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Nicholas Till reflects on the path that has led him from research on opera to direct political action

As an international review of the UK’s REF begins even before the assessment panels have done their work, has the exercise’s reliance on rereading published papers finally had its day? Might it be time for metrics? Or something else entirely? Jack Grove looks around the world for options  

Keeping going through the pandemic has proved a huge challenge for many working in universities. Being asked to present a story involving an abused child proved a step too far for Rachel O’Donnell

Much of the language now used by universities feels like a kind of literary lockjaw that is too dull even to poke fun at. Joe Moran considers the causes and disastrous consequences

The narrative that the humanities are haemorrhaging students, funding and political favour is deeply felt around the world. But the evidence of the disciplines’ decline is considerably more nuanced, finds Simon Baker

Resistance to the knowledge generated by science will only be overcome with the help of the humanities. But what can universities do to bridge C. P. Snow’s famous divide between these fields, which endures to this day?

Academics’ reading lists are increasingly directed by algorithms. But are the recommendation services of platforms such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate and Mendeley distorting science? And might AI ultimately lead it to a disastrous echo chamber? David Matthews reports

It is 2041. Knee-jerk politics is conspicuous by its absence and students are willing to actually hear each other. But is this odd spectacle a premonition or just a dream, wonders Jonathan Zimmerman

The pandemic has accelerated numerous experiments in assessment for the digital age, moving beyond simple knowledge recall. But is the traditional exam really obsolete? As the dust settles on another marking season, seven academics give their widely differing views

There is still much controversy about whether the virus that causes Covid-19 was released from a laboratory. David Sanders considers the nature of ‘gain-of-function’ research, what it can teach us – and the safeguards we need to put in place

Artificial intelligence will soon be able to research and write essays as well as humans can. So will genuine education be swept away by a tidal wave of cheating – or is AI just another technical aid that teaching and assessment will evolve to take account of? John Ross reports

Academics need to think far more carefully about how they define and police the boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate knowledge, argues Michael D. Gordin

With a vast youth population but relatively low participation rates, higher education in the Asean region looks ripe for expansion. But can challenges over funding, quality and regional cooperation be overcome? Joyce Lau reports 

Recent cuts and scares have cast doubt on ministers’ commitment to harnessing science in pursuit of a levelled-up, post-Brexit innovation economy. Questions also remain about how funding should be distributed and directed. Jack Grove examines the lessons from history and from overseas

A PowerPoint marathon or a ‘captured’ lecture will always be a pale imitation of a live experience, in which an expert practitioner taps into ‘the dangerous energy of all those watching eyes’, says Richard Sugg

Her long career as a psychologist and a college president has shown Beverly Daniel Tatum how crucial racial identity formation is and how overriding negative stereotypes about minority students’ performance can be like ‘water in a parched land’. Matthew Reisz hears why

Public confusion is one thing, but some subjects provoke quizzical and sometimes dismissive frowns even among colleagues from different departments. Here, nine academics set the record straight about what they do – and why it matters

What strikes some as a tedious chore prone to bias can transform lives and evoke enduring gratitude. Academics should embrace the opportunity to knit the plot of a person, says Douglas Dowland

With the education of a generation of young people thrown into chaos, many universities are rethinking how they admit and support those most in need of assistance. Anna McKie examines how the pandemic will change attitudes and approaches to widening access

As vaccination programmes offer the prospect of a return to physical teaching, what aspects of their pre-pandemic life will academics most heartily re-embrace (or at least touch elbows with)? And are there aspects of locked-down life that they will miss? Our six contributors offer a range of perspectives

With wealth and donations becoming concentrated in ever fewer, ever more influential hands, and with some institutions languishing while the elite flourish, Paul Basken asks whether it is time for American colleges and universities to start biting the hand that feeds   

‘The first Black woman on the tenure track in theoretical cosmology’ tells Matthew Reisz about her struggles to reconcile a pristine childhood image of science with the reality she confronts by using selective citation to marginalise racist or sexist scientists

Covid-19 has prompted an explosion in preprints but has curtailed networking and underlined the extra pressures on women and junior academics. Simon Baker asks whether the pandemic era is a dark blip or a bright new dawn

Efforts to improve access and promote diversity are often undermined by assumptions that they are at odds with ‘excellence’ and academic freedom. Drawing on her experiences all the way from Iran to California, Pardis Mahdavi explains how we can and must do better

With overseas enrolments hitting the buffers during the pandemic, debate rages over whether higher education’s excessive reliance on this income stream is self-inflicted – and how universities can keep themselves on the financial rails in future. John Ross reports

Graduate employment outcomes are obviously crucial. Yet we must be wary of judging courses and institutions on the basis of a few useful but misleading metrics

Amid the economic ravages inflicted by the coronavirus, the EU has agreed a huge stimulus package. But while research in some countries looks set for a transformational boost, it may be a different story for teaching

The pandemic brought out the best in teaching staff in many universities. Yet countervailing forces are stamping out their creativity, warns Andy Farnell

The pandemic has prompted dire predictions about international student enrolment at anglophone universities. But will those fears come to pass? Is there an alternative to standard international education? And how much do universities really spend on recruitment agents? Ellie Bothwell reports

After her first book, The Entrepreneurial State, catapulted her into the academic stratosphere, the UCL economist has paused her audiences with senior politicians to write a follow-up that uses the Apollo moonshot as a model for a mission-based approach to social challenges

Until the pandemic forced teaching to go online almost overnight, universities were widely considered impervious to major change. But if one age-old practice can be flipped on its head, why not others? We ask six academics where they would direct their efforts first 

Universities’ wariness of online instruction was suddenly swept aside last year by Covid-19. But how successful has the overnight digital transition been? Is it sustainable? And should it be? Paul Jump runs through the results of our major survey of university staff

