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The man I met was kind and engaging. While the questions we asked of him were justified, that doesn’t make his death any less tragic, writes Tom Williams

My investigation into alleged plagiarism was undertaken seriously – journalistic enquiries should not be a matter for Scotland Yard, writes THE reporter Jack Grove

Supervisors should involve doctoral students with conducting, writing up and publishing experiments straight away, says Adrian Furnham

If loan eligibility thresholds are to be designed in a way that protects vital second-chance routes into higher education, they might not be strong enough to achieve ministers’ aims; a more precise solution might be more appropriate, writes Chris Havergal

At last week’s HE debate, a host of Oxford-associated grandees made the usual points while the sector continued to melt down, says Andrew McRae

For those without digital and cultural capital, AI is a dangerous helper whose use is liable to land them in hot water, says Rituparna Patgiri

Recruiting whoever costs least, unsettles least and matches current operational needs most closely is self-defeating on many levels, says Peter Sutoris

Universities are using a short-term cash crunch to make long-term structural changes, including greater reliance on private providers, says Glyn Robbins

A variety of personality traits enhance or inhibit the role of IQ in scholarly achievement and professional advancement, says Adrian Furnham

The availability of ERC grants falls off a cliff in your 40s, and in most countries there are few comparable alternatives, says Cristina Muñoz Pinedo 

The experienced lawyers we surveyed were consistently sceptical about arrangements’ consistency and robustness, say Alex Fairbairn and Daniel Sokol

Letting the judgment against the OfS stand is the best way to achieve freedom of speech and academic freedom across English HE, says Josh Fleming

Without correction by a higher court, the likely result will be confusion about what the Freedom of Speech Act requires, says Abhishek Saha

I expected scientific ignorance, right-wing pandering and victimisation claims from Jay Bhattacharya. I was not disappointed, says David Sanders

Northumbria’s novel cost-cutting scheme is no better than the subsidiary arrangements others are using to avoid pension obligations, says Jon Bryan

Calls to ditch AI because it is destroying students’ analytical skills ignore institutions’ questionable record at developing complex reasoning, says Ian Richardson

Lacking profile or career reward, higher doctorates are being mothballed by UK universities. That is a pity for a credential that helps scholars build on the research potential of their PhD, says Andrew Shenton

If AI amplifies what you bring to it, the liberal arts mission of developing critical thinkers becomes not nostalgia but practical necessity, says Nicholas Creel

The path forward is not a simple pivot to domestic students but a shift towards programmes with strong labour-market outcomes, says Boxi Yang

Framing this technology as a helpful ‘tool’ disguises how much it guides every element of critical thinking that academics seek to cultivate, says James Garvey

From climate change to geopolitics, the knowledge, skills and insights of geographers have never been more relevant, say five professors

If we still believe that science is a vocation grounded in argument, curiosity and care, we can’t delegate judgement to machines, says Akhil Bhardwaj

Ever more processes rely on artificial intelligence, yet our governance is still stuck at the level of ‘is it OK for students to use ChatGPT in essays?’, says Tom Smith

The claim that AI can’t make meaning contradicts what researchers are finding when they put these tools to careful, critical use, says James Goh

Trump-imposed economic pressures should prompt us to confront the mismatch between PhD admissions and academic jobs, says Joshua Snider 

If a student feels remembered by a machine but overlooked by humans, something in the educational contract has broken, says Agnieszka Piotrowska

Misuse of ‘cumulative PhDs’ should prompt debate over whether stacking research papers is really equivalent to writing a dissertation, says Brian Bloch

A successful merger requires leaders to be mission-grounded and brave enough to move on, say David Lloyd and Peter Høj, in the final instalment of their series on the largest merger in ߣߣÊÓƵn university history

Wider talent creation will better serve both businesses and graduates as the tech revolution drives rapid economic change, says Hanifa Shah

Test scores are a much better predictor of academic progress than school grades – and students need a realistic assessment, says David Blobaum 

Social sciences funding would be best spent on narrower calls. But would it dry up if we stopped pretending we can save the world, asks Andreas Schedler  

Future crises can be averted if government and universities share data and plans in a more timely and transparent fashion, says Doug Specht

Clear policies, transparent disclosure and shared accountability are essential to protect the integrity of research, says George Chalhoub

From stealing ornamental fish to spraying car parts in the shower, domestic students make security staff earn their meagre wages, says George Bass

The three-month pause to re-examine the assessment of ‘people, culture and environment’ could prelude a welcome reversal, says Alice Sullivan

Only one US university has so far announced an Indian outpost. That’s because the process is still too onerous, says Richard Joseph

Let’s focus concern about AI’s energy and water use where it can make the biggest difference and demand accountability from developers, says Cal Innes

A significant budget boost, including for the ERC, MSCA and EIC, must not be undermined by the next two years of wrangling, says Jan Palmowski

Current enrolment rates are increasingly misaligned with NHS capacity for clinical placements, never mind graduate recruitment, says Ruth Pearce

Trump’s assaults on science in the US present an opportunity that the university would be unwise to spurn, says chancellor candidate Gina Miller

Our paper was rejected on the basis of reviewer comments that were vague, formulaic, often irrelevant and occasionally inaccurate, says Seongjin Hong

It may be difficult to enter on to a balance sheet but some weaker institutions may struggle to recover from reputational damage, says Nick Megoran

The effort of staying compliant with fluctuating regulations diminishes the mental space for teaching, research and building belonging, say Zahra Sharifonnasabi, Fleura Bardhi and Laetitia Mimoun

A nation that truly believed in its greatness wouldn’t require its educational institutions to declare it, says Jonathan Zimmerman

The party’s enhanced power in Canberra means it can develop a more progressive agenda closer to its own values, says Andrew Deuchar

We finally have a mechanism to overthrow the UK’s neo-feudal system of academic gatekeeping, say Krzysztof Nawratek and Lakshmi Priya Rajendran

If ‘big deal’ subscriptions become unaffordable, librarians will need to help students and academics conduct effective searches, says Caroline Ball 

The program has always followed US foreign policy. Leaving people in the lurch is an incomprehensible new frontier, say Marisa Lally and Gerardo Blanco

Averages aren’t enough. We need to know when HE expansion causes the marginal premium to disappear. It was probably long ago, says Paul Wiltshire

A scholar’s job is not just to learn – it’s to create. And that requires a completely different skill set from consuming it, says Ilana Horwitz

Departments should refocus on brokering linguistic services to meet the needs of staff and students in a polyglot world, says Tomasz Kamusella

Limiting industrial action to defensive branch battles on redundancy is not enough. We need to politically challenge the HE funding model, says Rhiannon Lockley

The global examination of culture is not possible without languages at degree level, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley

Students will now believe they can shut down debate of issues they find uncomfortable, rather than engaging critically, says a queer scholar

Better tech alignment, industry guidance and identity verification would all help â€“ as would meaningful and visible punishments, says Kim Eggleton

ߣߣÊÓƵ’s final issue as a print magazine is out today – but while formats change, as for the sector we serve, values and purpose endure

The year is ending with an ongoing permacrisis for higher education. Political rhetoric has improved but the sector still needs a vision for its future

As questions about the size and shape of UK higher education persist, debates about the part number controls could play are making a comeback

Inflation-linked increase is only a sticking plaster for crisis-hit universities, but shows a willingness to work towards a more sustainable funding system

THE’s flagship summit began with a focus on immediate funding woes but ended with a reaffirmation of universities’ founding principles