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 overseas students.

But while there are many success stories of now well-established branch campuses all over the world, there have also been plenty of failures. There are currently 387 international branch campuses open across 85 countries. A further 73 have opened and then closed, according to research by C-BERT.

So, what causes some international branch campuses to flourish while others collapse?

To find out, I spoke to Christine Ennew, who served as provost and CEO of the University of Nottingham Malaysia from 2013 to 2016, having been part of the team who travelled to Kuala Lumpur in 2000 to establish this pioneering branch campus. Christine spent five years as pro vice-chancellor at the University of Nottingham and most recently was provost at the University of Warwick until she retired in 2023.

We discuss the thinking behind branch campus endeavours, what is needed for sustained success, common criticisms of branch campuses and what impact, if any, the UK government’s new international education strategy may have.

For more insight on related topics, check out our spotlight guide on how to deliver value for international students.

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, Times Higher Education editor Chris Havergal talks to Miranda Prynne about the background to the case, the key points upon which Sussex is disputing the OfS findings and the broader implications for universities and the way they are regulated.

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 thus have a long way to go to understand its many potential applications. Something that comes more naturally to some than to others.

To find out how researchers can get the most out of AI tools while managing the associated risks, this week, we speak to a leading computer scientist who has been developing AI tools for research for more than 20 years.

Karin Verspoor is dean of the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on the use of AI to support biological discovery and clinical decision making by analysing biomedical text and clinical records.

She has held previous posts as director of health technologies and deputy head of the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, as the scientific director of health and life sciences at NICTA Victoria Research Laboratory.

Listen to Karin’s take on the good, the bad and the best way forward for AI in academic research.

And if you want more practical advice and insight on how to best apply GenAI to augment your own research, check out our latest spotlight guide: GenAI as a research assistant.

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 intelligence, observation, active listening and the ability to notice when students are becoming disengaged, falling behind or at risk of dropping out altogether come to the fore.

This episode of Campus talks looks at how to foster safe, inclusive learning spaces, how to spot students who are struggling, advice for starting conversations around sensitive topics like mental health, and how educators can be open and authentic while protecting their own boundaries and work-life balance.

We talk to Marissa Edwards, who is a senior lecturer and researcher in the University of Queensland Business School. A mental health advocate with a background in psychology and organisational behaviour, she is also the co-editor of the Research Handbook of Academic Mental Health and co-founder and co-curator of Voices of Academia, a blog dedicated to academic mental health and well-being.

This interview makes reference to eating disorders, anxiety, depression and trauma.

You will find more advice from educators and experts from institutions around the world on supporting students in the university classroom in Campus’ latest spotlight guide.

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 in those who study them and how university educators can foreground these.

You will hear from:

Michael Scott is pro vice-chancellor international and a professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Warwick. Michael’s research explores the intersection of ancient history and archaeology within the Mediterranean and beyond. He has published numerous books on the ancient world for the popular market and written and presented TV series on the BBC, ITV, History Channel and National Geographic. 

Mark Power is vice-chancellor and chief executive of Liverpool John Moores University and a professor of higher education leadership as well as being practising artist. Mark has worked at Liverpool John Moores University for 44 years, having taken up a role as a senior technician in the fine art department at what was then Liverpool Polytechnic in 1981. He has maintained his internationally recognised work as an artist alongside his academic career throughout this time.

For more insight and advice on why and how to make the case for the arts and humanities in higher education, take a look at the spotlight guide on Campus.

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 educators may find the idea of ceding control over their teaching decisions troubling.

On this week’s podcast, we speak to a leading proponent of co-creation in higher education, who has researched and published extensively on this pedagogical approach, as well using it in her own teaching.

Catherine Bovill is a professor of student engagement and head of the programme design and teaching enhancement team in the Institute for Academic Development at the University of Edinburgh. She is also a visiting fellow at the University of Bergen in Norway and the author of dozens of research papers and a couple of books focused on co-creating in teaching and learning.

She explains why and how educators should bring elements of co-creation into their teaching offering examples of how it can work in different contexts and addressing oft-voiced concerns.

For more insight and advice on making co-creation work in your teaching, check out our latest spotlight guide: The practicalities of co-creation with students.

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 intelligence, coupled with a shrinking number of entry-level roles, means that graduates are looking for the capabilities that will give them an edge. Industry and governments, meanwhile, have their eye on the economic and innovation advantages that come with an agile, digitally literate and productive workforce.

Alongside academic skills, universities have long provided students with opportunities to develop communication, critical thinking and teamwork skills, but external demands mean they need to be more intentional about embedding transferable skills in curricula – and give graduates means to evidence this learning.

To find out how institutions in the UK and Australia are responding to the call for work-ready graduates with a skill set adapted to the modern economy, we talked to:

For more advice and insight on developing transferable skills from academics and experts from universities around the world, read our spotlight Soft skills for hard times.

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 potential of artificial intelligence to engage students in reflective writing.

Jenny is a senior lecturer and educationalist in the Health Professions Education Centre at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin. She also serves as programme director for the postgraduate diploma in health professions education, where she leads curriculum design and delivery to support educators in developing evidence-informed, learner-centred teaching practices.

To mark this year’s THE Awards, which are being presented in Edinburgh on 13 November, we talk to Jenny about how educators can put AI to use in a way that fosters efficiency without taking away rich cognitive work, how her uptake of technology has evolved, strategies for dealing with uncertainty and complexity in the classroom, why students should learn to be bored, and the skills university teachers can develop to future-proof their practice (hint: it involves finding the spark of enjoyment).

To learn more from acclaimed academics, teams and institutions from the UK and Ireland, check out our latest Spotlight guide, which pulls together advice from this year’s shortlist: THE Awards 2025: lessons from the stars of UK and Irish higher education.

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 allowed a ‘cancel culture’ to dominate higher education, leading to a worrying expected conformity of opinion on important contemporary issues. This is all playing out against the wider backdrop of growing polarisation and identity politics.

For this episode, we speak to two experts in this space to find out what practical steps universities can take to encourage more constructive disagreement and engagement with differing viewpoints among students as part of their learning. And how institutions can uphold the requirements of free speech and nurture plurality across campus, while protecting those most affected by contentious issues.

You will hear from:

You can find more insight and advice on how universities can encourage respectful disagreement, while handling sensitive topics with care and protecting academic freedom in our latest spotlight guide: Dealing with division: the polarised university.

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 proposed work.

We speak to a research leader and historian who has demonstrated notable success in her own career about changes to the funding landscape, how institutions can respond and how doctoral students can optimise their grant applications.

Hear from Alice Taylor, a professor of medieval history and vice-dean for research in the faculty of arts and humanities at King’s College London.

Her first book, The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, which was co-awarded the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize in 2017 – the same year she was awarded the prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize for History. 

More recently, she led the launch of a new doctoral school for arts and humanities at King’s, which opens next year.

For more advice and insight on related topics, read our guide to finding and securing research funding.