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Competitive funding once helped novel ideas get off the ground, but now funding ‘excellence’ is hampering new research, says Dutch institute

Depositories of original sources were once bulging with academics, but few scholars seem to have time to visit them now, says Arnold Harvey

If those researching topics disliked by politicians can’t make a living in universities, scholarship will be impoverished, says Mark Steven

If access to European research funding is to be maintained, more UK research universities need to forge formal links with EU institutions, says Peter Coveney

Academics staging events on everything from ‘pseudo-death’ to convict ballads claim that public events can often drive future scholarship

New centre could supply the ingredients to bring home-grown Fields medallists back, says director

Which is the better option when it comes to running academic journals – the professional editor or the academic one? Rachael Pells analyses the pros and cons of each

Dutch figures show just how little time professors get for their own research. It may be easier to pursue your intellectual interests outside the university system, says ɫ��ֱ�� reporter David Matthews

A survey reveals readers’ opinions on whether professional editors or active researchers should be responsible for academic editing

Academics debate how to respond to increasing influence of People’s Liberation Army

In the very different cultures of St Vincent and the Faroe Islands, whaling forms a key part of their identity. Scholar Russell Fielding gets a real insight into the hunting tradition. Matthew Reisz reports

Matthew Reisz praises the researchers who go way beyond the call of duty in investigating the world for us all

Simon Baker weighs the evidence for the transformation of the country’s higher education system

After a rare, chance encounter with an enthusiast for one of his books, Felipe Fernández-Armesto reflects on why so few academics gain any sort of celebrity 

Experts say Western institutions and academics have played a role in ‘supporting and perpetuating the Saudi regime’

While widening access is high on universities’ agendas at undergraduate level, class barriers still prevail in the academy. Here, five working-class scholars describe their experiences of ‘otherness’

Tsinghua provost urges researchers to take the risks required to achieve major breakthroughs

Younger academics spending far less time on scholarship than in leading nations, analysis suggests

The withdrawal of funding for Ontario’s basic income pilot highlights the perils of working on politically funded research, says Evelyn Forget

The relaxation of the research excellence framework’s submission rules could see research-intensive universities clustered on near-maximum scores, warms Dominic Dean

Seeking a greater share of imagined profits from commercialisation would undermine technology transfer, says David Secher

Professors shown to be mostly mad and mostly male, scholar claims

New projects at two Sydney universities show move towards multidisciplinary scholarship

New international publishing figures confirm China has overtaken US and leading European countries, ahead of schedule

Academia’s exacting standards on attribution are spot on. It is their inconsistent implementation that is the problem, says David Sanders

Many retired academics embrace the freedom to fully embody their view of the serious scholar, says Bruce Macfarlane

Study raises questions about merit of government-driven improvement schemes

Donna Strickland describes how becoming only the third woman in history to win the physics prize turned her into a ‘rock star’ overnight

Tricksters say they wanted to expose overly politicised research, but scholars are concerned about the motivation behind the sting

The research excellence framework’s reliance on hasty peer review by generalists limits sample size and accuracy, three academics argue

Research will suffer from the collapse of professional development into financially fixated assessments of ‘capability’, say Gill Evans and Dorothy Bishop 

Russell Group institutions dominate tie-ups announced since vote to leave bloc

Alongside Donna Strickland, Arthur Ashkin breaks record for becoming oldest laureate at 96

Vice-chancellor at the Australian National University Brian Schmidt delivers a powerful address to open the 2018 World Academic Summit 

Germany’s multibillion-euro excellence initiative has encouraged competition, but it has also helped create a close-knit ‘Berlin University Alliance’

The digital tide will not wash away campus-based learning, believe most respondents to ɫ��ֱ��’s University Leaders Survey. David Matthews reports on what they see ahead for study options, scholarly conferences, scientific progress and more

Universities in China are once again the fastest-advancing group in the ɫ��ֱ�� World University Rankings. A closer look at their approaches shows why

To spare doctoral candidates protracted and unproductive efforts, Tim Marler and Dean Young suggest a pragmatic route to successful completion, while, below, Julian Kirchherr advocates a quick-and-dirty path to a viable thesis

Lengthy discussions slow pace of bringing products to market and are often irrelevant by the time they are concluded, summit hears

Multidisciplinary mindset requires more diverse reward structures, says Sydney v-c

Humboldtian tradition at risk of unravelling in shift to use of teaching-only staff, Nobel prizewinning v-c says

After a year of heavy criticism threatened to see the landmark study written off for good, it has received support from an unlikely quarter

Libraries worry that they could be caught up in a drive to force platforms like YouTube to share their profits with creators

Where will higher education be in 2030? Our survey asks university leaders what they think the next decade holds for the sector

What are vice-chancellors’ insights into the trends, threats and priorities affecting the future of the university? Nearly 200 leaders of world-ranked universities give their views on where the sector will be in the year 2030. John Ross reports

Report sets outs recommendations for healthier collaborations

Science blooms when colleagues’ ideas cross-pollinate. Impediments to free movement will lead to a disastrous withering, says Sir Keith Burnett

Half of list of 100 fastest-rising institutions in terms of contribution to the Nature Index is made up of Chinese universities and institutes

Analysis reveals that, when medicine is taken out of the equation, collaborations are thin on the ground

Data on international collaboration show cross-border authorship share falling over recent years 

Global survey suggests benefits of overseas collaboration are not evenly shared

The UK’s new research mega-body has huge power to tackle long-standing inequalities, says its new diversity tsar Jennifer Rubin

Analysis shows thousands of researchers publish the equivalent of one paper every five days, but their involvement is often limited

Thirty-two academic institutions have so far failed to report any of their trial data in accordance with new European Union rules

Although universities share a common goal, they face diverse challenges that make it unhelpful to view them as a homogeneous mass

A move to combat India’s love affair with predatory journals is an encouraging sign – even if it took a newspaper exposé to prompt it, says Pushkar

European funders’ beefed-up open access mandate sounds the death knell for subscription publishing, but academic Armageddon is no closer, says Lenny Teytelman

Lille’s medical dean says subject will no longer be taught because it lacks ‘absolute scientific proof’

Five institutions from around globe sign up for greater student exchange and research collaboration

Universities must look beyond a narrow conception of impact to communicate the true value of higher education to society, say Ulrike Felt, Maximilian Fochler, Andreas Richter, Renée Schroeder and Lisa Sigl