Feature article

Young black male students working outside on laptop

Using technology to support international students

From scalable email systems to database management, universities can leverage specialised technology to support the academic success and career readiness of their international students

Kate Kirk

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

A woman stands in front of a class, holding a laptop

What your students are actually doing with GenAI

A student survey delved into how and why they use GenAI tools in their studies, and how they felt about it. Find out how this can inform teaching

Julio Gimenez, Katherine Mansfield, Richard Paterson

University of Westminster

Group of people in Kenya, looking at a mobile phone

Equitable research partnerships are no longer optional – here’s how to make them a reality

How to develop research partnerships between the UK and Global South in which knowledge, power and outcomes are equally shared among participants, based on a report by academics in South Africa, Kenya and the UK

BEAP (Building Equitable African Partnerships) team

University of South Africa, Lancaster University, University of Aberdeen, Kenyatta University , The Open University

Students working on a project together in class

Let professors play: the case for sandbox classes in HE

Some of the most powerful innovations in teaching don’t come from policy mandates – they come from freedom to play, writes Danny Oppenheimer

Danny Oppenheimer

Carnegie Mellon University

Why digital accessibility is now a leadership issue for universities

The question for university decision-makers is whether to settle for the minimum accessibility required by international regulation or to embed it as a marker of institutional excellence across teaching, research and civic mission

Ayala Gordon, Sarah Lewthwaite

Independent academic, University of Southampton

GenAI isn’t for the big ideas, it’s for the tedious jobs that spark them

The small, repetitive tasks that are crucial to research can drain your time and energy. Instead, let’s hand over the grunt work to GenAI

Qinghua Chen, Angel Lin, Yiqi Liu

The Education University of Hong Kong

Middle Eastern male millennial online student

Seven practical ways to improve student engagement online

Teaching via a screen makes it harder to read student understanding and sustain attention. These practical strategies show how educators can keep online students invested

Eliseo Mendoza Ortiz

CETYS Universidad

Young university student in online meeting

Use early engagement to build belonging for international students

Connecting with international students well before they arrive on campus – and maintaining contact across joint and transnational programmes – helps universities to transform anxious newcomers into confident global citizens

Jennifer Clevenger

Virginia Tech

A robot uses a microscope in a laboratory

Balance human intuition with machine efficiency in scientific research

AI can automate scientific experiments quickly, efficiently and accurately – but what are we losing in the process? Here’s how to strike a balance

Mohamed Hussein

Dubai Medical University

University teacher helping two multiracial students

What I wish I’d known before becoming a programme leader

Becoming a programme leader means learning to lead without line management, protecting your boundaries, and playing the long game. Here, Tom Chapman reflects on what he’s learned during two decades in the role

Tom Chapman

University of Southampton

Colleagues looking at sticky notes on glass wall

A lean approach to university technology transfer

Universities can leverage selective outsourcing to build a lean, adaptive technology transfer office that enhances collaboration and responds to external funding cycles

Gavin Clark

University of the Arts London

Young man looking stressed as his inbox explodes out of his screen

How to turn your most aggravating student emails into a chance to spread joy

Faced with a flurry of grade complaints at the end of each semester, Danny Oppenheimer found a way to respond that generated positivity for students and himself. Read on to find out what he did

Danny Oppenheimer

Carnegie Mellon University

A teacher takes a class with an international link-up

Develop global citizens with virtual exchanges

Tips on embedding online international exchanges into university education and breaking down the barriers to intercultural engagement

Alfredo Bautista, Sofie Chua Shuyi

The Education University of Hong Kong

How to make higher education assessments inclusive

When we design assessment with transparency, cultural awareness and inclusivity in mind, it becomes a tool for supporting learning rather than measuring it, writes Patrice Seuwou and explains how

Patrice Seuwou

University of Northampton

Why ECRs should have the courage to contact their academic heroes

How can Aristotle’s ancient wisdom about bravery help early career researchers overcome their fear of reaching out to established scholars?

