A handful of universities have produced more than their share of vice-chancellors. Jack Grove looks at how these centres have nurtured talented leaders
A young Nick Hillman chose Manchester less for the university’s eminent historians than for the city’s glorious music scene - and despite the latter’s loathing for his Conservative heroine
Is the new student loans system an affordable, progressive system of graduate contributions - or a dodgy move to get debt off the books that could bring grave fiscal consequences? John Morgan sifts through the rhetoric, rates and RABs
No stranger to broadcasting himself, Christopher Bigsby considers the rise of the public intellectual - halfway up a mountain, on a motorbike, quoting Aeschylus, coming to a telly near you
Policymakers focusing on science's utility have consigned the humanities to a supporting role, but scholars in each of the 'two cultures' understand that they share a love of discovery and capacity for wonder, says Martin Willis
Caught between posturing government ministries and kicked about like the proverbial political football, London Metropolitan University may have reached the point where it is no longer match fit, argues Martin McQuillan
Dare to write clearly and engagingly whatever the audience, Helen Sword urges junior and senior scholars alike in a myth-busting guide to good academic prose. You have nothing to lose but your enunciatory modality
Despite being the father of modern computing, Alan Turing’s greatest impact on contemporary science may stem from his insights into altogether more complex hardware, argues Ray Dolan: the human brain
Fees needn't mean the end of scholarly values, argues Felipe Fernández-Armesto. For his US students, putting a price on learning just makes it more desirable
Chile’s education minister says reform is coming at last to its costly, largely privatised academy - but at a ‘slower pace’. Will it satisfy those who joined widespread protests calling for affordable study? Elizabeth Gibney reports
With cycling enjoying huge popularity after the successes of Bradley Wiggins and other Olympians, Thomas Docherty explores how the pain, endurance and concentration demanded by the sport’s premier event, the Tour de France, find parallels in academic life
A renowned immunologist whose life was turned upside down when it emerged that one of his postdoctoral researchers had falsified experimental results tells Paul Jump that the sector needs a culture change if it is to fulfil its duty to expose research misconduct
When ERC grant winner Hilde De Weerdt found administrators to be more interested in her funding than in her project, she moved institution. She suggests that those similarly treated seek a more accommodating home
‘Agnotology’, the art of spreading doubt (as pioneered by Big Tobacco), distorts the scepticism of research to obscure the truth. Areas of academic life have been tainted by the practice, but some scholars are fighting back by showing the public how to spot such sleight of hand, reports Matthew Reisz
Tim Birkhead has been studying a single guillemot population for 40 years. Here he explains how such commitment provides insights that the three-year studies favoured by the research councils cannot hope to match
For six years the government has targeted the decline in UK health research. But a law putting GPs in charge of allocating local resources has left many clinicians fearing that those advances could be derailed. Elizabeth Gibney reports
Mascots, especially animals, play a big role in the multibillion-dollar business of US university marketing. Is it all just fun, asks David Mould, or have we gone too far in allowing corporatised Bobcats, Panthers, Eagles and Owls the run of campus?
Matthew Reisz speaks to scholars with learned bloodlines about the inspirations, insights and rebellions that come with growing up in the very midst of the academy
Can useful parallels be drawn between apiculture and running a university? Ruth Farwell does both and isn’t sure, but one thing’s for certain: in both pursuits, losing your cool can sting
As the social science model of history has been overtaken by events, biography has grown as a serious discipline. This is welcome, says Jonathan Steinberg: after all, people make history (but not in the circumstances of their choosing)
As UK universities welcome the world's elite athletes ahead of the London Games, hopes are high for a golden legacy of swifter innovation, higher-quality facilities and a stronger profile. Jack Grove reports
Unlike our major competitors, the UK has avoided a major research misconduct scandal over the past decade, but unless the government and the academy shake off their complacency, we won’t be ready when it is our turn to suffer, argues Michael Farthing
George MacDonald Ross argues that to stamp out plagiarism, we must create an environment in which students are forced to think for themselves, while Jude Carroll has practical advice on redesigning assessments to minimise cheating
On most indices, a comparison of the Welsh and Scottish academies shows that the latter holds the aces. As the Saltire soars, will mergers allow Wales to cope with the shock waves generated by England’s funding big bang? David Matthews reports
As students cram for scarce undergraduate places, private institutions proliferate and research outputs rise rapidly, will China’s impressive growth spurts bring gains in quality as well as quantity? Carolynne Wheeler reports from Beijing
In the age of digitisation, the ‘search’ part of research has become a virtual experience. Although progress has many advantages, John Sutherland laments the end of the scholar-adventurer and the thrill of discovery amid dusty, uncatalogued manuscripts
The REF's mendacious language and mismeasurements will recognise neither singular world-changing brilliance nor the value inherent in all scholarship, Fred Inglis argues. This bureaucratic beast, devoid of logic and intelligence, must be brought to heel
