Opinion

The latest USS valuation may have been conducted amid crashing markets, but there is no escaping the need for changes, says Kate Barker

The abolition of publishers and the bypassing of Big Tech is a prerequisite for maximising the power of science, says Andy Farnell

High levels of personal optimism block decisions to depart a dysfunctional workplace or halt a failing project, say Alexander Clark and Bailey Sousa

A group of undergraduates who got together to build a racing car taught Nic Smith how much horsepower there is in community

Both industry and academia in New Zealand need people who can look past traditional subject boundaries, says Catherine Whitby

Inviting people to share their full selves on campus promotes mental health, diversity and intellectual stimulation, says Kyle Sebastian Vitale

Research that is neither rigorous nor insightful serves no one, say Stefan Stremersch, Nuno Camacho and Russell Winer

Meeting the Confucian approach halfway will protect student recruitment and might even stimulate a new politics of mutual benefit, says Paul Breen

Graduate networks are the perfect launch vehicle for systemic voluntary efforts to improve society, say Michael Madison and Martin Skladany

A major new survey underlines the value that students derived from flipped learning during the pandemic, says Harriet Dunbar-Morris

Other value frameworks, such as those implicit in indigenous knowledges, must be better heard, says Ronald Barnett

Erasmus funding rules should be rewritten to compensate students for the higher cost of travelling by rail, says Connie Hedegaard

The embrace of those values by the UAE’s higher education institutions has been key to the nation’s success, says Zaki Nusseibeh 

Shifting fields takes courage, but if a tenured professor can’t take the leap to address the ecological emergency, who can, asks Adam Aron

How can academics be free to speak out and enquire when the principles of robust open debate are under attack from without and within?

Quite apart from the injustice, institutions that fail to act on complaints undermine trust across entire disciplines, says Irina Dumitrescu

The crisis in peer reviewing can be overcome if journals and universities do more to incentivise it, say Dirk Lindebaum and Peter Jordan

Shrugging is not good enough. Victims must be supported to speak out – and conference organisers must act, says Kirsten England

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

Would a seventh European Court ruling against Rome really force a change in attitude, asks David Petrie

The brain drain from academia to industry is just one of the glitches that need addressing, says Greg Slabaugh

A public exhibition during COP26 hopes to engage policymakers with the slow-burn issues that science doesn’t address, says Gerald Taylor Aiken

The new wave of violence targeting female students across the UK requires urgent redress, says Nicole Westmarland

The pandemic has demonstrated that air miles are not a prerequisite for building international partnerships, says Aimee Ambrose

Humanistic fields are vital to solving the world’s most urgent problems; they also help students shape successful careers and meaningful lives, argue Agustín Rayo and Hashim Sarkis

Social scientists have an opportunity to advise on reorienting the traditional public inquiry towards focused lesson-learning, says Matthew Flinders

The European Commission must resist the temptation to overload nascent university alliances with its own strategic priorities, says Jan Palmowski

From undergraduate engagement to teacher training and graduate salaries, universities lack statistics needed to track student outcomes, say Hamish Coates and Xi Gao

Changing university curricula to reflect challenges of climate change will inspire students, not lofty environmental commitments, says Daniella Tilbury

Those bemoaning the decline of Classics on campus should examine how recent generations have tackled the problem, says Harvey J. Graff

Imperial College London president Alice Gast explains why she wants an open dialogue about the ‘complex, brilliant and sometimes flawed’ individuals who shaped the institution she leads

Spending commitments on Aria, Horizon Europe and UKRI should be welcomed – as should the Treasury’s growing scrutiny of UK and EU research structures, says John Womersley

Editors need to grasp how much intelligence and bravery is needed to produce innovative ideas in certain contexts, says Alfredo González-Ruibal

Amid a recognition of numerous threats, leaders remain convinced that their institutions will be OK

Graduation days are students’ days. Why can’t they be all-singing and all-dancing, asks James Derounian

As refereeing requests multiply, the demands on willing academics’ time are becoming unsustainable, says Adrian Furnham

Reputation-building is more important than ever, but higher education is uniquely placed to meet future challenges, says Mark Scott

The UK government’s £300 million funding pledge must be confirmed in the spending review, and departmental closures must stop, says Jon Keating

Despite their above-average employability, engineering students are hampered by poor-quality provision, says Pushkar

The pandemic revealed that in-person teaching generates greater satisfaction and sense of belonging, say Leonard Saxe and Graham Wright

University leadership is in crisis, with some institutions facing significant reputational damage, but higher education can become a model of compassion, says Michael West

As another legal ruling cements the concept of student athletes as employees, institutions need to react, say Harry Johnson and Nicole Buffalano

The targeting such researchers face raises serious questions about universities’ moral responsibilities towards them, say five researchers

As COP26 looms, universities’ vital place in the UK’s environmental armoury must be recognised in the spending review, says Judith Petts 

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

Tackling global problems requires visionary leadership and fast, proactive and flexible decision-making, says Getachew Engida

Gavin Reddin’s long business career allows him to supplement academic models with myriad real-life exceptions to the rules

The half-hearted pursuit of dust bunnies was less scary than teaching online, but it was no match for life on campus, says Jeffrey Susla

A more liberal visa regime could also help fill skills gaps as Australia looks to recover from the pandemic, says James Cauchy

The David Miller and Kathleen Stock cases underline the growing threat to human rights, say Alison Assiter and Miriam David

With funding crunch time looming, some UK policymakers seem set on limiting education opportunities while advocating their benefits to society

The spending review must confirm the substance beneath the government’s froth about becoming a science superpower, says James Wilsdon

Universities must give credit for the broadened skill sets that the pandemic has prompted academics to acquire, says John Tregoning

Manipulating assessment to generate equal outcomes sabotages an engine of fairness in a meritocratic society, says Glenn Fulcher

When observance of university rules is subservient to internal political considerations, standards and fairness suffer, says Afroz Shah

Questioning and rethinking how and where we live will determine whether we go on living at all, says Ulrich Loening

In the absence of an express prohibition of class discrimination, a new code offers a beginning for dialogue, says Geraldine Van Bueren

The tactful approach can be effective but it risks obscuring the necessity and urgency of improvements, says Chris Moore

Lotteries for viable funding applications may be one way forward, say Lisette Jong, Thomas Franssen, Stephen Pinfield and James Wilsdon

The Covid-enforced pause to in-person visits has been a relief to BAME academics, says Aymen Idris