Dates for UCU’s ‘biggest ever strikes’ confirmed Union calls 18 days of action in February and March ahead of crunch meeting in pay talks By Tom Williams 24 January
English student loan reforms ‘may go against’ levelling up agenda House of Lords committee warns changes ‘make the system less progressive’ and government ‘should have consulted’ on them By John Morgan 24 January
USS pension costs tip universities into multibillion-pound losses Rising Universities Superannuation Scheme provisions mean three-quarters of institutions report deficits, with losses totalling ?3.6 billion By Patrick Jack 24 January
Cutting collaborative funding is not the way to widen UK participation The government must invest significantly in a national infrastructure to develop more effective interventions, say Antony Moss and Deborah Johnston By Antony Moss 24 January
Oxford sued by tutors over ‘Uberisation’ of teaching Two authors who taught on university’s creative writing course were employed on temporary contracts for 15 years By Tom Williams 23 January
What is the real carbon footprint of universities? Major report seeks to establish true emissions for the whole of the UK sector – and suggest route to net zero By Tom Williams 23 January
University ‘will never pay ransoms’ despite darknet data leak Duisburg-Essen has had to rebuild entire IT infrastructure and postpone admissions deadlines, although teaching and exams are able to continue By Ben Upton 23 January
Open access accord ‘to weaken publishers’ negotiating position’ Rights retention agreement aims to end ‘unhelpful’ model under which universities ‘give IP to publishers and buy access to it in perpetuity’, says Manchester librarian By Jack Grove 23 January
Spain’s university reforms collide with independence debate Open letter calling for political neutrality of public universities has gathered over 1,000 signatures By Ben Upton 23 January
The Turing Scheme’s teething troubles could hamper ‘Global Britain’ Inclusivity would be boosted if the Erasmus replacement offered funding more promptly and flexibly, say Richard Davies and Andrew Griff-Owen By Richard Davies 23 January
Hungarians want ‘parental reintegration grant’ to tackle pay gap Government with decade-old birth policy must strengthen support for post-maternity return to work, young academicians say By Ben Upton 22 January
Westminster Accounts reveal MPs with second jobs in universities MPs earn more than ?250,000 from roles in sector, while all-party parliamentary groups get in excess of ?500,000 By Patrick Jack 20 January
