Coronavirus

Far-off trial date leaves uncertainty hanging over claimants and universities as new legal ruling issued

Judge tells university to pay damages but rules there was no breach of Siouxsie Wiles’ academic freedom

With 3,000 graduate students picketing for higher pay, Boston University dean encourages faculty to ‘think creatively’ about using technological alternatives

Australian study finds good prospects for research degree graduates, so long as they look beyond academia

Parties to return to court having failed to reach agreement in case that could have wide-ranging implications for UK sector

Despite a court’s endorsement of controversial virologist Alexander Kekulé’s suspension, suspicions linger that it is politically motivated, says Brian Bloch

People ‘backing off’ from higher education should ‘have another look’, says departing Universities Australia boss

The Covid Inquiry underlines the need to train political leaders to identify the best options under pressure, says former NAO director David Finlay

Court case raises conflict between academic freedom and universities’ duty of care, says barrister

Pooling academic resources vital to countering ‘market failures’ in pharmaceutical industry, says Covid Moonshot pioneer John Chodera

Auckland failed to give public commentary the level of occupational protection that would be mandatory in the laboratory, says colleague of Siouxsie Wiles

Ministers’ communications with their scientific advisers have been revealed, shining a light on how such relationships work, but will wide-ranging exercise change how research informs policy in the future?

With students who entered high school during the pandemic starting to apply for places, admissions officers feel ill equipped to judge their readiness

As a parliamentary committee inquires into a proposed merger of two universities, institutional accounts suggest they coasted through the last big scare

Litigation over lockdown-affected degrees has highlighted how unfair contracts favouring universities offer scant consumer protection to students, say David Palfreyman and Dennis Farrington

Canberra may have chosen the right time to revisit university funding, as institutional accounts suggest a widening divide between the haves and have-nots

Researchers say unsupervised online exams can provide ‘valid assessments of student learning’

Judge blocks attempts to force breach of contract claim to be dealt with by OIA as more than 100,000 students plan similar action

In apparent attempt to persist with Covid-related campaign against Fauci, House members argue procedural flaw endangers $25 billion in medical funding

When faced with a real, full-bore crisis, this generation of supposed snowflakes just got on with it and coped better than I did, says Joe Moran

Study finds that students experienced psychological distress levels more than three times worse than before the pandemic

Revenue and visa applications reach record levels, but have not yet translated into record student numbers

Makers of GRE seek to revamp standardised test after universities raise concerns over diversity and value

Action could pave way for 100,000 students to sue, with cases prepared against 17 other universities

After brief term leading NIH’s biggest division, former Harvard surgeon embraced as established talent at time of turmoil

Aiming to deny routine extension of federal debt limit, House conservatives hope to force lower Pell grant upon millions of borrowers

Series of recent shutdowns across the country attributed to shifts in political attitudes and post-Covid technologies

Covid recovery at two-year campuses tied to gains among older students and high school dual programmes, but challenges still await

As fierce partisanship silences US academics, a fired leader gets an even bigger job that rewards his resistance

Ability of a university to work in flexible, interdisciplinary fashion meant Hopkins researchers could ‘fill gap’ between WHO and governments

Multiple universities pay multimillion-dollar settlements over spring 2020 tuition, as they reach deadline to finish spending federal pandemic relief aid

Big Group of Eight institutions got bigger while others suffered, exacerbating ‘David and Goliath scenario’

Academic emphasises need for transparency as institutions forced into U-turns on restrictions

Blockbuster payout from landmark Oxford-AstraZeneca jab likely to highlight commercial potential of university-led innovation

Covid-19 trials were as well designed, if not better designed, than other, similar medical experiments, finds Oxford study

Cautious optimism for on-campus life and international mobility as China lifts travel restrictions and loosens on-campus pandemic controls

Bizarre phenomena on Chinese university campuses go beyond manifestations of student boredom, according to academics

Tsinghua and Peking universities among 79 institutions reportedly affected by unrest over long-running lockdowns and restrictions

Authorities to inspect institutions ‘one by one’ amid concern institutions are being overzealous in their application of Covid-19 restrictions

Point-in-time study quantifies pandemic’s differential impacts on academics with children – particularly mothers

Chief higher education lobby group finds decline in share of institutions boosting their overseas outreach, but takes comfort in unexpected areas of growth during the pandemic

Students face invidious options after two years of educational derailment, Australian forum hears

Retaining Covid innovations seen as possible solution to dealing with backlog

As administration approves $10,000 baseline of loan forgiveness after long deliberation, universities promise hard look at pricing and value

First study of its kind estimates lack of in-person interactions hampered innovation as academics spoke only to those they knew already

Universities should keep basic health protections such as mask mandates in place, argues Australian epidemiologist

In some countries, male researchers’ article output appears to have been more adversely affected, according to new study

As US campuses relent under societal pressure on masking, results from autumn 2021 semester affirm value of basic protections

Survey findings reflect escalating scepticism of media in all its forms

Disproportionate impact must be considered by universities when assessing performance of staff, study finds

The University of Hull vice-chancellor explains how she simultaneously reduced costs and improved academic performance at the formerly under-threat institution

Impact of condition on academics poses several difficult challenges for higher education institutions

Efficient and effective short-cycle higher education programmes could provide students with better outcomes and supply the region with a skilled workforce, says María Marta Ferreyra

The Vassar College president discusses creating equitable partnerships, minimising resistance on campus and what higher education can learn from healthcare

Australian educators demand ‘clarity’ on whether pandemic concessions will be extended

Clear majority of survey respondents from Poland and Italy believe ‘making a lot of money’ was an incentive for scientists working on Covid-19

Cost of seven-day hotel quarantine equivalent to a whole term’s tuition fee to some students

From hundreds of complaints over virtual teaching, a pattern of deference to institutions, except for those that had long discounted the format

Salim Abdool Karim welcomes increased transparency of research brought about by pandemic but says it has also brought its challenges

Oxford professor says dismissive attitudes to Covid case studies meant evidence that mask wearing saved lives was overlooked