Opinion

With some academics being willing to oust those they disagree with, self-censorship is a huge, unacknowledged problem, says James Tooley

Simpler options are imperfect but perhaps no more so than the panels’ unavoidably cursory ‘peer review’ of submissions, says Dorothy Bishop

Be careful about what you give away in your excitement about signing a contract for a book, says Lennard Davis

Technical incompatibilities and privacy law risk preventing universities communicating to optimise individualised learning, says Gerd Kortemeyer

A decline in admissions standards suggests that foreign outposts will have to up their marketing game, says Hongqing Yang

The focus of research evaluation on papers and grants excludes far too many vital contributions. We must change that, says Simon Hettrick

Online teaching could have been much better if institutions had previously taken a communal approach to digital evolution, says Doug Specht

Restrictions are rare, but the Russell Group is putting its commitment to the open and rigorous contestation of ideas beyond doubt, says Tim Bradshaw

If we’re going to measure what universities do, let’s concentrate on what really counts, says Julian Skyrme

Focusing on sustainable development is not an original strategy for universities in 2021, but if anything, that only increases the value of adopting the SDGs, says Patrick Deane

Tough choices and bold strategies are needed if universities are to navigate the perilous landscape that lies ahead, argue Michael Braun and Scott Latham

Action is clearly needed to shore up the USS, but the trustee needs to be more flexible, says Alistair Jarvis

The pandemic has curtailed urgent discussion of open access’ impact on scholarly societies, says Frank James

The woeful environmental record of the UK’s research-intensive universities illustrates a lack of leadership and incentives to cut emissions, says Bill Spence

Students want to learn more about sustainable development and feel prepared for the jobs of the future, says Jamie McGowan

A failure of imagination and aversion to networking is preventing doctoral students finding rewarding careers outside academia, says Max Horder

Qualities of silent endurance and self-containment embodied by the Duke of Edinburgh are unlikely to resonate with, or help, a generation of students faced with adversity, says Adrian Furnham

Merging metrics for the REF, KEF and TEF would free up time for academics to become researchers once again, says Robert MacIntosh

Celebrating diversity, reforming curricula and working closely with local communities are all ways in which higher education institutions can better foster peacebuilding, says Rocky Tuan

The UK has an ambitious R&D road map but the necessary steps must be taken by politicians and funding bodies, says Andrew Thompson

As UK campuses reopen, security staff are hard pressed policing social distancing and delivering toilet rolls to isolating students, says George Bass

The pandemic experience shows universities of all kinds are willing to be partners for policy delivery, says Debra Humphris

Allowing tattoo parlours and drive-in cinemas to reopen before universities illustrates how students have been ignored during the pandemic, says Olivia Winnifrith

Poor incentives and oversight mean too many doctoral supervisors are unqualified or negligent, say Mehvish Riaz and Muhammad Rizwan Riaz

Nearby communities are the priority – but impact is maximised via universities’ crucial global networks, says Dawn Freshwater

Research is for public benefit. The UK’s next deal with Elsevier must accelerate the abolition of journal paywalls, says Paul Boyle

Long-term public and economic health depends on empowering universities, businesses and health systems to work together, says Michael Spence

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities added to the scepticism but, done properly, training makes a difference, say Jules Holroyd and Jennifer Saul

A strategic rejection of digital instruction is akin to France’s short-sighted attempt to prevent invasion in the 1930s, says Robert Zaretsky

Attempts to impose the IHRA definition have prompted the formulation of an alternative that respects academic freedom, says Bahram Bekhradnia

A writing group has become a vital support network for female academics facing everything the pandemic can throw at them, says Sorcha MacLeod

Institutions should use the pause enforced by the pandemic to rethink their priorities in sending students abroad, says Caroline L. Payne

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 have buried the idea that learning for learning’s sake is enough, says Nancy Gleason

The disconnect between the UK’s ambitions to be a science superpower and threats of cuts to its research base will cause lasting harm

BAME scholars have relished the chance to be creators and performers in their own space, free to express themselves fully and creatively, says Jonathan Wilson

Universities have decried the GCRF cuts, but being corralled into promoting justice globalism is not academic freedom, says Bruce Macfarlane

Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s resignation from Ashoka underlines that financial autonomy doesn’t remove fear of government anger, says Saikat Majumdar

Too much attention is paid to academic titles and too little to the substantial contribution they should indicate, says Brian Bloch

Anonymising applications and reserving studentships and starter grants for Black researchers would go a long way, says Daniel Akinbosede

We must fight the urge to want to play with shiny new toys even more than educate our classes, says George Justice

The cuts will hit organisations helping women and girls to evade violence and access justice, say Christine Chinkin and Sanam Naraghi Anderlini

Government concern has not yielded concrete steps to address chronic faculty shortages and adjunctification, says Pushkar

The use of the messaging app for cheating is apparently rife, bringing the whole viability of online exams into question, says Daniel Sokol

Despite evidence that images can support higher-level thinking, their application is still marginalised, say Nataša Lacković and Zoe Hurley

To attract PhD students, advisers must portray competence and warmth. Ben Marder and Sebastian Oliver explain how to optimise your staff profile

As physical retail declines, universities can keep high streets vibrant by moving into vacated shops, says Matthew Andrews 

New assessment strategies are required to promote the types of learning needed in the 21st century, says Danny Oppenheimer

Without audit studies, we would have an impoverished understanding of discrimination, say S. Michael Gaddis, Charles Crabtree and nine others

We must do more to support learners from both individualistic and collectivistic cultures, says Flower Darby

Healthcare education must re-evaluate the importance of learning academic values versus meeting competence measures, say four academics

An open letter from academics across more than 20 European countries and Israel

Student services aren’t enough. Academics are universities’ engine room, so must be the driving force of mental health reform, says Geoff Mills

In a world accustomed to beautiful, frictionless digital experiences, most online education looks like websites from the 1990s, says Louise McElvogue 

The shortfall will damage the UK’s reputation and halt projects that are making a real difference to communities worldwide, says Joanna Newman

Universities need to take account of the pandemic’s effect on productivity – especially that of women, says Jessica Borger

The pandemic has exposed the limits that commercial models impose on libraries’ ability to facilitate access, says Gauthier Van Malderen

Will institutions be willing to invest in the spaces, technology and workload support required to effectively teach these methods? asks Amanda White

Universities must ensure that academics who contribute to the vast online encyclopedia are given the credit they deserve, says Piotr Konieczny

The HE policy debate may shift, but in England the idea that we might be over-educating is always lurking – it’s a hydra that needs decapitating again

Profound change is in the offing for higher education, but history suggests non-Western students’ voices will not be heard, says Farish A. Noor