Coronavirus

As a parliamentary committee inquires into a proposed merger of two universities, institutional accounts suggest they coasted through the last big scare

Litigation over lockdown-affected degrees has highlighted how unfair contracts favouring universities offer scant consumer protection to students, say David Palfreyman and Dennis Farrington

Canberra may have chosen the right time to revisit university funding, as institutional accounts suggest a widening divide between the haves and have-nots

Researchers say unsupervised online exams can provide ‘valid assessments of student learning’

Judge blocks attempts to force breach of contract claim to be dealt with by OIA as more than 100,000 students plan similar action

In apparent attempt to persist with Covid-related campaign against Fauci, House members argue procedural flaw endangers $25 billion in medical funding

When faced with a real, full-bore crisis, this generation of supposed snowflakes just got on with it and coped better than I did, says Joe Moran

Study finds that students experienced psychological distress levels more than three times worse than before the pandemic

Revenue and visa applications reach record levels, but have not yet translated into record student numbers

Makers of GRE seek to revamp standardised test after universities raise concerns over diversity and value

Action could pave way for 100,000 students to sue, with cases prepared against 17 other universities

After brief term leading NIH’s biggest division, former Harvard surgeon embraced as established talent at time of turmoil

Aiming to deny routine extension of federal debt limit, House conservatives hope to force lower Pell grant upon millions of borrowers

Series of recent shutdowns across the country attributed to shifts in political attitudes and post-Covid technologies

Covid recovery at two-year campuses tied to gains among older students and high school dual programmes, but challenges still await

As fierce partisanship silences US academics, a fired leader gets an even bigger job that rewards his resistance

Ability of a university to work in flexible, interdisciplinary fashion meant Hopkins researchers could ‘fill gap’ between WHO and governments

Multiple universities pay multimillion-dollar settlements over spring 2020 tuition, as they reach deadline to finish spending federal pandemic relief aid

Big Group of Eight institutions got bigger while others suffered, exacerbating ‘David and Goliath scenario’

Academic emphasises need for transparency as institutions forced into U-turns on restrictions

Blockbuster payout from landmark Oxford-AstraZeneca jab likely to highlight commercial potential of university-led innovation

Covid-19 trials were as well designed, if not better designed, than other, similar medical experiments, finds Oxford study

Cautious optimism for on-campus life and international mobility as China lifts travel restrictions and loosens on-campus pandemic controls

Bizarre phenomena on Chinese university campuses go beyond manifestations of student boredom, according to academics

Tsinghua and Peking universities among 79 institutions reportedly affected by unrest over long-running lockdowns and restrictions

Authorities to inspect institutions ‘one by one’ amid concern institutions are being overzealous in their application of Covid-19 restrictions

Point-in-time study quantifies pandemic’s differential impacts on academics with children – particularly mothers

Chief higher education lobby group finds decline in share of institutions boosting their overseas outreach, but takes comfort in unexpected areas of growth during the pandemic

Students face invidious options after two years of educational derailment, Australian forum hears

Retaining Covid innovations seen as possible solution to dealing with backlog

As administration approves $10,000 baseline of loan forgiveness after long deliberation, universities promise hard look at pricing and value

First study of its kind estimates lack of in-person interactions hampered innovation as academics spoke only to those they knew already

Universities should keep basic health protections such as mask mandates in place, argues Australian epidemiologist

In some countries, male researchers’ article output appears to have been more adversely affected, according to new study

As US campuses relent under societal pressure on masking, results from autumn 2021 semester affirm value of basic protections

Survey findings reflect escalating scepticism of media in all its forms

Disproportionate impact must be considered by universities when assessing performance of staff, study finds

The University of Hull vice-chancellor explains how she simultaneously reduced costs and improved academic performance at the formerly under-threat institution

Impact of condition on academics poses several difficult challenges for higher education institutions

Efficient and effective short-cycle higher education programmes could provide students with better outcomes and supply the region with a skilled workforce, says María Marta Ferreyra

The Vassar College president discusses creating equitable partnerships, minimising resistance on campus and what higher education can learn from healthcare

Australian educators demand ‘clarity’ on whether pandemic concessions will be extended

Clear majority of survey respondents from Poland and Italy believe ‘making a lot of money’ was an incentive for scientists working on Covid-19

Cost of seven-day hotel quarantine equivalent to a whole term’s tuition fee to some students

From hundreds of complaints over virtual teaching, a pattern of deference to institutions, except for those that had long discounted the format

Salim Abdool Karim welcomes increased transparency of research brought about by pandemic but says it has also brought its challenges

The Monash University president discusses how to make international campuses work and redundancies during the pandemic 

Some students have not been able to leave country for more than two years, including long confinements on campus

Student protests ‘historically have ominous portents’ for country, scholar warns

New strategy looks outward as well as inward, as government vows to ‘come back even stronger than before’

South American universities catching up with rest of the world on homeworking practices, according to THE data

Country’s universities have ‘a lot of catching up to do’ despite two-month reprieve

Extent of staffing overhauls bore little relationship to Covid’s financial carnage, says report

Special intake should be at least doubled, vice-chancellor says

Academic who has become a lightning rod for criticism over her pandemic advice reflects on two years in the eye of the Covid storm

Ombudsman says difficulties finding alternative remedies during pandemic partly to blame for £1.3 million bill

Flows not robust enough to alter ‘slight negative outlook’ on institutional finances

Concerns raised about impact of lengthy restrictions, with institutions further afield facing questions, too

Amid election-year debate on college costs, Biden extends pause on federal loan repayments and wipes away records of past defaults

Only a handful of UK universities maximised their public profiles during the pandemic because press officers were diverted towards internal crises or social media engagement, says Fiona Fox