Academic life

Analysis finds those working in higher education often enjoy better benefits than elsewhere but precarity leaves many excluded

As hopes of reaching agreement fade, department heads are under pressure to pass all those who took classes taught by graduate workers before they walked out in March

Bill to enforce two-year participation ‘meant to target critics at home rather than defend country’, scholars warn

Case prompts renewed concern over plight of lecturers on temporary contracts

Former minister says major reforms to governance and disciplinary rules needed after exit of ex-dean Martyn Percy

Buildings and academic positions endowed by the US family linked to US opioid crisis will be renamed

Outsourcing firm used by UK’s largest academic pensions scheme targeted in cyberattack

As dozens of student-athletes come under investigation, expert predicts major harms on campus from national embrace of sports betting

‘Infinite’ research budgets have allowed industry to surge ahead of academia, but scholars will be essential for steering new technologies towards common good, say experts

Cost-of-living crisis has driven many more to find paid work alongside studies, with universities reassessing practices as a result

Good people who fail to put themselves forward are in no position to carp about their ‘overlords’, says Bruce Macfarlane

Universities have focused on impact on assessments, but internet pioneer tells THE conference changes must extend to teaching and research

Government policy is ‘a lot of hot air’ given lack of support for female faculty, says scholar

‘Creeping authoritarianism’ and university expansion behind Ryan Craig’s play, after academia largely absent from UK stage since 1980s

But academics express scepticism, saying policy does not tackle ‘root’ of problem behaviour

Just as deans and provosts start to realise their visions, they are often gone, leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces, says Elizabeth Lehfeldt

Amid rising tensions between West and Western-educated Chinese elite, experts counter claim that universities ‘fail to instil Western values’

In ongoing awakening, several large universities act on evidence that marginalised students fare better with greater feelings of community

Alliances with university colleagues can be inspiring and life-affirming but may also be grounded in little more than ambition or survival instinct. Six writers reflect on the joys and challenges of having friends in academia

The Dutch scientist on the physics of surfing, his re-entry into additive manufacturing and how he’s ‘drinking from the firehose’ as dean of sport

Doing admin is a poor use of your time as an expert. Make sure you invoice for it at your highest rate, says Andy Farnell

Purdue University accused of trying to force maths academic to retire after concerns about his Covid-era teaching

Disciplinary pay gaps prompt large protests by arts and humanities scholars

Academics’ belief in merit-based promotion at odds with their experiences of discrimination, study finds

Protests target wealthy campuses over housing policies and lack of action on crime and community well-being

New chair of global guards’ association on being the first port of call for emergencies, helping students with their mental health and planning for terrorist attacks

Experts tell THE and Leeds event that institutions are facing risks they don’t understand

University says attempts to retrospectively change a years-old agreement are about ‘resolving ambiguities’ around how staff are paid for student consultations

The rector of Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute takes charge of the world-leading medical school after the disruptions of a pandemic and an ethics scandal

Huge hike in costs plunges institutions into dire situation as academics call on government to urgently raise higher education spending

Susanne Täuber accuses Groningen of ‘making a farce out of the academic way of working’

‘Ideological capture’ of research and clampdowns on dissent are spreading, argues Peter Boghossian

Ministry decision to allow universities to deny services to women without headscarves ‘will only reinforce people’s anger’, says scholar

Academic council says safety of teachers and students a top concern after Kremlin puts institution on blacklist

Academics inside and outside the country describe fluctuations faced by Iraqi universities over past two decades

Literature scholar talks about life in Japan and being an academic single mother

Jason Wingard agrees to leave after less than two years in charge

An image of massed ranks of anatomy faculty giving the Nazi salute is a reminder that academics are not immune to extremism, says Jonathan Leo 

Council for At-Risk Academics is fundraising to help displaced academics continue teaching

Senior faculty are trying to prove their worth by making the lives of others so unpleasant that they agree to leave. It is time to call them out, says Aymen Idris

As political turmoil mounts in India, Jamia Millia Islamia v-c says she will protect students, but suspend those who go ‘too far’

China studies programmes and language courses are on the decline, just as understanding of the superpower is needed most

Judges find university’s policy of compulsory retirement at 68 not ‘proportionate’ as aims not proven

The UK’s ‘rock star historian’ Peter Frankopan talks to Matthew Reisz about his ambitious follow-up to his Silk Roads chronicle and the perils of being seen as a modern-day sage

Students at prominent all-female college vote to endorse admission of transgender male and non-binary students, but leadership refuses

Academics left ‘traumatised’ by ‘absurd’ and ‘Byzantine’ corporate booking systems that drain departmental travel funds

Those focused on dissecting pop culture face hostility from politicians, the media and fellow academics, but their work remains vital, ‘Kylie scholar’ Liz Giuffre tells Rosa Ellis

‘Mother of ERA’ now charting its demise, as the ‘law of diminishing returns’ prompts a rethink

University leadership attempts to restart in-person operations but students still in mourning say ‘we aren’t ready’

Processing delays affecting guests from Global South put future of major academic events in country at risk

Union calls for criminalisation of ‘wage theft’ with jail time for worst offenders

Legal action seen as ‘the only way’ to force universities to stop ‘divesting responsibility’, senate committee hears

Five others left in critical condition in latest episode of US gun violence

Debates rage about the appropriateness of objects displayed in many anthropological exhibitions amid accusations they perpetuate poisonous imperialist narratives. However, Adam Kuper believes institutions should be wary of capitulating to activist demands, he tells Matthew Reisz

Face-to-face classes suspended yet again as downpours dampen return to normality

It is compromising to instruct business students on the best ways of doing things but not to experience them in situ, says a lecturer and former CEO

Casual encounters are a chance to correct the public's irritating assumption that political science is all about elections, says Christopher Hallenbrook

When her broadcasting career took off in her mid-fifties, Mary Beard became one of Britain’s best-known and most-discussed academics. Jack Grove speaks to the retiring Cambridge classicist about her eventful career, including her run-ins with sexist TV critics, Twitter trolls and Boris Johnson

Tymofiy Mylovanov has found fame, funding and support for students via his day-in-the-life tweets

New government policy to limit academic brain drain from struggling regions seen as unlikely to succeed in face of powerful trends