Europe

The 2028 exercise’s measurement of the quality of research environments will account for a quarter of overall marks. But what exactly does quality look like? Can it really be measured? And are there political risks in diluting the REF’s focus on outputs? Jack Grove reports

Departmental hierarchies, job precarity and institutions’ need to protect their star professors enables bullies to thrive in Britain’s top universities, says Wyn Evans

Researcher who revealed censorship of gender critical feminists says no-debate policies on transgender issues are causing ‘scholarly paralysis’

Irish university pulls back from plan to handpick internal members of governing authority

Report calls for campaign to boost ‘esteem and attractiveness’ of sector’s advancement profession

Post-Brexit expansion comes amid a shortfall of 30,000 beds, with student groups warning universities need to be more upfront about the issues 

Drop in international students applying via Ucas, down to lowest level since 2014, might offer signs of market pressures

Remodelling engineering degrees to include rewilding and ecological restoration would benefit students, society and the planet, says Paul Jepson

Graduates seen as poorly prepared in country with spiralling murder rate but top-down syllabus update said to ‘violate’ normal practice

Seven years after he took the ‘big leap’ out of academia, John Ankers explains what he’s learned from life coaching other scholars who are mulling a change of career

Leaked draft of summertime power grab has spooked scientists, but most admit country’s network of 76 institutes needs reform

Divisions on both sides mean finding compromise that suits all is proving impossible, with sector’s reputation on the line