Academic life

Universities’ instinct to ‘de-risk everything’ makes things worse for everybody, says academic émigré

University staff like their workplaces more than people in other sectors but spend less time being there, surveys find

Neurodiverse academics and those from non-English backgrounds can struggle with verbal etiquette – but we don’t mean to offend, says a UK academic 

Some days all I can do is watch Gilmore Girls. But on others I may come up with an idea that changes my whole research field, says Vikky Leaney

Let's not overlook the transformative power of education to spark curiosity, build resilience and drive positive change, says Rahim Somani

Victims may feel more comfortable disclosing incidents to supervisors than to the killjoys who shut down their 4am corridor parties, says George Bass

When my babysitter fell through, why couldn’t an exception be made so I could attend the fancy £90 dinner, asks Eve Hayes De Kalaf  

Administrators at US colleges are increasingly defective and detached from education but I’m too old to try something new, says a faculty member

With the audiobook industry booming, university publishers are turning everything from hot new scholarly titles to Karl Marx’s catalogue into engrossing listening. Matthew Reisz speaks to academics, producers and publishers about what makes a great audiobook and where the industry goes next

Academics and students are getting older, on average. Do universities need to adapt to manage a community with a widening age span?

A ground-breaking physics experiment underlines a proud scholarly tradition that relies on purpose, dedication – and money, says Keith Burnett

The president of McMaster University discusses the importance of nuclear power, dealing with a sexual misconduct scandal and limits on student recruitment

Junior scholars are urged to do all they can to build bridges with the people who can give them jobs and promotions. But how calculating should they be about who to approach? How should they do it? And isn’t it all a bit grubby? Six established academics explain their perspectives

Marking every minor triumph inculcates a motivated mindset of appreciation for your effort and the process of scientific discovery, says Valerie Horsley

Tormented by playground thugs as a child, Jonathan Taylor reflects on why the insidious bullying found in universities is similar but much worse

As an academic, I have found my best holidays to be anything but a vacation from intellectual life, says Lincoln Allison

Speculation over imagined backstabbings and betrayals is rife but the joining of two of Australia’s universities is more of a meeting of minds than clash of clans, insist vice-chancellors Peter Høj and David Lloyd

Controversial professor bets on Substack and right-wing links to sustain scholarship after exiting formal academic role

As Australian scheme that encourages professionals to change career expands across border, former academic attests to its value in easing transition

First comprehensive research university to fully switch to block teaching believes it is destined to become ‘more mainstream’

Postgraduates with children ‘fall between the cracks’ as ineligibility for government support ‘disincentivises’ study, report warns

Those who take on vital academic housekeeping should be acknowledged as champions of good practice and rewarded accordingly, says Eleanor Baker

I concentrate on the joy I get from working with the students who do show up, rather than feeling slighted by those who don’t, says Anna Meier

On-site childcare is seen as vital for meeting equality and access goals, but with funding squeezed and demand unpredictable, many institutions are deciding the costs outweigh the benefits

Too many academics who have lost their motivation mid-career abuse a system that is often unable or unwilling to confront them, says Brian Bloch

List includes knighthoods for historian Niall Ferguson and climate scientist Jim Skea

Queen Mary says facility has been underused and is losing it hundreds of thousands of pounds a year

Petition says University of Plymouth proposal would increase monthly prices from £12.50 to £67.50

Postdocs risk being ruled ineligible after biding their time to optimise prospects of success

Game of Thrones creators return with sci-fi thriller focused on five friends with Oxford physics doctorates

The importance of senior faculty advising junior colleagues on their career trajectories is increasingly emphasised. But is guidance – and the giving of it – being fairly shared? Should mentoring schemes be formalised? And are they really enough? Seven academics have their say

As the celebrated children’s historical sketch show marks its 15th anniversary, Jack Grove speaks to its head writer, history producer and PhD researchers on how scholarly sleuthing has been crucial to its long success

I realised that I was sacrificing my best years – and those of my child – for a dream that did not have my back. So I quit, says Helen Lees

University managers must be committed to cultivating a compassionate culture and building trust in the workplace, says Andrew Woon

A radical new manifesto for science communication is warning about the dangers of making arrogant claims that academic knowledge can explain the mysteries of the universe. Matthew Reisz meets its authors

The redundancies and course closures proposed at many struggling UK universities follow a decades-long drift away from the idea of higher education institutions as charities whose non-commercial public benefit needs to be supported by profit-making activity, argues Martin Mills

Libraries no longer accept donations, but targeted giving to colleagues and students is a way for retired academics to keep teaching, says Harvey Graff

Cornell University philosopher Kate Manne is calling out the discrimination – often blatant – faced by scholars deemed overweight

Maintaining authority, professional distance and ‘authenticity’ is hard among people who knew you pre-academia, reflects Brad Evans

Australian study finds good prospects for research degree graduates, so long as they look beyond academia

The feted urban sociologist Richard Sennett tells Matthew Reisz about how his former career as a cellist inspired his latest trilogy of books, why his ideal university would be more night school than Oxbridge college and why it helps him to imagine his readers as female biologists

When adjunct faculty contribute so much to US academia, why are they denied basic benefits such as health insurance and medical leave, asks Josh Hiller

Would someone who found effective software for their department never have to buy a beer again? Not according to my survey, says Paul Breen

It might sound ‘wishy-washy’ but joyfulness can succeed where KPIs fail in supporting the institutional mission, new book argues

Stealing other people’s research students corrupts collegiality, the cornerstone of academic life, says T. Prabhakar Clement

While UK universities are starting to address the challenges faced by new mothers, combining parenthood and academia remains a difficult task. Five writers give their experience of what institutions are getting right and wrong in supporting academic mums

From satirical novels to US sitcoms and cop shows, academics have proved to be rich source material across many genres. Four writers argue the case for who can claim to be fiction’s greatest scholar

John Edmunds commended alongside Bristol health chief and Leicester chancellor

In John Gilbey’s seasonal tale, the sharks are circling the vice-chancellor of the University of Rural England. But the fishing village to which he flees is not as innocent as he depicted it in his doctoral thesis. And its power-brokers are every bit as terrifying as those on the Regional Economic Regeneration Committee

Ádám and Dávid Tárnoki, radiologists at Semmelweis University, discuss their shared ‘trajectory’

A professorship comes with prestige, but appointments are opaque and there are other rewarding ways to cap off an academic career, says Ron Iphofen

Times Higher Education journalists name the academics and administrators at the heart of the sector’s biggest debates over the past 12 months

The concept of privilege is much more complex and dynamic than those who wield it often assume, says Noam Schimmel

University will also offer eight weeks of paternity leave, doubling previous offering

With academics feeling the strain from higher workloads, the days when scholars had time to write novels or run businesses seem increasingly distant. Lincoln Allison suggests that universities have far more to gain than to lose by allowing their academics to broaden their experience and earn extra income

The unexpectedly musical background of many sociologists might explain their academic success, Glasgow professor argues

The nectar of power and prestige is sweet, but modern editors have to swallow an embittering volume of hard graft, too, says Adrian Furnham

As academics are replaced by religious scholars, those that remain fear the worst, while student interest is plummeting, says an Afghan observer

Twenty-two institutions win awards for innovation and excellence in teaching and research

The American University in Cairo’s first Arab leader on helping people reskill, serving the community and taking on the ‘necessary evil’ of administration