Freshly inaugurated US president Joe Biden owes his election victory to swing states in America’s Rust Belt. But is his plan to revitalise them by creating ‘millions of new manufacturing and innovation’ jobs realistic? And how best can universities play their part? John Morgan reports

The tired stereotype of the unworldly scholar has often been used to justify giving excessive influence over university management to businesspeople and administrators. There is ample evidence that this is a recipe for disaster, argues Terence Kealey

Indian universities have seen numerous cases of discrimination against students from oppressed castes, sometimes even leading to suicide. With international student mobility only set to increase, this crucial diversity issue is unlikely to remain confined to the subcontinent, says Saikat Majumdar

The country’s universities have shot up global rankings on the back of huge investment and a ruthless focus on publication. But as the country gears up for its next five-year plan, Joyce Lau asks whether stratospheric ambitions for a ‘Chinese Harvard’ can be met

The combination of Brexit and the Covid pandemic has driven change throughout academia, even reaching the scholarly backwater that is the University of Rural England. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be that way, writes John Gilbey. Things could be better – or much, much worse…

The past 12 months will live long in the memory, for all the wrong reasons. But as 2020 nears its end amid fairy lights and optimism about vaccines, six academics tell us the bright spots they managed to find amid the gloom – from human connections to elasticated waistbands

Academics have long grappled with the strains that job scarcity and the mobility imperative impose on their families. But might the experience of mass remote working finally offer a viable solution, asks Jack Grove

The impact of the Black Lives Matter movement has raised urgent issues for universities about who should be taught what – and how. After 40 years of pushing to widen the range of voices taught on literature courses, Lyn Innes still sees much to be done that is crucial for students of all races

The movement to ‘decolonise’ university curricula has leaped into the political and educational mainstream in the wake of George Floyd’s death, dividing opinion on campus and beyond. Anna McKie examines how scholars are handling difficult discussions and where the agenda goes next

Universities are now committed to ‘celebrating success’ and to treating every failure as just a stepping stone on the way to further success. Yet this, argues Joe Moran, is a betrayal of what really matters in the academy

The acquisition of wisdom about life and career can be just as long and challenging a journey as any research project. Luckily, many wheels have already been invented. Here, seven academics offer the pieces of advice that could have given them a head start 

If these unique institutions can become more inclusive, issue-oriented and multidisciplinary, their graduates will be equipped to tackle the 21st century’s multiple crises, say Steven Volk and Beth Benedix

The vast majority of university staff and students are hoping that Joe Biden’s predicted win comes to pass in next week’s presidential election. But with the nation’s finances reeling from Covid-19 and its political fabric fraying in the partisan tug of war, how much would really change, asks Paul Basken 

The pandemic has brought the power and consolations of scholarship to the fore. But with a particularly grim Halloween upon us, M. R. James’ ghost stories warn us that the pursuit of knowledge does not always end well, writes Shane McCorristine

Neoliberal administrators’ policing of institutional reputations and academic colleagues’ condemnation of dissenting voices on issues such as race and gender have led to claims that scholars are losing their ability to engage in free enquiry and open debate. But is academic freedom really the operative concept in the controversies that arise? John Ross probes a highly contested debate

The American political commentator offers John Morgan his trenchant views on Ivy League solidarity, why the left misunderstands populism and the ‘smugness’ of the ‘well-graduated’

Higher education is awash with stirring statements about its commitment to greater diversity. Yet students who face discrimination often do not know where to turn and are seldom impressed by the support they get, discovers Jason Murugesu

The Netherlands’ cautious, common approach to teaching during the pandemic contrasts with the full reopenings planned by many UK and US universities. But what will students get out of it? And is even 20 per cent campus capacity sustainable? David Matthews travels to the Netherlands to talk to the key players

Chinese universities now operate on a confusing ‘mixture of Chinese and Western institutional logics’. An anonymous scholar describes the practical and emotional challenges of dealing with constant uncertainty

It’s been 26 years since apartheid ended, yet South African campuses were convulsed by protests against racism and inequitable university access as recently as four years ago. Much progress has clearly been made – but is it enough? Ellie Bothwell reports

Blindness gave the late politics professor Roger Williams a unique ability to focus on the structure and coherence of what was being said to him. And though his interrogations could be exacting, Lincoln Allison wishes more sighted academics shared his talent

Those planning new universities might think that a good institution will attract top staff wherever it is located. But is the quality of the environment beyond the ivory tower really so insignificant – and has the pandemic changed the calculus? Paul Jump runs through our survey results

Universities and their values have been hugely successful in forging a central place for themselves at the heart of the information age. David John Frank and John W. Meyer consider how and why the pandemic might be putting that at risk

With the Covid-19 pandemic likely to prolong the need for mass online learning for some time, we seek the experts’ advice on how to do it well – from designing courses and maintaining engagement to choosing applications and carrying out experiments remotely

Bradley Garrett has crossed the globe to meet those who stockpile food in fortified shelters in anticipation of apocalyptic disasters. As a global pandemic seems to confirm some of their fears, he tells Jack Grove what we can learn from them – and what they’ve got wrong

‘Every young student of science has had a fantasy about winning a Nobel prize,’ says one laureate – and ever more rival prizes are being established. But with a cast of thousands currently pursuing the holy grail of a vaccine for Covid-19, might awards committees finally jettison their problematic focus on lone genius, asks Jack Grove

Eugenia Cheng defies convention with her approach to teaching. The Chicago-based British mathematician tells Matthew Reisz why similar out-of-the-box thinking is required to improve gender equality

The recent lockdowns highlighted the strains in student housing provision in several countries. As students puzzle over why their universities have so little power to extract refunds from private providers for unused accommodation, Anna McKie asks whether it is time for some rewiring of the system