Anastasios Koukopoulos

Athens University of Economics and Business

Young female professor taking a question in class

How universities can prepare faculty to teach executive education

Teaching seasoned professionals requires a different approach from undergraduates or even MBA students. This guide aims to prepare faculty to connect academic insight with real-world leadership experience

Konstantin Korotov

ESMT Berlin

Six ways to create an autism-friendly learning environment

Make your classroom, lab and campus more accessible to autistic students with these tips

Multiple authors

Keele University

Beyond Alan Turing: bringing LGBTQ+ role models into STEM

LGBTQ+ identities remain largely invisible in STEM. Shining a light on them in everyday teaching can strengthen belonging and representation

Eleanor M. Townsend, Claire L. Davies, Andrew M. Griffiths

The University of Exeter

How to establish a community of practice for co-creation

To co-create research-informed teaching, a group of educators established a community of practice with doctoral students. Here’s how it worked

Kara Chan

Hong Kong Baptist University

A lecturer giving an engaging presentation in front of a class full of students

AI can help you unearth the story in your lectures

How AI can help you separate ‘making sense’ from design, build a clear story arc and create a visual narrative that earns attention and trust

Irina Gokh

De Montfort University

Developing a Kantian transnational clinical legal education programme

Enabling students to engage in supervised cross-border legal work bridges theory and practice while equipping them for a globalised landscape. Omar Madhloom and Martin Sticker outline the benefits, challenges and pathways forward

Omar Madhloom, Martin Sticker

University of Southampton, The University of Bristol

Use the five stages of grief to guide academic staff through AI adoption

As generative AI reshapes teaching and assessment, resistance is often as emotional as it is pedagogical. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ framework, Michael Mehmet and Rushana Khusainova offer advice for supporting staff through the realities of AI adoption

Michael Mehmet, Rushana Khusainova

The University of Bristol, University of Wollongong

Maximise student satisfaction in creative education: part two

In the second part of this guide to achieving 100 per cent student satisfaction results in the National Student Survey, here’s why creating community and centring mental well-being made a difference

Kate Cotter , Elizabeth McLaughlin

University of the West of Scotland

How early career lecturers can neutralise age-based assumptions in the classroom

With structure and clarity, new or young university teachers can confidently lead classrooms where students are older than they are. Here, Dikshitha Madisetty offers five strategies

Dikshitha Madisetty

University of Europe for Applied Sciences

Ethical AI: safeguards for the research revolution

Artificial intelligence can accelerate discovery in ways humans alone cannot. For Hongliang Xin, the key is pairing AI’s power with ethical safeguards, institutional governance and responsible oversight

Hongliang Xin

Virginia Tech

The prediction problem in management research

Does a research-based explanation hold when applied to new situations? Here’s how to predict the future as well as clarifying the present

Ahmed Maged Nofal, Frédéric Delmar

EMLyon Business School

A hand sketching prototype designs amongst rulers and other tools

Teaching design in 3D: blending sketching, AI and AR

GenAI can do more than generate images – it can spark design students’ ability to imagine objects and spaces in 3D. Here’s how

Lesly Pliego , Fernanda Peña, Antonio Juárez

Tecnológico de Monterrey

A scrunched-up piece of paper is fashioned into a lightbulb

Small shifts to nurture a design thinking mindset in university teaching

Design thinking, with its focus on problem-solving in a structured way, can help ready students for the workplace – and doesn’t require a curriculum overhaul, writes Asrif Yusoff

Asrif Yusoff

University of Greenwich

A student writing an essay by hand in a library

From shortcut to support: GenAI’s role in essay-writing

A guide to moving beyond panic and prohibition, showing how educators can set clear, evidence-informed boundaries that turn GenAI from an essay-writing shortcut into a meaningful learning support

Luis Moisés López Flores

Tecnológico de Monterrey

How financial literacy empowers first-generation students

Institutions that aspire to be truly inclusive must go beyond scholarships and access policies to embed financial literacy, writes Manjari Sharma. This can be done through workshops, mentoring and career services

Manjari Sharma

Christ (Deemed to be University)

Group of young people holding jigsaw pieces, belonging concept

Strategies to promote belonging from the first day of term – and beyond

Create a supportive learning environment for a sense of community among your students, by deploying strategies to lay the foundations and build on them

Multiple authors

Adelaide University

A male student working on his laptop in the library

When GenAI makes answers cheap, assessment must value judgement

Generative AI has not broken assessment; it has exposed its weaknesses. Moving beyond bans and blind adoption requires redesigning assessment to reclaim pedagogical agency and make student judgement visible

Kisito F. Nzembayie

Trinity College Dublin

Connected classrooms: building belonging, trust and well-being

Learning communities that are grounded in trust, psychological safety and holistic support give students space to explore and share their talents

Christie Stewart

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

Why trauma-informed education could be a university’s smartest investment

Responding to struggling students with empathy and flexibility can benefit the whole campus. Here’s how to create a culture of compassion

