopkin

Sally Feldman on the deals, desperation and bottom-line realities of clearing

Jonathan Taylor posits that our emphasis on the advancement of knowledge can crush creativity

Graham Manville and Gill Schiel outline the challenges institutions face harnessing the potential of this new whirlpool of talent

The precedents, the tear-stained notes, the wisdom of Solomon (The External): Frank Burnet wonders whatever happened to exam boards