In many countries, most research undertaken in universities is government funded and governments have a responsibility to ensure that it is well spent. This increasingly means that funding must be targeted at research quality. One of the means of knowing where quality research is undertaken is through rigorous and systematic…
UK universities have been a consistent target of choice by cyber-attackers in recent years. They are a particularly vulnerable institution due to the large number of students and staff dispersed across campuses, making it difficult for small IT teams to track the thousands of endpoints that each have pathways into…
In 1893, for the first time in modern democratic history, women voted in the national elections in New Zealand.[1] 131 years ago this was a model for equality in the political arena. Yet the arc of history does not always bend towards justice. In the heart of Asia in a country…
***The Green Party’s 2024 manifesto is due to be released today – follow the announcements for higher education on our live blog*** When people from elsewhere in the world think about the economic engine of the UK, their minds naturally turn to London. As the capital and largest city, London…
Whatever your opinion of the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF), it has driven important changes in how we define and assess research excellence. The inclusion in the REF of societal impact, its emphasis on quality over quantity, and plans to evaluate the quality and sustainability of the research environment all…
The higher education sector, like the country, faces a fork in the road ahead. Perhaps it is nothing but the heady sensation of summer coming down the track, but it feels like change is in the air. Something has to give. Pressure on the financial model of universities has been…
The experiences of trans students at university differ significantly from their cisgendered university peers. Studies continue to show that they experience more instances of physical or emotional threat, do not feel that universities make reasonable adjustments for their recognition and inclusion, and have a concerning lack of faith in university…
Universities enrich people’s lives through the creation and sharing of knowledge in education and research, broadening our horizons, and bringing material benefits to our local and global economies. But there is another huge and often overlooked benefit they bring to society. In every town and city with a university or…
Accounting for the sentiment of 175,000 academic faculty members and 105,000 employers, and analysing the distribution and performance of 17 million research papers, the QS World University Rankings offers an annual audit of the world’s 1500 top universities. With these universities residing in 106 national and territorial higher education systems,…
***At 9am tomorrow, Wednesday 5 June, we are hosting a webinar on the Australian Universities Accord. You can register here.*** Higher Education is at a critical juncture. As demand for university education increases, the financial support systems meant to sustain this growth are crumbling. For the past decade, real-terms funding…