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‘Debt trap’ has replaced ‘Mickey Mouse’ courses but Badenoch still kicking universities after being ‘boxed in’ by Labour’s apprenticeship embrace and Reform attacks on elitism

New participation target represents ‘paradigm shift’ in country’s approach to education, but government needs to incentivise FE and HE working together, says report

Education secretary confirms devolved nation will not follow UK government in taking a cut of overseas tuition fee income

Specialist institutions could be subsumed without high-level oversight of sector consolidation, MPs warned

OfS and UKRI seen as particularly vulnerable to meddling from government, with report authors calling for more safeguards to ensure independence

Tory leader to use conference speech to attack ‘debt trap degrees’ and pledge more money for apprenticeships

Russell Group calls for long-term partnerships to be secured amid political uncertainty

Tories should allow top institutions to increase tuition fees and encourage others to get off ‘mediocrity escalator’, says former science minister

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

Andy Burnham says universities ‘at the heart’ of his plans for growth of Manchester’s economy

Taxpayer and students losing out as a result of failure to tackle ‘low-quality’ higher education, according to Neil O’Brien

With levy-funded maintenance grants and 50 per cent target scrapped again, government’s vision for universities becomes clearer. But while rhetoric appears tough, experts see opportunities as education takes centre stage

Using financial incentives to influence student choice risk undermining Labour’s widening access goals, critics fear

Coming together of 10 research-led universities not a ‘self-serving’ mission group, say vice-chancellors

Move into DWP opens up opportunities for ‘tailored learning’, says minister, as some express unease over disjointed approach

Prime minister scraps Tony Blair’s long-held target to get half of young people into higher education, instead aiming for two-thirds accessing university or apprenticeships

Sussex v-c says media attacks motivated by view that fewer people should obtain a degree

Means-tested support only to be offered to those studying courses aligned to party’s priority areas

Leeds MP tells party’s conference that he hopes government ‘moves away’ from planned tax on overseas earnings

Universities projected to dip into the red next year due to falling fee income and rising staff costs, with any long-term recovery likely to be uneven

Cost to UK economy of £1.8 billion a year once ‘gross value added’ by international students factored in, new analysis shows

New chief executive of Advance HE discusses university finances, EDI pressures and plans to pivot body from ‘development to transformation’ agency

New modelling estimates that controversial proposals could wipe about £2.2 billion from the UK economy in just five years

Breaking the link between researchers and their outputs harms academic mobility and disciplinary excellence, argue professors

Education committee says exemption to defunding plans for healthcare courses should be extended to include ‘growth-driving’ industries

Ben Macpherson returns to government in mini reshuffle triggered by Jamie Hepburn’s resignation

Government told to incorporate higher education institutions into emergency planning frameworks as the UK attempts to bolster its defences

Almost half of students say they have considered dropping out because of money issues as maintenance loan threshold remains frozen

Donna Whitehead warns university leaders must be candid with staff as sector’s financial crisis endures

Poll finds most students see generative technology as a support tool, but small minority use it for entire assessment submissions

The retirement of arguably the UK’s most politically adept university leader leaves big boots to fill. The Glasgow principal talks to Jack Grove about 40 years of sectoral evolution, his thoughts on Scottish university funding and his concerns about the now-paused changes to the 2029 REF

Signs of ‘slow recovery’ for international student recruitment as demand for study visas rises 

A sector described by a leading party figure as a ‘conveyor belt for communism’ is understandably wary of Nigel Farage’s latest right-wing populist project. But Reform UK persistently tops opinion polls. And the party’s annual conference suggests universities have a lot of ground to make up with it. Patrick Jack reports

Students from rural and disadvantaged areas disproportionally affected by subject cuts, British Academy warns

More support needed for disadvantaged students during medical studies to compensate for lack of ‘insider knowledge’, researchers say

UK’s high attainment and completion rates tempered by rising costs and inequalities, according to latest Education at a Glance report

Lack of clarity over how brief held by Jacqui Smith will be carved up risks delaying crucial policy interventions, critics fear

Populist leader takes aim at higher education in speech on first day of the Reform UK conference in Birmingham

Keir Starmer reshuffles Cabinet after Angela Rayner resignation, with big implications for higher education

Longest-serving education minister explains why he ignored ‘abstract’ and ‘ideological’ academic research in fight to improve school performance

Using REF to tackle research culture risks making it too ‘bureaucratic and burdensome’, university leaders warn as Vallance rethinks changes to weightings

Regulator wants vice-chancellors to advise on policy as part of new chair’s attempts to build better relationship with sector

Vibrant academic communities in all parts of the UK will allow rising stars of humanities and social sciences to shine, says Alex Lewis

Yvette Cooper launches mass messaging campaign warning 132,000 overseas students not to overstay visas or lodge weak asylum bids

Politicians expected to leave universities to sort out their problems despite hopes for government intervention

Threat of financial collapse is causing universities to double down on an officious management style that is sapping academic morale, undermining excellence and damaging collegiality between academia’s different tribes, says Tin Sulejmanpasic 

The London School of Economics philosopher speaks to Matthew Reisz about following up her best-selling memoir Free, the state of academic freedom in the UK and the US and the misogyny faced by women academics

Government urged to close ‘regulation loophole’ to better protect staff and students from risks of money laundering

Politicians set red lines in cross-party talks that sector hopes could be start of a longer-term funding solution for universities

Many fear algorithms will displace academics but the technology is already eating itself and its long-term business model remains unclear, says Martin A. Mills. Here he explains why bots will not wipe out universities and why we must resist their damaging features for the good of students, society and AI itself

Churning out so many PhD graduates into a weak academic labour market and marginalising innovative doctorates is immoral, says Ianis Matsoukas

Universities set to take more cautious approach to student recruitment in countries once seen as key to boosting international income

Netflix’s university-set romcom is strangely silent about the ethics of college tutors sleeping with their students, says Robert Dingwall

Dozens face ‘heartbreak’ of missing out on university places, after battling against the odds to apply

Middle-tier universities on ‘wafer-thin margins’ face starkest financial challenges from government proposal, policy analysts suggest

UK universities have no need to oversell their benefits to individuals or societies, but they do need to demonstrate an ability to foster both free speech and civil disagreement – while carefully navigating their ‘slightly nerve-racking’ reliance on overseas students, UCL’s provost tells Chris Havergal

New research highlights misconceptions about higher education, with people more positive about universities than is commonly realised

If the UK has decided it can no longer afford the sub-Oxbridge university model, expectations need to be systematically lowered, says Robert Dingwall

Employers are confining many low-skilled roles to graduates. Why should they care that this requires recruits to take on huge debt, asks Paul Wiltshire

Students unable to take up their places at start of academic year might never have the same chance again, campaigners warn