Scholarly links introduced R.C. Richardson to the Republic of Korea. His sole regret, in an ensuing 30-year love affair with its land, culture and people, is that so few of his fellow Britons choose it as a travel destination
The campus novel is a proud tributary of the comic flow of English letters. From Amis to Bradbury and from the page to the TV screen, the academy has proved to be a superior source for humour - but with serious undercurrents, writes Christopher Bigsby
It's a digital world, isn't it? Not for all: the paperless future has yet to arrive and there is a pulp faction in the academy still wedded to print. Matthew Reisz reports
Universities benefit from the large pool of cheap labour provided by PhD students and postdocs, but there aren’t enough academic jobs to go around, so young scholars should prepare for the possibility of a future outside the academy, one postdoc advises
Our failure to acknowledge that science is spurred by the same creative impulse that fuels the arts does a disservice to future scientists and to society as a whole, argues Geraint Wiggins
In a competitive world, Japanese universities are realising the importance of internationalisation if they don’t want to get left behind. But culture change can be a slow and difficult process. Jack Grove reports from Japan
The man who kept Berkeley from sinking as California slashed its budget will step down this year. He tells Zo? Corbyn how disaster was averted even though huge challenges remain
The government’s ruthless, distorted idea of ‘competition’ will impoverish the whole academy and everyone in it. Thomas Docherty muses on a prescient 40-year-old speech warning of the trap at the end of the rat race
It may be the birthplace of the academy, but Greece’s now-dysfunctional 中国A片 system is on its knees and in desperate need of reform, argues George Th. Mavrogordatos. However, the country’s politique du pire and its organised violence threaten the possibility of progress
External examiners' anachronistic power over the PhD process can be painfully counter-productive. Chris Hackley calls for a more constructive, European-style approach - and for judgement moderated with compassion
Like it or not, impact is a fact of research life. Paul Manners suggests that many scholars do like it, and with good reason: portraying the dialectic between academic work and the wider world is part detective story, part archaeology and all satisfaction
Tom Palaima muses on the Greek ideal of reflective learning, his immigrant grandparents’ dreams of a better life, the GI Bill’s impact on America and the price of allowing universities - once places where thinking was not bound by arbitrary deadlines - to be debased into assembly lines
Do vice-chancellors have too many plates in the air? Times 中国A片's annual survey of pay in the academy looks at the additional roles the sector's leaders take on. In an era of pay restraint, handsomely rewarded bosses do much of this work for free, but Jack Grove asks whether external posts are dangerous distractions or a vital part of the university mission
From Thoreau’s pond and Hawthorne’s gables to Hardy’s study and the Bront?s’ moors: Dale Salwak draws on his own literary pilgrimages to open students’ eyes to the sense of place underpinning great literature
Independent scholars can confound, complement and challenge the work of their campus counterparts. Matthew Reisz meets some on the edges of academia whose interests - and prose - are unfettered by the REF, journal editors or disciplinary distinctions
When Bernard Porter was persuaded to entrust one of his books to a company he'd not worked with before, he discovered that not all publishers are equal. Caveat emptor, he warns young academics
The despair over unemployment that sparked the Arab Spring continues to dog graduates in the region. David Matthews reports from a British Council conference in Morocco that aimed to find solutions
Valerie Sanders has overcome her fear of water - as long as it's the indoor, chlorinated variety - to discover a love of swimming that brings out the worst and the best in her
As the fallout from the Arab Spring continues, David Matthews reports from Cairo on the birth - and troubled infancy - of the student union movement in Egypt
International students have enriched the UK and its universities immeasurably. It makes little sense for the Home Office to keep them out, argues Edward Acton
For the late Julia Swindells, radicalism and friendship were always intimately linked. Here, she describes the youthful influences that led her down a political path
Hefce says that record levels of spare cash prepare the academy for the new fees regime, but as new policies for allocating student places bed in, we might need to reassess its future financial prospects. John Morgan reports
He was driven to write an acclaimed debut novel in stolen hours, but lecturer, researcher and scholarly biographer Christopher Bigsby is content never to call himself a ‘real writer’
The REF's conflation of intellectual quality and geographical scale makes little sense and may have negative consequences for UK research, argues Alastair Bonnett
You think your commute is bad? In a tough job market, professional opportunities are taking scholars far from their nearest and dearest. Matthew Reisz asks if today's ideal academic is unencumbered by ties or responsibilities
Dissemination of the written word is changing as e-books proliferate. But how will it affect academics and the publishing industry? Andrew Franklin reads between the lines
In the academy all must have prizes, but nothing breeds success like failure. Steven Schwartz argues that students gain more from blind alleys than from victory processions, as failure engenders the ‘true grit’ essential to achievement in the real world
As old-style lifelong tenure fades out in the US, institutions are having to invent new systems by which they can define and judge scholarship, David Mould discovers
