Why affirmative action failed
Higher education is not an adequate means to achieve a more just society.
ByUniversities
The attack on the humanities is snobbery dressed as realism
Our world-leading universities are in crisis, yet debate centres on “entitled” students who have the audacity to want to study…
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How to solve a problem like free speech? Even the tsar will struggle
University students need to be exposed to different views - but even the government doesn't seem to know where to…
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Why Labour’s student loan reform pledge is underwhelming
The announcement will not inspire graduates, nor will it fix the broken higher education system.
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Why tuition fees are the progressive option
Students paying for their own tuition is fairer for everyone. Karl Marx knew that.
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Why we need a more balanced approach to China
Severing ties with Chinese research institutions would be a mistake for the UK’s higher education sector.
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Keir Starmer’s tuition fees U-turn ignores the real problem with the system
There’s no justification for a lifelong stealth tax on those graduates who weren’t old or wealthy enough to escape it.
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Letter of the week: In defence of higher education
Write to letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.
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Can a new university breathe life into Britain’s climate education?
Black Mountains College in Wales, and its co-founder Ben Rawlence, is advocating a wartime-style overhaul of the way people are…
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The Policy Ask with Tim Bradshaw: “R&D investment will give us the talent to tackle climate change and pandemics”
The chief executive of the Russell Group on barriers to global academic collaboration and the need for a Zero Carbon…
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How to stoke a culture war within the Oxford student union
A bureaucratic change has been blown up into a woke battle between women and trans people.
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Banning foreign students would backfire on levelling up
Only allowing them into elite universities relegates domestic students to lower-tier universities – which end up deprived of funding.
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Amid NHS staff shortages, the UK reintroduces cap on medical students
The number of medicine and dentistry students will go down to pre-pandemic levels this year.
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Joe Biden’s cancellation of student loans isn’t corrupt – it’s good politics
For those who complain about the US president’s latest fulfilment of a campaign promise: politics is meant to help people.
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In defence of GCSEs and A-levels
Tony Blair was wrong – exams are the best form of assessment we’ve got.
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International students aren’t the problem, higher education is underfunded
Caps on foreign students won’t work.
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It’s time to scrap predicted A-level grades
There’s only one solution to this results day disappointment.
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From the NS archive: On the river
8 June 1973: Pimm’s, rattles and oars at Oxford Eights Week.
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Learning for its own sake is lovely, but that’s not all university is for
I’m sure Cambridge University teaches many skills, but the real career boost comes from “Cambridge” being on your CV.
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How the British university degree lost its value – Audio Long Reads
Never before has Britain had so many qualified graduates. And never before have their qualifications amounted to so little.
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