Dahl before Dostoevsky? Harry Potter before Proust? It’s time to acknowledge the texts that really constitute the modern literary canon, says Felipe Fernández-Armesto
New furore over a steep rise in unconditional offers and concerns over student mental health underlines why reform of the UK’s unique admissions system is long overdue, says Julie Kelly
Discussions with students about how marijuana can affect studies and health and talks about its place on campus are needed before the drug becomes legal in Canada, say Alexandra Burnett, Rodney A. Clifton and Gabor Csepregi
Perilous drops in student recruitment at UK universities during A-level clearing raise the likelihood of institutional failures, a prospect that remains as politically unpalatable as ever, says Nick Hillman
The high cost and visa complexity associated with Western higher education is driving a mushrooming number of African students east, says Kuyok Abol Kuyok
Pakistani lecturers and students tend to be similar in age, which makes romances inevitable. Universities must do more to raise awareness of the potential fallout of such relationships, say Abur Rehman Cheema and Mehvish Riaz
Social scientists’ inexplicable failure to conduct research on their own campuses is holding back quality in undergraduate education, says Richard Arum
UK students may be less likely to commit suicide than the general population, but rates are rising. A properly informed and funded response is vital, says Sarah Niblock
Three-quarters of students in the UK now receive ‘good’ degrees, compared with just half 20 years ago. Is grade inflation an inevitable result of the marketisation of higher education and is the picture the same worldwide? Simon Baker examines the evidence
Appealing to students and their families made electoral sense for the Labour Party, but its promises have saddled it with a lot of low-value spending, says Roger Smyth
Life prospects for children who have been through the care system are dire, but with better support, higher education could be their salvation, says Patricia Walker
The push to admit more students from ethnic backgrounds should not be seen as a chore but as a valuable opportunity to update curricula, says Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett
Widely varying tuition fees and financial aid programmes prevent students from making fully informed decisions, and policymakers from understanding the effects of interventions, say Ross Finnie, Richard Mueller and Arthur Sweetman