Hind Lebdaoui

Al Akhawayn University

A woman deep in thought sitting at a desk

Guide students through four stages of cognitive development

Critical thinking does not develop automatically. Using William Perry’s model of cognitive development, Adeola A. Matthew shows how lecturers can help students progress from simplistic, dualistic thinking to more reflective and reasoned judgement

Adeola A. Matthew

The University of the West Indies

AI and human collaboration concept illustration

Harnessing AI to expand scientific discovery

From drug design to climate modelling, artificial intelligence can process data at scales far beyond human capacity. Hongliang Xin argues that the future of research lies in harnessing agentic AI through human-guided discovery

Hongliang Xin

Virginia Tech

A teacher smiles as students raise their hands en masse

Maximise student satisfaction in creative education: part one

Disappointed with your National Student Survey satisfaction results? One teaching team turned theirs around with reflection and collaboration – here’s how

Kate Cotter , Elizabeth McLaughlin

University of the West of Scotland

A group of students at a table looking at their screens

Tips for running engaging tutorials

Practical strategies for turning tutorials into active, inclusive learning spaces, from designing hands-on activities and valuing student contributions to building rapport and providing effective feedback

Adrian Man-Ho Lam

The University of Hong Kong

Multiracial group of women, women in university leadership concept

What must change? Towards gender-equitable and inclusive academic communities

University leadership has a responsibility to support gender equity that goes beyond simply holding senior roles, writes Lily Kong. Here, she calls for changes in career pathways, workload allocation and service expectations to open space for more women

Lily Kong

Singapore Management University

Office workers discuss around a meeting table

Don’t forget HR when building a student-centred university

HR staff can be invaluable in shaping the student experience. Here’s how to keep them in the loop

Igor Kim

Nazarbayev University

A group of university students working together at a table

Make team-based learning work for neurodivergent students

Students with autism, ADHD and dyslexia often struggle in team-based learning contexts. Read advice for tailoring this activity to specific learning needs and reducing overstimulation

Multiple authors

University of Bath, University of Bradford

From model collapse to citation collapse: risks of over-reliance on AI in the academy

The way GenAI surfaces sources for literature reviews risks exacerbating the citation Matthew effect, writes David Joyner. Here, he offers ways to prevent AI-driven search from blunting the impact of new research

David Joyner

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

How vertical tutoring builds community

Students on joint or interdisciplinary degrees often struggle to feel they truly belong. Vertical tutoring – a structured, cross-year peer support model – offers a solution

Owen Tomlinson, Mary O’Leary

The University of Exeter

A conductor gestures with a baton against a black blackground

Be the conductor of your own GenAI orchestra for academic writing

Instead of using a single GenAI tool to create a one-note research paper, why not tune up an orchestra of machine assistants?

Aditi Jhaveri, Nora Binte Hussin, Siyang Zhou

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

A young man admiring a view from a bridge in Stockholm

How can we revive the popularity of exchanges and study trips? Make students feel safe

In the first of a five-part series on outbound student mobility, Lucas Lixinski looks at what care is due to students travelling overseas as part of their studies, and how this can incentivise or deter them from spending time in other countries

Lucas Lixinski

UNSW Sydney

Graduate ambassadors can support student employability

Alumna, alumnus, alumni: how can graduates influence current and future students?

Are universities mobilising one of their most impactful tools to boost student recruitment, improve graduate employability and strengthen the student experience: the alumni community?

Nicole Chapman, Jessica Boxall

University of Southampton

Five steps to successful company-led projects in higher education

Company-led projects can boost graduate earnings and strengthen institutional partnerships. Here’s how to get them off the ground

Wahiba Chair

University Canada West

A young academic plays a game on his phone while his co-worker naps on the desk

Don’t cry for me, academia: gamifying the early career experience

Wajeehah Aayeshah created the online card game Academic Tears to boost empathy for early career academics, and explored a new way of communicating research. Here’s how she did it

Wajeehah Aayeshah

University of Melbourne

Beyond search: how AI agents are redefining research

AI-augmented research can speed up processes such as literature review and data synthesis. Here, Ali Shiri looks at functionality of three AI agents

Ali Shiri

University of Alberta

Three steps to sustainable university-industry-government alliances

A framework for building robust partnerships that embed real-world experience into the curriculum, moving from single-course innovation to full programme transformation

Qiong Ji, Junsong Chen

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

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