Teaching and learning

Government proposes law against contract cheating, as it clears the decks for coming election

Despite its tarnished reputation and history of collapsed ventures, the for-profit sector retains a strong foothold on the US academy. Paul Basken tracks its successes and failures

US university president tells THE summit that institutions need to ‘rethink’ their operations

Former ETH Zurich president tells THE summit there has been a ‘huge inflation’ in university enrolments, coupled with a ‘substantial mismatch between what universities teach and what society needs’

Future steps require a future, first-time China summit hears

What are university leaders and chief technology officers doing to meet future challenges?

How will the rise of artificial intelligence affect universities’ carbon-based employees? John Gilbey runs the algorithm

In these days of virtual learning environments, face-to-face classes promote the endangered art of meaningful human interaction, says Joe Moran

A large world-class university may eclipse a less renowned neighbour, but an education ecosystem rich in diversity can benefit all in the area

Today’s students are different from the previous generation, and we must understand that when we teach them, writes Simon Beames

Some evidence shows international students are more likely to use essay mills, but academics say this reflects wider problems in global higher education

Cross-national study compared final-year undergraduates in US, India, China and Russia

Academic autonomy is too often used as an excuse to ignore suggestions from students that could improve their education, says Janadari Wijesinghe 

Geoffrey Stone says students’ successful efforts to persuade him not to use racial slur are a good example of free speech

Patchy information obscures outcomes for students taught by subcontractors

Technology now enabling rapid expansion of the worldwide sharing of classrooms

Royal Statistical Society vice-president Guy Nason explains why it has taken the unusual step of reporting the Teaching Excellence Framework to the UK’s statistics watchdog

In a rapidly changing world, is a broader approach to the university curriculum needed to develop the critical thinking and creativity increasingly sought after by employers, Anna McKie asks

THE survey finds support among academics for harsher punishments for students, following paper that reports ‘surprising’ level of support for criminalising users of contract cheating services

A student’s mysterious accusation of racism saw P. K. Newby removed from her course – and another woman lost from the leaky pipeline

Marketisation, precarity and global competition have combined to create a vast market for academic ghostwriting, says an anonymous scholar

The Palestinian law professor talks about the overlap with his other job: as a stand-up comedian travelling the world talking about the Arab American experience

This growing but still unacknowledged phenomenon in higher education is badly in need of ethical oversight, says an anonymous academic

But research finds students prefer the mode over more traditional teaching methods

Claims that academics are indoctrinating their students with liberal propaganda are increasingly common in the right-wing media. John Morgan examines why such a conviction has arisen and whether there is any substance to it

Without devices, classes fostered engaged, active learning, writes Ioannis Costas Batlle

Key working group no longer active and grade inflation consultation makes no mention of initiative

Race-based student performance gap doubles when professors admit doubts about innate abilities

Academic turned wrestler Dan Mathewson is just one of many educators willing to go the extra mile for scholarship and learning, says Jack Grove 

Continental version of UK’s former Higher Education Academy among suggestions on how to boost educational standards

Evidence from Canada highlights the scale of the challenge in preparing 21st-century workers and citizens, say Ross Finnie, Arthur Sweetman and Richard Mueller 

Using the teaching excellence framework to drive up teaching standards is fundamentally misconceived, says Matt Waddup

Gradings influenced more by sex and ethnicity than teachers’ experience

Switching to a six-point scale in surveys eliminates perceived gap in teaching performance, study finds

Teachers must guide science students in how to ‘tell a story’ in their reports, write Anna Sajina and Sergei Sazhin

Narratives of decline fail to take account of the recent revival of the liberal arts in India, says Saikat Majumdar

The case of Phillip Adamo, an academic at Augsburg University, provokes debate about the taboos of discussing literature

Far from being hotbeds of intellectual debate, universities enforce ideological conformity, follow rigid procedures and offer little that enthusiasts could not teach themselves. It is time for radical reform, says Lincoln Allison

Six scholars learn the career and life lessons of their greatest academic missteps

Joe Biden’s first presidential run was derailed by a scandal over a college law paper. Should he be allowed a second chance, asks Ararat Osipian

Star Trek-style headset combines electroencephalography sensors with a video camera

England’s loan system and high fees have fuelled students’ sense of entitlement but not of responsibility, says Beth Guilding 

Universities may feel held to unachievable standards, but removing barriers for all manner of talented people will make institutions better and stronger

The paradoxical resurgence of prudishness could get even Gregory Peck into hot water, says Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Putting universities in ‘special measures’ or even abolishing degree classifications altogether should be on the table, says Geoffrey Alderman

Types of assessment viewed as least susceptible to contract cheating are those least likely to be set by academics, Australian study finds

Robots and drones should be part of teaching and learning, says report looking into teaching trends in 2019

In Germany, Brazil and Hungary, students are being encouraged to film ‘biased’ professors, mirroring far-right tactics in US

Office for Students pursues collation of data on contact hours and class sizes outside teaching excellence framework

Australian government is underestimating the challenge, analysts say

The residential experience has its attractions for school-leavers, but most US students value low cost and flexibility above all, says Paul LeBlanc

The jury is out on the educational value of recording, but universities prize its ability to project them as accessible and inclusive, says Simon Fokt

Study raises doubts over value of ‘character education’ in universities

Equity ‘synonymous’ with excellence, creating the pre-conditions for multi-dimensional learning, conference hears

Hepi study also suggests number of classes requiring peak-time travel might have to be minimised

It is inexcusable that some people graduate from UK universities without a basic command of mathematics or grammar, says John Warren

‘Proactive’ female recruitment drive closes staff gender gap, but fails to keep pace with enrolments

Increased statistical evaluation will pinpoint the educational ‘treatments’ that work, says Yidan prizewinner

Australia is latest country to consider legislation against essay mills

Academic who has advocated new band of top degree marks now being considered by sector says system still needs ‘fundamental’ reform