Campus Talks by Times Higher Education

A behaviour change expert explains what is required to shift a whole campus community towards more environmentally sustainable habits.  --- To reach net zero, institutions need to shift the behaviour of their whole campus community towards reducing their carbon footprint and making greener daily choices. This means changing long established habits among thousands of diverse students and staff. How...

How can universities develop sophisticated systems for data sharing and analysis that can guide communications and student services? Alain Pompilus was tasked with putting such a system in place and shares lessons from the experience - - - Universities hold a huge amount of data, with information collected at each stage of a student’s journey. The challenge lies in how to make best use of this dat...

The challenges of being an LGBTQ+ researcher in the US have multiplied since Donald Trump returned to the presidency. Funding cuts, closures of LGBTQ+ resource centres on campus , attacks on trans rights and backtracks on Pride Month celebrations have all harmed not only scholars’ crucial work, but also their ability to support the next generation of queer academics. A New York Times data analysis...

We find out how one US institution has led the way in embedding AI across all its majors and what has been learnt in the process --- Many universities are now racing to embed AI literacy across their curricula and equip students with knowledge that may prove critical to future careers. But the University of Florida had embarked on this mission years before large language models exploded into every...

What purpose does, or should, assessment serve? How can educators shift the focus of assessment towards feedback? Who is really driving higher education’s unhelpful obsession with grades? And how does GenAI affect all this? In this episode of Campus Talks, we explore all these questions and more with David Boud, Deakin distinguished professor at Deakin University and a leading scholar on assessmen...

Effective graduate supervision depends on a suite of interpersonal, technical and disciplinary skills, but many scholars enter into this complex, years-long role with only a small toolkit left over from their own journey. When a good supervision experience brings enrichment to supervisor and supervisee, as well as completion cache for both, and poor supervision can be destructive, this is one area...

Disabled students make up the biggest minority group in US and UK higher education, accounting for about a fifth of undergraduates in both countries. While efforts to improve access to higher education for disabled students have contributed to increased enrolment, people with disabilities are still less likely than their counterparts to enter college, to feel at home in higher education settings a...

Learn about the journey from academic researcher to entrepreneur and what it takes to launch a successful spin out company. Academics are specialists in their disciplines and research areas but very few have any expertise in running a business. So, while their discoveries may hold commercial potential, it is rarely a simple or easy process translating this knowledge into a saleable product or serv...

The relationship between academic staff and their professional services colleagues is key to delivering on universities’ goals of high-quality student experience and knowledge creation. Today, it’s more strategic alliance than traditional hierarchy, with increasing recognition that skills such as teaching practice are as crucial as subject knowledge, but tensions and challenges remain. This is des...

STEM study and research are responsible for much of humanity’s most transformative knowledge and technology. Discoveries and products that emerge from STEM will continue to define how we live now and in the future. So, it should concern everyone that STEM fields are still overwhelmingly male dominated. And it’s not just women who are underrepresented, this also applies to minority ethnic groups. W...

As proposals for the future Horizon Europe are scrutinised by the European Parliament, we discuss likely changes to the seven-year funding programme and whether it can support a coalition of like-minded powers amidst the current geopolitical upheaval. The next version of Horizon Europe, due to launch in 2028, is likely to show much greater alignment with EU economic and defence priorities, backed...

So, you’ve finished writing your book, the ideas are on the page and all that’s left is to send your opus off to the publisher, right? Not so fast. In between draft and submission is the revising stage, one that many scholars gloss over on their way to a polished manuscript. After all, to paraphrase Hemingway, “all writing is rewriting”. Editing is an eminently learnable skill – one that can be br...

The number of international students enrolled on masters by research (MRes) courses more than doubled in the year after the government introduced a ban on dependent visas for other courses, new figures revealed this week. Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) data obtained by Times Higher Education show that there were 6,085 non-UK-domiciled students enrolled on MRes courses in the 2024-25 aca...

International branch campuses are back in the spotlight with countries including India, Vietnam and Greece opening to foreign institutions for the first time. And with international student flows coming under pressure from government policies, stretched student finances and emerging host countries, transnational education (TNE) and branch campuses offer an effective alternative for reaching overse...

We discuss why the University of Sussex has mounted a legal challenge against a £585,000 fine imposed by the Office for Students (OfS) for failing to uphold freedom of speech. The case, being heard in the high court in London this week, brings to the fore questions over academic freedom, institutional autonomy, trans rights and EDI policies and the role of the OfS. On this episode of News talks, T...

In the last decade, the computational power of AI has grown exponentially – doubling every six months since 2010 for some well-known tools. This, in tandem with more sophisticated machine learning models and increases in available data, has opened up possibilities for research and discovery that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. But most academics are relatively new to using AI and...

When students start university or return for a new semester, stressors such as cost of living and worries about academic performance or future job insecurity can exacerbate anxiety or other mental health issues. So, how can educators best support them in the classroom, while also ensuring learning objectives are met and they don’t burn out themselves? This is where skills such as emotional intelli...

The arts and humanities bring multiple benefits to students, and society as a whole, but are often dismissed as lacking value by policymakers when pitted against STEM subjects. In this episode of Campus talks, a vice-chancellor-come-artist and a classicist explain why the arts and humanities are so vital to a healthy, well-informed society, the specific lessons and skills these subjects engender i...

It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged, that students should sit at the heart of – and take an active role – in their learning. By inviting students to work with their teachers to shape course materials, activities and even assessments, co-creation appears to offer a textbook solution. However, giving students greater agency over their learning is not without its challenges and some educa...

How do universities ensure their programmes and curricula meet the demands from industry, government – and students themselves – for career-ready graduates equipped with vital transferable skills? Skills – whether you call them soft, transferable, power, productivity, work-based or human skills – have come to dominate the conversation about employability. The rapid advance of artificial intelligen...

Her ability to engage with leading-edge technology has long set Jenny Moffett apart, whether that’s her early embrace of the potential of online education for professional development or using immersive technology to help medical students navigate ambiguous situations. And now last year’s winner of the Times Higher Education Award for Most Innovative Teacher is working on understanding the potenti...

As centres of learning, universities should be places where ideas, opinions and beliefs can be openly discussed, challenged and interrogated. They also have a duty of care to ensure their diverse community students and staff feel safe, welcome and free from discrimination. But some claim that an over-zealous focus on inclusion and appeasing students has led to an erosion of academic freedom and al...

Arts and humanities scholars in the UK are feeling embattled as the current government focus appears to be firmly trained upon STEM. This makes the hunt for funding for doctorates and early career research in the arts and humanities ever more difficult. But there are still opportunities available for PhD candidates who can successfully convince the relevant funding bodies of the worth of their pro...

Motivation is key to getting stuff done – whether that “stuff” relates to your work, studies, hobbies or simply answering a Whatsapp message. For academics, working on long-term research projects while also teaching courses, that can last years, to hundreds of students, understanding how to boost and sustain motivation in themselves and others is vital for success. So, today we explore the many fa...

While stimulating and rewarding, academic careers present numerous challenges that require resilience and determination from those who wish to remain in the academy. The job precarity now so common across higher education, alongside the repeated rejection from funders and publishers and pressure to demonstrate excellence across teaching, research and administration, makes for a brutal combination,...